'Beauty' boasts new twists, same old charm

For anyone who loves all things Disney, fairy tales, pratfalls and memorable songs, the musical "Beauty and the Beast" is not to be missed. Now playing at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, the national tour is a revision of the Broadway award winner, which premiered in 1994. Director Rob Roth and the original Broadway team tweaked here and there to take the show on the road and keep it fresh after 15 years.

It worked.

But, then, they didn't need to do much. The story always holds its own, as do Howard Ashman and Tim Rice's ridiculously good lyrics. But what about the other parts?

Visually, the production mirrored the 1991 animated film on which it was based. The color-saturated costumes and sets were all slightly kooky and skewed like nursery drawings. Every scene faithfully followed the movie. The only adaptation that did not work was the puppetry.

Considering real wolves usually aren't available for live shows, the creative team understandably had to come up with an alternative. The puppet masters were too visible and a bit clumsy with their charges - arms and sticks waving about, human heads bobbing up and down. The unfortunate effect was of a community theater children's show.

Roth's ensemble cast was spectacular. This wasn't a bunch of young actors dotting the stage. This was a family of talent, and each member was endowed with a remarkable voice and gift for comedy.

Nathaniel Hackmann was absolutely fantastic as Gaston, Belle's bruiser suitor with the black eyebrows that extended into hornlike points. He glided like that animated devil as though the bottoms of his feet were as oily as his tongue. It was as if he walked off the silver screen - a living, breathing replica plucked from Disney's animation department.

Aside from his spot-on mannerisms and comedic timing, Hackmann's rich singing blew me away. It helped, too, that he handled one of the best-written tunes in the show: an extended version of "Gaston," in which only a master lyricist could sneak in the word "expectorating."

Liz Shivener (Belle) and Justin Glaser (Beast) also gave tremendous voice to their roles. The actors actually had good chemistry, which doesn't always penetrate musical splendor.

Michael Fatica's Lefou, Gaston's bumbling sidekick, was a trip. (No pun intended. OK, maybe it was.) At one point, he Tigger-bounced across the stage on his bum. How'd he do that?

Diehard "Beauty" fans likely caught differences from the Broadway and movie versions. The additional songs, for instance, weren't as memorable as the original numbers, yet they blended well. Overall, this was a delightful family affair.