Delightful in its ebullience and utterly charming in its staging, Stageworks Fresno’s Beauty and the Beast, Jr. is highly recommended for families with children this summer. The familiar Disney™ musical is truncated to a brisk 100 minutes with some real moments of theater magic performed by students under the age of 16.
A real asset to the production is the storybook set and the inventive use of puppetry to portray the inhabitants of the enchanted castle– a concession to the very intimate space in the Dan Pessano Theater– designed by Matthew McGee. The students using the table top puppets for the likes of Lumiere (Kyla Kennedy), Cogsworth (Jacob Moon), and Mrs. Potts (Julie Cowger, during the performance I saw) had some of the best performances in the show. It was as if requiring the actors to be so physically specific with their puppetry made their own movement more precise and expressive. Their performances started in their bodies, carried through the puppet and then channeled back to their bodies making them all complete units as they sang and danced with the animated props. All of this only heightened the effect of those actors singing “Human Again”, taking the idea of human animation to a truly imaginative level.
Also very effective was The Beast’s final moments in Act I. At the beginning of “If I Can’t Love Her”, the vocals seemed off, but soon enough director Joel Abels moves the The Beast’s platform centerstage and highlights it with Ben Holley’s evocative lighting. And suddenly, young William Bishop flawlessly makes a key change, then hits and sustains the final dramatic high note of the number to chilling effect.
Emma Denbensten, as Belle, does a fine job– her singing and speaking voice is absolutely beautiful. As a young performer, she is just on the verge of taking the expressiveness of her vocals and extending them down into her body. The character work of Kennedy as Lumiere and Sydney Swearengin as LeFou is outstanding, both vocally and in terms of character/body movement. Also charming were Cerece Duggan, Camden Johnson, and Greysa Lemons as the Silly Girls and Kyla Martin (again, on the night I saw it) as Chip.
In terms of staging, lighting, and overall performances by a student cast, Beauty and the Beast, Jr. will certainly inspire your young audience members in the wonder of theater magic. It runs only one more weekend, so make your reservations in advance.
Thursday, July 14 (Menken Cast)-8:00 P.M.
Friday, July 15 (Ashman Cast)-5:00 P.M.
Friday, July 15 (Ashman Cast)- 8:00 P.M.
Saturday, July 16 (Menken Cast)-2:00 P.M.
Saturday, July 16 (Menken Cast)-8:00 P.M.
Tickets are $20.
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/177875
