Ah, Belle!

Beauty and the Beast

5-Star Theatricals

Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

Saturday, July 21, 2018

My friend Jeff posted on Facebook that Susan Egan would be reprising her role as Belle in Beauty and the Beast one day, and as soon as I saw the post, I alerted Bro and V.  Very soon after that moment, tickets were purchased.  BatB is one of Bro's and my favorite musicals, and Susan is my favorite Belle, so we HAD to go!  

Due to some car trouble I'd been having this week, I took a lyft to Bro's house.  My driver was very friendly.  When I arrived and rang the doorbell, Bro answered the door. Not seeing a car in the driveway, he asked how I got there.  I told him and he said I should just take lyft everywhere so I could have a driver and never have to worry about my own car.  Well, there's a thought!  After curling Miss O's hair (V's first time using a curling iron!), and Mr. B changing his shorts to pants, we were on our way to Thousand Oaks.

We had lunch at Umami burger, which was yummiful.  I had an Impossible Burger for the first time and enjoyed it, so if I see that as an option on hamburger menus, that just might be my new go-to healthy option.  

The theater was located on the same block as the restaurant, so that was convenient!  We did need to drive to the parking structure because of the time limit of the street parking, though.  Bro had his two Beauty and the Beast jackets, so V wore one over her fancy dress.

Our seats were in row L, in the center of the row, so it was a nice view.  The theater is quite nice, and I hope to see other shows there someday.

• Patrick Cassidy (yes, of THAT family!) took the stage and introduced himself as the Artistic Director of 5-star Theatricals.  He talked about the arts program and how thrilled he was that Susan Egan would be reprising her role after 20 years in this production.  I was loud with my appreciation.  He also stated that all of the performances throughout the run were dedicated to Gary Beach, whom was in the OBC as Lumiere, and had passed away this week.
• As soon as I saw Susan Egan, my eyes started to well up with tears.  Ah, Belle!
• Those tears happened a few times, especially when she sang my favorite piece from this musical: "Home".  She still sounds wonderful!  I do not know why it is called "Is This Home?" in the program.
• Also, during "No Matter What".  This song always makes me cry anyway because of the love between Belle and her father, but I think it was bittersweet for me because it made me think of Tom Bosley, and I miss him.   This is not to take away from David Gilchrist's Maurice; he did a great job.
• Jason Chacon did a lovely job as Beast.  He has a beautiful voice and it matched well with Susan's.
• Adam Hollick was hilariously evil as Gaston.  I've always loved "Me" and he and Susan were quite funny together.  Also, he's buff.  I mean, hubba hubba.  It's no wonder those silly girls were so crazy for him.  But Belle knows better.
• "A Change In Me" is a new song to me, which was APPARENTLY added when Brandy took the lead role on Broadway.  
• When the villagers arrived to take Maurice to the Maison des Lunes, Belle was supposed to stand on a bench to show the magic mirror to all of them.  But the bench fell on its side.  She said, "AUGH!", but it was a perfect moment because her character was frustrated with everyone anyway.
• Cogsworth was supposed to have a winding key on his back when Lumiere noticed that he was turning more into a clock, but it wasn't there.  Then a few minutes later after he had gone off stage and come back, the key was there.  Then it somehow got lost again later.  Props can be a pain.  I was worried that the snafus would also affect the transformation, but it was ok.
• I also enjoyed the performances of the secondary characters: Mark Ginsburg (Lumiere), Gregory North (Cogsworth), and Daisy Bishop (understudy for Mrs. Potts).  They worked well together, and were fun to watch.
• The dancing was fun, especially my favorite dance piece: the stein clinking portion of "Gaston".  I teared up a little bit, though, when Lumiere danced with Belle, as I thought of Gary Beach.

After the show, we were treated to a Q&A with the cast, director Yvette Lawrence, music director Dan Redfeld, and choreographer Cheryl Baxter.  This was the only show for which they did this, so we were happy to attend.  (We had also been invited to a little reception before the show with a couple of the actors, but weren't able to make it to that).  

Yvette Lawrence, Susan Egan,
Jason Chacon, and David Gilchrist

• Yvette Lawrence also played Belle at the Shubert Theatre in LA, so she and Susan kept reminding each other of Belle's nuances during rehearsals.
• Adam Hollick's muscles are real and he works out a lot.  
• Jason Chacon kind of got into performing by accident, and soon realized when he had the lowest voice in his class that he could get meaty roles like Beast.

What a great experience for Mr. B's first theatrical show, and for Miss O to hear in person the woman whose song, "Home" she used to listen to every day on the way home from school.  I told Miss O that when I met Susan Egan, I told her about Miss O singing her song, and she was astonished and wished her own kids knew the song.  I also remembered that SE taught me how to take a selfie.

So here you are, in honor of Ms. Egan, a selfie with my halo-halo from later that afternoon.