Disney’s Beauty and The Beast is being produced live on stage at the Don Bosco Oratory Theatre in Victoria this weekend.
The classic fairytale tells the story of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town in France, and the Beast, who in reality is a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. The Beast has to fall in love with Belle in order to undo the curse, thus restoring him and his servants to their human forms. But time is running out.
The show in Victoria is replete with enchanting music, songs, dance and amazing costumes. Among the most popular numbers are Me, Gaston, Be Our Guest, A Change in Me and, of course, the title song, Beauty and The Beast.
Neville Refalo will be interpreting the main part of the Beast, while Krista Mercieca will be portraying the other main role of Belle. Other characters will be interpreted by Andrew Buhagiar, Karl J. Buhagiar, Ludwig Galea, Jeremy Paul Grech and Sharon Sciortinio, together with a 100-strong cast of musicians, singers, choristers and dancers.
Maestro Mark Gauci is the show’s director, helped by Sandra Susnjic as choir director. Jamie Camilleri, who in recent years has also directed other musicals produced in the same theatre, is in charge of artistic direction. Mario Grech and Frances Zammit are the show’s choreographers, while Marisa Theuma and Mario Grech are in charge of the wardrobe. Scenography is in the hands of artists Dennis Mompalao and Paul M. Cassar, together with a group of volunteers from the Don Bosco Oratory Theatre.
The opening night of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast will be on Friday November 7 at 7.30pm, with repeat performances on November 8 at 7.30pm, and a matinée performance on November 9 at 2.30pm. Then there will be two other performances, on November 15 at 7.30pm, and a last performance on November 16 at 5.30pm.
Booking is open. Tickets for Disney’s Beauty and The Beast can be obtained from the Don Bosco Oratory of Gozo every day between 5.00pm and 6.30pm, or else by phoning on 21556616 or 99487751. Online booking is also available via theatre.donboscogozo.org or donboscogozo.org.
The show is being staged in collaboration with the Gozo Heritage Directorate after obtaining the necessary rights from London.
How the fairy tale turned into a successful film and musical
Beauty and The Beast, written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, was published anonymously in 1740. Following the success of the 1937 film Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney was encouraged to turn this fairy tale into another full-length animated feature film.
However, his two attempts to realise this wish during the 1940s and 1950s failed. But, after his death, his company − inspired by the success of The Little Mermaid (1989) − proposed that a full-length animated feature film would be arranged as a musical with original songs by the same Little Mermaid songwriting team, lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken.
The film was eventually released in cinemas in 1991, receiving widespread acclaim for its story, characters, music and animation.
Beauty and The Beast was the first animated film to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture. It was also the first such film to receive a nomination for six Academy Awards, although it only ended up receiving awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (Beauty and the Beast).
In 1994, Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney film adapted into a Broadway musical and won a Tony Award. The show ran for 13 years. The musical has been produced in 37 countries worldwide.
Based on the award-winning animated feature film, the stage version includes all the songs written by Menken and the late Howard Ashman, along with new songs by the same Menken and Tim Rice. (Source: Wikipedia.org)