Musical "Beauty and the Beast": reviews. Musical "Beauty and the Beast" in Moscow

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale about a beautiful girl with a kind heart and an enchanted prince languishing in the guise of a terrible Beast. This touching story is known all over the world, loved by both children and adults.

The fairy tale has been filmed many times, a large number of theatrical productions have been created based on it, including the famous musical by Alan Menken, the premiere of the Russian version of which took place on October 18, 2014 in Moscow.

Fairy tale

The fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" is so wise that it seems that it is folk, and many really think so. But the fairy tale has an author - this is the French writer Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbeau de Villeneuve. But the magical love story of Belle and the Beast was not quite the same as we know it. The fairy tale written by Madame de Villeneuve had many more characters and storylines than the version that is familiar to all of us, and it told about not only the enchanted Prince and Beauty. We are accustomed to the option, whichappeared 16 years after the work of the writer de Villeneuve was published. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (great-grandmother of the famous Prosper Mérimée) edited and shortened the original version. Fairy tale de Villeneuve as edited by de Beaumont gained incredible popularity almost immediately.

The musical "Beauty and the Beast" (which lasts 3 hours) tells that only love and beauty will save the world, because they have great power to make the world and people better.

Creators

The author of the music is the famous American composer, winner of 10 Golden Globe awards, 7 Grammy awards and 8 Oscar awards - Alan Menken.

The list of his most famous works includes music for cartoons and Broadway productions such as "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Rapunzel", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", as well as for the musical "Act Sister". He is the author of songs and off-screen compositions for the cartoon "Pocahontas" and for the film "Home Alone". This is not a complete list of masterpieces that glorified A. Mencken throughout the world.

The libretto was written by L. Woolverton, the author of scripts for children's TV shows and animated series. Her most famous works are The Lion King, The Real Ghostbusters, Alvin and the Chipmunks, DuckTales.

The lyrics to the cartoon "Beauty and the Beast", which were also used in the production, belong to H. Ashman. For additional songs, the lyrics were written by the famous Tim Rice.

Succeeded for 20 years by viewers of all ages in many countriesworld musical "Beauty and the Beast". Reviews about it are filled with such epithets as “fantastic spectacle”, “amazing action”, “bright extravaganza”, “bewitching fairy tale”…

Characters

Belle is the first beauty in her town. Smart and kind girl. It differs from everyone not only in beauty. She loves to read and dream, which is why the people of the city consider her strange. Only her father understands her - an inventor and the same dreamer as his daughter.

The Beast is a Prince who was bewitched by a sorceress as punishment for not knowing how to love and compassion. There is only one way to break the spell: the Prince must love the girl, who will love him in return, despite his terrible appearance.

Gaston is a handsome, tall, strong, confident young hunter. All the girls are in love with him, except for Belle, whom he wants to get as a wife and does not give her a pass. Belle does not want to become his wife, as he is rude and arrogant.

Lefou is Gaston's friend, frail, short and stupid.

When a spell was cast on the Prince, everyone who lived and worked in his castle also fell under the spell of the sorceress: Lumiere, the head waiter, became a candelabra; butler Cogsworth - mantel clock; Mrs. Chayton - teapot; her son Chip with a cup of tea; maid Babette - with a broom.

Storyline

One winter night, a beggar woman asked a young Prince who lives in a luxurious castle for the night. He was heartless and ordered her to be driven away. The old woman turned out to be a sorceress and punished the Prince by turning him into a Beast, and his servants- in objects. The spell can only be removed by a girl who falls in love with the Beast.

Belle lives with her father, who once got lost in the forest, wandered into the castle to the Beast and became a prisoner there. The girl goes to look for him and, once in the castle, asks to release her father, saying that she will remain in captivity instead of him. The monster agrees. Father is returned home, but she remains in the castle.

The Enchanted Prince and his servants hope that Beauty will be able to remove the spell from them. At first, the girl and the owner of the castle do not get along, the Beast frightens Belle not only with her appearance, but also with her rude manners. Over time, it learns to be gallant, Belle ceases to be afraid of him, and they become friends. Thanks to the girl, the Beast becomes kinder and more humane, it sincerely falls in love with her. Noticing that Beauty yearns for her father, the Prince lets her go home, she promises to return, but he is sure that he will not see her again. In parting, the girl receives as a gift a ring that will allow her to instantly be in the castle if she so desires, and a magic mirror in which she can see whatever she wants.

She is met at home by Gaston, who threatens that if she does not become his wife, her father will be sent to an asylum for insane people, because he tells stories about the Beast to everyone. The girl, trying to prove the veracity of her father's words and avoid the marriage she hates, shows in a magic mirror the Beast that Gaston intends to destroy by arranging a raid on him, for which he gathers a crowd of townspeople.

Young hunter tries to killPrince, which he does not resist at all, because he does not need life without Belle. Belle returns to the castle to save the Beast, but Gaston manages to mortally wound him. The girl says that she loves the Beast, the spell is broken, love conquers death, and instead of a terrible beast, a beautiful Prince appears before her. One of my favorite stories about the all-conquering power of love is the musical Beauty and the Beast. Feedback from viewers around the world allows you to get an answer to the question: “Is it worth going to this performance?” There is no doubt that such a kind musical fairy tale deserves attention and will surely please everyone.

2008 Moscow production

For the first time Russia saw the performance "Beauty and the Beast" (musical) in 2008. For two years, the fairy tale delighted the Russian audience, the halls were full, the production was a huge success. During this time, more than six hundred shows took place. About 700 thousand spectators watched the musical "Beauty and the Beast". The Russian public wrote reviews about the production and gratitude in their letters to the Stage Entertainment company, which presented this magical and immortal love story to our country. The performance was so loved by the audience that the end of its release in 2010 was a great disappointment for them.

It was almost impossible to buy tickets for the production of "Beauty and the Beast" (musical), as they were sold out for several months in advance.

2008 Troupe

The selection of artists took a very long time. There was even an opennational casting "Find the Beast", shown on the TVC channel, where one artist was chosen from 500 applicants for the role of the enchanted Prince in the musical "Beauty and the Beast". Actors who played roles in the first Moscow production:

• Belle - Ekaterina Guseva (actress and film actress, played the role of Katya in the musical "Nord-Ost").
• The Beast - Viktor Dobronravov (son of actor F. Dobronravov, theater and film actor).
• Monsieur Mrak - Ivan Ozhogin (graduate of GITIS, laureate of competitions and the highest theatrical awards, soloist of the musicals Cats, Nord-Ost, Chicago, Wedding of the Jays, Ball of the Vampires, Master and Margarita, The Phantom of the Opera).
• Gaston - Rostislav Kolpakov (soloist of the musicals Ball of the Vampires, The Master and Margarita, Lukomorye).
• Lumiere - Andrey Birin (actor of the Oleg Tabakov theater, starred in the movie "Running on the Waves", played the role of Michael in the musical "The Witches of Eastwick").
• Mrs. Chayton - Elena Charkviani (10 years worked at the Bat Cabaret Theatre, hosted a program on the NTV channel. Soloist of musicals: We Will Rock You, Mamma Mia!, The Witches of Eastwick, Cats).
• Madame de la Comode - Lusine Tishinyan (participated in musical projects and gave concerts in Russia and Europe).
• Lefou - Alexey Yemtsov (Graduated from EGTI, while still a student, took part in productions of the Yekaterinburg Musical Comedy Theater, lives and works in Moscow).

These wonderful performers graced the musical "Beauty and the Beast", public reviews about the troupe soundexclusively in a positive way.

2014 Moscow production

After the show of Beauty and the Beast was completed in Russia in 2010, the audience wrote a huge number of letters to the Stage Entertainment company asking for its return to the domestic stage. In October 2014, when the production of Beauty and the Beast (musical) celebrated its 20th anniversary, Moscow once again welcomed this beautiful romantic story. The producers have no doubt that this time this musical fairy tale will be a great success with the Russian public.

2014 Troupe

35 actors were selected for the production of "Beauty and the Beast" (musical). The composition of the artists performing the roles in the 2014 performance has been updated. But there are also actors who participated in the 2008 production.

• Belle - Anastasia Yatsenko.
• The Beast - Alexey Konovalov and Pavel Lyovkin.
• Gaston – Yevgeny Shirikov.
• Lumiere - Andrey Birin.
• Maurice - Vladimir Yabchanik.
• Lefou – Alexander Oleksenko.
• Mrs. Chayton - Anna Guchenkova.
• Madame de la Dresser - Alyona Firger.
• The narrator is Alexei Ivashchenko.

To become the performers of the roles in the musical "Beauty and the Beast" the actors went through a rigorous casting, which lasted about a year.

Makeup and costumes

The production of "Beauty and the Beast" (Russian musical) is a rich arsenal of very interesting and complex costumes. Many of them are quite heavy. Tofor example, Belle's dress, in which she appears before the audience at the end of the performance, weighs 16 kilograms. Lumiere's costume (candelabra) weighs 10 kilograms, while the actor's hands are always raised up, and they are wearing accessories that imitate candles that can burn, as gas burners are hidden in secret pockets. In order to play roles in such heavy robes, artists need stamina and good physical fitness.

The make-up of the protagonist in the production of "Beauty and the Beast" (musical) is very complicated. A photo of the process of applying makeup to the artist playing the role of the enchanted Prince, you can see below.

Interesting facts

The performance was staged in 22 countries, and the total number of viewers worldwide amounted to more than 35 million people. The author of the Russian texts for the arias of the performance is the actor Alexei Kortnev.

Ticket prices. Getting there

Tickets for the production of "Beauty and the Beast" (musical) can be purchased via the Internet, their cost varies on average from 1000 to 4000 rubles. square", 2. Nearby are the metro stations "Tverskaya", "Chekhovskaya", "Pushkinskaya".

On weekdays, you can watch a fairy tale only in the evening. On weekends and holidays - twice, in the daytime and in the evening, the musical "Beauty and the Beast" is shown. The duration of the performance is 3 hours.