Saw it again at the Pantages theatre for an evening show. Perhaps I was tired but I felt almost bored half of the time. The plot pretty much followed the animated movie version. They did add several songs but there was no major changes. The characters were mostly played with a comedic tone but it did not bring me to laughter. Perhaps I have to be 10 years old to laugh since there were several children just tickled to death. Lefou had a slapstick 3 stoges kind of comedy that was just not my cup of tea. Gaston was sort of funny. He made me smile several times. There were some very entertaining moments. Most notable was the "Be our guest" number. It was colorful and lively. Good choreographed dancing are always a hit for me.
Another thing I have to complain about was the stage set. I have to use a lot of imagination for the different scenes they were portraying. I suppose it was hard to have a nice realistic stage set to portray the outside and inside of an enchanted castle. And the stage set to shot the village was rather disproportionately small. And when the opening number "Belle" was going on, there was lot of moving around of the village buildings that was distracting.
I feel the Beast could have been played by a more handsome actor. That way the transformation from beast to prince would made a bigger impact. And speaking of the transformation, it did not live up to my memory on how it happened. The beast did float up but instead of magical sheet covering him, this production used blinding flashing lights directed at the audience. So when our vision regained, the prince was already there. A let down I say.
I would give this show a 3 stars. I honestly do not recall how many stars I would have given the earlier production I saw in Chicago. Just suffice to say I left the theatre underwhelmed by this production.
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