Review: Beauty and the Beast Invites You to Be Their Guest
By now, Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney’s most beloved and iconic stories. With its brave heroine, talking furniture, and enchanted curse, this timeless tale is now brought to life in a new touring production that breathes fresh life into the classic story.
Directed by Matt West, Beauty and the Beast tells the story of the beautiful and bookish Belle (Kyra Belle Johnson, played by Grace Marie Rusnica in this performance) as she finds herself in an enchanted castle, ruled over by a tortured Beast (Fergie L. Philippe) as he and his cursed staff search for a way to break the curse that has transformed them into talking, enchanted objects.
Kyra Belle Johnson in Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Rusnica is every bit a Disney princess in a flawless performance full of gumption, sass, and genuine kindness. With a voice like tinkling silver bells, she carries herself with a delicate poise while still bringing Belle’s trademark sarcasm and fiery comebacks. But it is her rendition of “Home” that stands above the rest. Rather than performing the number with the broken, softer energy often found in the scene, Runisca brings a more frantic energy full of angry venom towards her captor before settling into a more familiar melody as the song progresses - a surprising but welcome rendition for a character so full of fire.
As a woman, Belle must confront the all-too-familiar story of aggressive, angry, and pushy men in her life, and none more so than Gaston (Stephen Mark Lukas). Full of pompous and arrogant swagger, Lukas’ physicality and Disney-perfected verbal cadence encapsulate Gaston’s delicate balance of cocky goof and punchable misogynist, particularly in his number “Me” as he struts around trying to convince Belle of his….endearing…..qualities.
The Beast is brutish in a different way than Gaston. In the original 1991, the Beast’s character arc follows a fairly linear path. Philippe has instead created a multi-dimensional, complex character that we root for in the beginning, rather than just in the second half after the transformative number “Something There.” As he is forced to confront the curse and his impulsive, aggressive behavior, it is here that we see the biggest change from the movie. In the film, the servants in the house are turned into objects like candelabras, clocks, and teapots. But the musical’s original creative team took the story in a slightly different direction. While they are still “household knickknacks,” they are people with inanimate features (like a teapot spout instead of an arm for Mrs. Potts, rather than being a teapot herself), slowly becoming less and less human as the curse drags on. This clever shake-up is mirrored in Philippe’s Beast as he fights to control his animalistic impulses that take over the man he wishes to be, particularly in his number “If I Can’t Love Her.” Full of the vocal control we’ve come to expect from our leading men, the regret and emotion is palpable as we see the humanity beneath the beast.
Fergie L. Philippe in Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Joining the Beast in his long-standing punishment are the members of his household staff: Mrs. Potts the teapot (Kathy Voytko), Lumiere the candelabra (Danny Gardner), Cogsworth the clock (Javier Ignacio), Chip the teacup (role shared between Beatrice Goddard Beggs and Levi Blaise Coleman), Babette the feather duster (Cameron Monroe Thomas), and Madame the wardrobe (Holly Ann Butler). Each one brings something special to the role, be it Mrs. Potts’ words of motherly kindness, Cogsworth’s too-tightly-wound (sorry, couldn’t resist the clock pun) rule following, or Lumiere’s eternal optimism, as they befriend Belle and help her adjust to her new life. Together, their chemistry and ability to play off each other’s different energies create multidimensional characters as we see them slowly suffer through their own version of the curse.
L-R: Danny Gardner, Kathy Voytko, Kevin Ligon, Cameron Monroe Thomas, Javier Ignacio and Holly Ann Butler in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
But the real question is how do you take a decades-old Disney musical and make it entertaining for not just children, but adults as well? The answer is simple: nostalgia and truly beautiful technical elements.
I could write a whole article just about the technical elements of this production, but I’ll start with costume designer Ann Hould-Ward. Belle’s iconic yellow dress is a thing of beauty, full of tasteful sparkle and fabric that flows as effortlessly as a graceful waterfall. It is a travesty that we only get to see it during Voytko’s iconic performance of “Beauty and the Beast.” As part of the idea that the staff is slowly morphing into their inanimate selves, their costumes contain subtle and not so subtle elements made of rich, elegant fabrics, and the creations for the ensemble and villagers are bright with jewel tones that flip, twirl, and swish as the costumes become a character of their own, particularly during the number “Be Our Guest.”
West also serves as the production’s choreographer, and let me tell you. His version of “Be Our Guest” might be some of the best staging I have ever seen. There is an old joke in theater that nearly everyone has been a dancing “insert piece of cutlery here” in a local production of Beauty and the Beast. But West took things in a different direction. Instead of dancing around as a giant cardboard fork doing their darnedest not to bump into the spoon next to them, dancers in “Be Our Guest” were portrayed as showgirls, holding up plates as if they were fans and using giant stationary pieces of cutlery in a Gene Kelly-esque (a la the lamppost pose in Singing in the Rain) moment. After clearly making the point of kitchen objects come to life, the pieces were discarded, instead making the dancers the central focal point, including Belle herself, who was part of an elaborate tap routine, rather than just sitting at the table watching like she usually does.
Danny Gardner and Kyra Belle Johnson (center) and Company of Disney's Beauty and the Beast
With rapid fire costume additions like hats, capes, and overcoats, the entire cast turned the number into a fabulous golden production, sprinkled with splashes of color and clever Vegas-style choreography from West, earning a standing ovation from the entire room.
Fortunately for viewers, West’s choreographical (yes I know it’s not a word) brilliance is carried throughout the production. I’ve never considered the song “Gaston” to be a particularly memorable moment in the show. Sure, it’s cute and funny as the dweeby, punchable (said lovingly, of course) Lefou (Harry Francis) dances around a tavern, trying to cheer Gaston up with his list of outlandish accolades (although I suppose if we can marvel at an annual hot dog eating contest, we can marvel at someone eating five dozen eggs every day). But pairing West’s choreography (including some impeccable beer-mug-ography during an unspeakably long, flawlessly executed dance break) with the talent of the dancers creates a visual feast from start to finish, especially when combined with the storybook-worthy sets from scenic designer Stanley A. Meyer, illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer, and projection/video designer Darrel Maloney.
Stephen Mark Lukas (center) and Company of Disney's Beauty and the Beast
But perhaps the most special moment in the production is the narrator's introduction in the beginning (stay with me here). As the voiceover describes how the young prince rudely refused to let an old woman spend the night and was cursed as punishment for being unkind, I thought it sounded just like Angela Lansbury. Turns out, it is. Lansbury voiced the original Mrs. Potts in the 1991 film and left a teapot-shaped hole in the Broadway community after she passed away in 2022. Seeing her in this new production as it is brought to life for a new generation brought me to tears. Beauty and the Beast will always have a special place in my heart, as Chip in a community production of the show was the first role I ever had and my introduction to theater. Hearing Lansbury’s voice now as a spectator was a full circle moment I wasn’t expecting and didn’t know I needed.
In addition to featuring the film’s original music and lyrics from Alan Menken and Howard Ashman respectively, the production also features additional lyrics from Tim Rice and a book from Lisa Woolverton, as well as sound design from John Shivers and lighting design from Natasha Katz.
Beauty and the Beast runs at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina through Sunday, September 14, 2025. The production uses strobe lights, loud sound effects, theatrical haze, and fog in the creation of effects.
Photo credit to Matthew Murphy. Additional production photos can be found below.
