“Beauty and the Beast” is a fairy tale about a beautiful girl with a good heart and an enchanted prince languishing in the guise of a terrible Monster. This touching story is known all over the world; both children and adults love it.
The tale was repeatedly filmed, it created a large number of theatrical productions, including the famous musical Alan Menken, the premiere of the Russian version of which took place on October 18, 2014 in Moscow.
Story
The fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" is so wise that it seems that it is folk, and many really think so. But the fairy tale has an author - this is the French writer Gabriel-Susanne Barbot de Villeneuve. But the magical love story of Belle and the Beast was not quite the same as we know it. In the tale written by Madame de Villeneuve, there were much more characters and storylines than in the version that is familiar to all of us, and it was told not only about the enchanted Prince and Beauty. We are used to the option that appeared 16 years after the work of the writer de Villeneuve saw the light of day. Jeanne-Marie Leprens de Beaumont (great-grandmother of the famous Prosper Merimet) edited and reduced the original version. The tale of de Villeneuve as revised by de Beaumont almost immediately gained incredible popularity.
The musical Beauty and the Beast (the duration of which is 3 hours) tells that only love and beauty will save the world, because they have great power to make the world and people better.
Creators
The author of the music is the famous American composer, winner of 10 Golden Globe awards, 7 Grammy awards and 8 Oscar awards - Alan Mencken.
The list of his most famous works includes music for animated films and Broadway productions, such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Rapunzel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the musical Act Sister. He is the author of songs and voice-over for the cartoon Pocahontas and the tape Home Alone. This is not a complete list of the masterpieces that glorified A. Menken for the whole world.
Libretto was written by L. Wolverton, the author of scripts for children's television shows and animated series. Her most famous works are The Lion King, Real Ghostbusters, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Duck Tales.
Lyrics for the animated film Beauty and the Beast, which were also used in the production, belong to H. Ashman. For additional songs, the text was written by the famous Tim Rice.
For 20 years, the musical Beauty and the Beast has enjoyed success with viewers of all ages in many countries of the world. Reviews about it are filled with such epithets as “a fantastic sight”, “amazing action”, “bright extravaganza”, “bewitching fairy tale” ...
Characters
Belle is the first beauty in her town. Clever and kind girl. It differs from all not only in beauty. She loves to read and dream, which is why residents of the city consider her strange. Only the father understands it - the inventor and the same dreamer as the daughter.
The Beast - The Prince, whom the sorceress enchanted as a punishment for the fact that he did not know how to love and compassion. There is only one way to remove the spell: the Prince must fall in love with a girl who, in response, will fall in love with him, despite his terrible appearance.
Gaston is a handsome, tall, strong, confident young hunter. All the girls are in love with him, except for Belle, whom he wants to get in wives and does not give her a pass. Belle does not want to become his wife, as he is rude and arrogant.
Lefu is Gaston's friend, puny, short and stupid.
When the Prince was cast a spell, everyone who lived and worked in his castle also fell under the spell of the witch: Lumiere, head waiter, became a candelabra; Cogsworth Butler - mantelpiece; Mrs. Chaiton - a teapot; her son Chip - a cup of tea; Maid Babette - with a broom.
Plot
One winter night, a young prince living in a luxurious castle asked a beggar to sleep. He was heartless and ordered to drive her away. The old woman turned out to be a sorceress and punished the Prince, turning him into a Beast, and his servants into objects. Only a girl who loves the Beast can remove the spell.
Belle lives with his father, who once got lost in the forest, wandered into the castle to the Beast and became a prisoner there. The girl goes to look for him and, once in the castle, asks to release her father, says that she will remain in captivity instead of him. The monster agrees. Father is returned home, but she remains in the castle.
The bewitched Prince and his servants hope that the Beauty will be able to remove the spell from them. At first, the girl and the owner of the castle do not get along, the Beast scares Belle not only with her appearance, but also with rude manners. Over time, it learns to be gallant, Belle ceases to be afraid of him, and they become friends. Thanks to the girl, the Beast becomes kinder and more humane, it sincerely falls in love with her. Noticing that the Beauty yearns for her father, the Prince lets her go home, she promises to return, but he is sure that he will not see her again. In parting, the girl receives a ring as a gift, which will allow her to instantly be in the castle, if she so desires, and a magic mirror in which she can see everything she wants.
At home, Gaston meets her, who threatens that if she does not become his wife, her father will be sent to a shelter for the crazy, because he tells everyone tales about the Beast. The girl, trying to prove the truthfulness of her father’s words and to avoid her hateful marriage, shows in the magic mirror the Beast that Gaston intends to destroy by arranging a raid on him, for which he gathers a crowd of citizens.
The young hunter is trying to kill the Prince, which he does not resist at all, because he does not need life without Belle. Belle returns to the castle to save the Beast, but Gaston manages to mortally wound him. The girl says that she loves the Beast, the spell is destroyed, love conquers death, and instead of the terrible beast, the beautiful Prince appears before her. One of the favorite stories about the all-conquering power of love is the musical Beauty and the Beast. Reviews from viewers around the world provide an answer to the question: “Is it worth going to this performance?” There is no doubt that such a kind musical tale deserves attention and everyone will definitely like it.
Moscow production of 2008
For the first time, Russia saw the performance Beauty and the Beast (musical) in 2008. For two years, the tale pleased the Russian audience, the halls were full, the production was a huge success. During this time, more than six hundred shows took place. About 700 thousand viewers watched the musical Beauty and the Beast. The Russian audience wrote reviews of the production and thanks in their letters to the Stage Entertainment company, which presented this magical and immortal love story to our country. The performance was so loved by the audience that the completion of its rental in 2010 was a great chagrin for them.
It was almost impossible to buy tickets for the production of Beauty and the Beast (musical), as they were bought up several months in advance.
2008 troupe
The selection of artists took a very long time. There was even an open national casting called “Find the Beast”, which was shown on the TVC channel, where out of 500 applicants they selected one artist for the role of the enchanted Prince in the musical “Beauty and the Beast”. Actors who performed roles in the first Moscow production:
- Belle - Ekaterina Guseva (theater and film actress, played the role of Katie in the musical “Nord-Ost”).
- The Beast - Victor Dobronravov (son of actor F. Dobronravov, theater and film actor).
- Monsieur Gloom - Ivan Ozhogin (GITIS graduate, laureate of contests and top theater awards, lead singer of the musicals Cats, Nord-Ost, Chicago, Wedding of Jays, Vampire Ball, Master and Margarita, Phantom of the Opera )
- Gaston - Rostislav Kolpakov (soloist of the musicals “Vampire Ball”, “Master and Margarita”, “Lukomorye”).
- Lumiere - Andrei Birin (theater actor Oleg Tabakova, starred in the movie "Running on the Waves", played the role of Michael in the musical "Eastwick Witches").
- Mrs. Chaiton - Elena Charkviani (10 years working in the theater-cabaret "Bat", conducted a program on the NTV channel. Musical soloist: We Will Rock You, Mamma Mia !, "Eastwick Witches", Cats).
- Madame de la Komod - Lusine Tishinyan (participated in musical projects and performed with concerts in Russia and Europe).
- Lefu - Alexei Yemtsov (He graduated from YSTI, while still a student, took part in productions of the Yekaterinburg Musical Comedy Theater, lives and works in Moscow).
These wonderful performers adorned the musical Beauty and the Beast, the public’s reviews of the troupe sound exclusively in a positive way.
Moscow production of 2014
After the show of the Beauty and the Beast in Russia was completed in 2010, the audience wrote a huge number of letters to the Stage Entertainment company asking him to return to the Russian stage. In October 2014, when the production of Beauty and the Beast (musical) celebrated its 20th anniversary, Moscow again welcomed this beautiful romantic story. The producers have no doubt that this time this musical fairy tale will be very popular among the Russian public.
Troupe 2014
35 actors were selected for the production of Beauty and the Beast (musical). The cast of actors performing in the 2014 performance has been updated. But there are actors who participated in the production of 2008.
- Belle - Anastasia Yatsenko.
- The Beast - Alexey Konovalov and Pavel Levkin.
- Gaston - Evgeny Shirikov.
- Lumiere - Andrei Birin.
- Maurice - Vladimir Yabchanik.
- Lefu - Alexander Oleksenko.
- Mrs. Chaiton - Anna Guchenkova.
- Madame de la Chest - Alyona Firger.
- Narrator - Alexey Ivashchenko.
To become the performers of the roles, in the musical “Beauty and the Beast”, the actors underwent a strict casting, which lasted about a year.
Makeup and costumes
The production of “Beauty and the Beast” (Russian musical) is a rich arsenal of very interesting and complex costumes. Many of them have considerable weight. For example, Belle's dress, in which she appears before the audience in the final of the play, weighs 16 kilograms. A Lumiere costume (candelabra) weighs 10 kilograms, while the actor’s hands are always raised up, and they wear accessories that simulate candles that can burn, since gas burners are hidden in secret pockets. In order to play roles in such heavy clothes, artists need stamina and good physical preparation.
The main character’s makeup in the production of Beauty and the Beast (musical) is very complicated. You can see a photo of the process of applying makeup to an artist playing the role of an enchanted Prince below.
Interesting Facts
The performance was staged in 22 countries, and the total number of spectators worldwide amounted to more than 35 million people. The author of Russian texts for the arias of the play is actor Alexei Kortnev.
Ticket prices. How to get there
Tickets for the production of “Beauty and the Beast” (musical) can be purchased over the Internet, their cost on average varies from 1000 to 4000 rubles.
There is a daily performance at the Rossiya Theater, at Pushkinskaya Ploshchad 2. The metro stations Tverskaya, Chekhovskaya and Pushkinskaya are nearby.
On weekdays, you can watch the tale exclusively in the evening. On weekends and holidays - twice, in the daytime and in the evening, the musical Beauty and the Beast is shown. The duration of the performance is 3 hours.