Beauty and the Beast Revival

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Sotiris
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Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by Sotiris »

Beauty and the Beast should have never left Broadway to begin with. It's too iconic. I wonder if they'll include any songs from the live-action movie in the revival production.

Broadway Revival of Beauty and the Beast in the Works
http://www.playbill.com/article/broadwa ... -the-works
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by JeanGreyForever »

I'm so glad this is back because I've never had a chance to see the original show. I wouldn't be surprised if they shoehorn in some of the new live-action songs considering the Cruise production did that. I would prefer a straight revival though.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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I doubt we’ll be seeing the live action remake’s songs put into the show because they were made mainly for the movie. Plus, it’d be slightly awkward to try and fit them into the revival.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by Disney Duster »

Oh, this is wonderful news, and you are so right, Sotiris, it should never have left Broadway! It was not right for them to close this show just to make room for Tarzan which flopped. This classic should run as long as Phantom of the Opera! Hopefully this becomes a long-running revival like Chicago. I hope the costumes are different than the original's, just because I like things new and also because I would like to see more 18th century accurate costumes, but better than the live-action remake's. And none of that 19th century stuff. This story was set firmly in 18th century France!

My favorite Belle costume was from one of the international productions:
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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Make way for Tarzan? I thought it closed to make way for The Little Mermaid. :?
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by JeanGreyForever »

DisneyJedi wrote:Make way for Tarzan? I thought it closed to make way for The Little Mermaid. :?
You're right as seen here.
http://www.playbill.com/article/beauty- ... com-142554

And at least Tarzan became a bonafide hit in Germany as one of their top shows, whereas TLM, from the best of my knowledge, never really caught on anywhere. I wonder why Hunchback and Tarzan resonated more with German audiences than with American audiences.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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Oh, yes it closed for The Little Mermaid. It was Tarzan being on Broadway that prevented The Little Mermaid from taking up Tarzan's spot and making Beauty and the Beast close instead. I'm so angry at Disney for that!
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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JeanGreyForever wrote:And at least Tarzan became a bonafide hit in Germany as one of their top shows, whereas TLM, from the best of my knowledge, never really caught on anywhere.
It caught in Japan. It's still going strong there since it opened in 2013.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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Disney Press is releasing a tie-in book with the revival on October 27, 2020.

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Celebrating twenty-five years on the stage, Beauty and the Beast was the musical that established Disney as a force on Broadway. The beloved tale at the heart of that success is an ongoing and resonant legend of transformation—from within the story itself, to the way it transformed the medium of Animation, brought Disney to Broadway, lit up the screen in a new live-action film—and continues to change and influence lives worldwide as the most-produced Disney Theatrical title.

Fully illustrated with concept art, costume designs, behind-the-scenes photography, and other rarities and never-before published visuals, along with an erudite text by renowned Disney author historian Jeff Kurtti, the unique and colorful history within A Tale of Transformation: Twenty-Five Years of Beauty and the Beast On Stage also features a dozen guest essays by creative talents and performers who have been a part of, or been deeply influenced by this landmark cultural work.

Readers of A Tale of Transformation: Twenty-Five Years of Beauty and the Beast On Stage will find not only an authoritative backstage look at Beauty and the Beast in its many incarnations, but a joyous celebration of one of the most successful Broadway productions in history.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Tale-Transformat ... 368055451/
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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Wow, this show is getting another book? After Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A Celebration of the Broadway Musical by Don Frantz, I can't believe it! But it's also chronicling the other Disney takes on the tale, so that makes it different.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by JeanGreyForever »

I've never read the first book so I'll definitely try and pick this one up.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Sotiris wrote:Beauty and the Beast should have never left Broadway to begin with. It's too iconic. I wonder if they'll include any songs from the live-action movie in the revival production.

Broadway Revival of Beauty and the Beast in the Works
http://www.playbill.com/article/broadwa ... -the-works
I agree, although I can understand their thought process that they didn't want two fairytales competing with each other in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Who knew they'd screw up TLM on Broadway so badly. It probably would've performed even worse after the initial hype wore off if B&tB had been available as an option at the same time.

Of course, now won't they have Frozen, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast at the same time, right? And I don't think The Lion King ever left.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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Q: You're doing a revival of Beauty and the Beast?

Thomas Schumacher: You can't keep a secret because you know how many people it takes to work on a show? I'm not announcing location or time but I'm deep in it so yeah, it's happening.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heIWReSxxNw
Thomas Schumacher wrote:We are reviving Aida. We're working on it right now and we're deep into that. We're really deep into Princess Bride which is really big. We're doing a big revival of Beauty and the Beast. Certainly Princess Bride is of the big new titles and that's all I'm going to tell you.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlVFSa3QSto
Thomas Schumacher wrote:It’s been 25 years since Beauty and the Beast opened on Broadway—we obviously weren’t the first people to do a family musical. Certain generations would say, ‘Oh, the first musical I saw was The King and I’ or ‘The Sound of Music’ or ‘Annie.’ Beauty and the Beast brought a very different audience than what people were expecting on Broadway. It was both a date night show and a kids' show. We’re working on a revival of it with the entire original team but with a completely new design for every element: new dance arrangements, whole new staging ideas. It’s really fun for that team to be able to dive back in.
Source: https://www.broadway.com/buzz/195703/pr ... -wontorek/
Thomas Schumacher: We're going to revive Beauty. We will design an entirely new production. It'll look very different. I'll be slightly altered in text and everything else that we will then open and be able to do...

Q: ...here on Broadway.

Thomas Schumacher: Actually, it will not open on Broadway; it'll open someplace else.

Q: Do you anticipate it arriving on Broadway at some point?

Thomas Schumacher: We never announce our plans. I have a group of extraordinary artists working on it, so Rob Roth, Stan Meyer, Matt West, Ann Hould-Ward—all of who created the original production, just presented a really glorious re-conception of what the show could be. I went to them and said I have this idea 'what if we all came back together and did this?' The original production's goal was to very much emulate the original film. To make things look like the film looked. But we're now free from that. It's 25 years later but more importantly the audience is so sophisticated 'cause they've done so many of their own versions that we can re-invent it. There's a whole, completely different concept for how we're going to deliver it and there's new dance arrangements and new concepts.
Source: https://variety.com/2019/legit/news/dis ... 203239689/
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I hope it ends up back on Broadway. They made a HUGE mistake when they closed it for the TLM flop. But I get why. I don't think anybody thought they could screw up TLM that badly and they assumed two fairytales at the same time would’ve cannibalized each other.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by MrXemnas1992 »

...the thought of a revival concerns me.

Last Disney Broadway revival/revamp i can recall was The Little Mermaid...I actually loved the original broadway version and think the changes made via the "Euro version" [mainly the costumes] were for the worst.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by UmbrellaFish »

I really adore the very ostentatious designs from the original production— they’re very over the top and you can tell how hard Disney was trying in their very first Broadway musical. I’m not sure those designs would fly today, but I hope they don’t go minimalist to save money. Or take two many cues from the live action adaptation.

Side note, but I think the Princess Diaries would be a great choice to adapt. It’s a ready made star vehicle if it goes to Broadway for a veteran diva and a newcomer, and if it doesn’t go to Broadway, ai guarantee it would be very popular with schools and community theatres.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

Post by JeanGreyForever »

I hope they don't go the route of Emma Watson's live-action dress for Belle. Costumes like that will kill this show.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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So it's not coming to Broaway. At least at first. Ok. Well I hope it will later. I like hearing they want to try a really new, different look and not just copy the original film's look this time. I just hope it looks good! I hope it looks very 18th century though, as the film is set there.
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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The revival will premiere overseas.

Disney Plans Beauty and the Beast International Production
http://www.playbill.com/article/beauty- ... ry-in-year
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Re: Beauty and the Beast Revival

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No Broadway for Beauty and the Beast? Big mistake.
He outlined a number of newish projects for the company, none of them aimed at Broadway. A new production of “Beauty and the Beast,” with the same creative team that worked on the 1994 original, is slated to open overseas next spring and in the United States in 2022, and the company is working on a new, smaller, touring production of “Aladdin.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/thea ... virus.html
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