Who isn't familiar with the ever-popular story of a beautiful maiden learning to love a beast? Or rather, who isn’t familiar with the ‘Disney-fied’ animated movie with a score as good as a Broadway show’s? I’m pretty sure you can’t say you have never heard of Beauty and the Beast. I’m also pretty sure you can’t say you never once sighed wistfully at the thought of an enchanted castle, a gorgeous girl and a prince thrown into the story. Can it be possible then for you to have missed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Musical when it hit Kuala Lumpur in June? I think not!

For the unlucky few who didn’t make it to see this spectacular work staged at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, fret not; I will do my best to bring back some recollections of the musical for you. Firstly, how can I possibly start off without bombarding this article with every wonderful review I can give to this musical? It was simply that amazing. The lighting, the choreography, the vocals, the sets, the special effects – all breathtaking. One had no choice but to be simply swept away by the current the story was making.

Where should I start? I’ll begin from the very beginning and end at the very end, but I doubt I can do any justice to this musical. It starts off with a short explanation on how a prince got turned into a Beast for his beastly mannerism. The scene then changes to a small French village with its villagers going about their own business. The heroine of the story, Belle (played by Ashley Oliver) wishes for an adventure outside the small town, something right out of the storybooks she loves so much. Gaston (played by Ben Harlow), Belle’s relentless suitor, is an amusing bad guy with a fetish for tights and tops with fake six-packs. A salute to Conleth Kane who played Lefou, Gaston’s wimpy sidekick; I found him to be simply adorable and the audience loved him like they would a little puppy. Anyway, back to the story. Belle’s father goes off to enter into an inventors’ competition but gets lost in the woods. He finds shelter in a palace where the objects can talk and move but is taken prisoner by the Beast (played by Matthew Cammelle) who resides there. Belle, feeling ill at ease with her father’s absence, goes off in search of him and discovers the castle as her father did. A compromise between the Beast and her leaves her prisoner in her father’s place while her father is released.
From then on, the story revolves around the slowly building relationship between Belle and the Beast. However, this growing happiness is shattered when Gaston, mad with jealousy, leads an angry mob to the Beast’s castle to kill him. A fight ensues where Gaston ends up on the losing side (but he deserves it, in my opinion) but the Beast is mortally wounded. As Belle confesses her love for the Beast, the spell is broken and, with a stunning mix of lighting and swing work, the Beast is changed back to his human self. A happy ending after all, as always of course (this is a Disney musical).

The amazing score is a nostalgic one – the exact original from the Disney movie. Old favourites like ‘Bonjour’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ had people in the audience singing along unabashed. The costumes were a joy to look at. We must take into account that clothing actors in costumes meant to be inanimate objects is no easy task and yet it was achieved so gracefully in this musical. The cast members were justly picked. They all played by their characters with precision and accuracy to the original movie, but with their own little twists here and there. Many little kids were to be heard saying as they came out of the theatre, “Mummy, Mummy, that girl was really like Belle, wasn’t she? And that Gaston is so funny, but he’s bad so I shouldn’t like him. Mummy, the Beast was a nice person after all, wasn’t he? And I liked his singing!” I could only nod my head enthusiastically in agreement with their words.

In conclusion, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Musical was one of the better things that came to KL this year. Move aside, Avril Lavigne, this musical would have certainly blown her socks off. Leaving the theatre, one would be plagued by thoughts like “Gee, I wish something like that could happen to me.” After all, ‘there must be more to this provincial life.’

Rating: ★★★★★ -- Excellent