Review: Kaunotar ja Hirviö

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST IS VERY COMMERCIAL – AND VERY CHARMING

The Disney musical Beauty and the Beast , based on the French fairy tale classic, premiered on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre. The premiere audience was unusually charmed with applause and cheers throughout the performance. And not without reason.

Liisa Ryömä’s Finnish translation, with its root canal treatments and curled feet, creates a captivating and humorous world of a fairy tale, but is reminiscent of the Potter translations and Roald Dahl’s big, kind giant.

Juha Westman’s set design, which makes particularly skilful use of lighting design, is designed by Katariina Kirjavainen , and supports the scene changes and fairytale-like illusion perfectly. In lighting design, the wide light mats in the background background are particularly eye-catching.

Beauty and the Beast is a visual musical spectacle with large crowd scenes and spectacular costumes. But it is also a familiar and safe fairy tale about the victory of goodness.

Cooperation works

The scene changes are the most skilful part of the musical. The handwriting of the Swedish director Hans Berndtsson is strongly visible in them. In the rhythm of a musical, scene changes are important, for example, when the characters in the story are introduced or the plot is taken forward.
Maurice’s entrances, in particular, bring out the scene exchanges in a clear way. This is probably due to the fact that the father-daughter relationship between Bella and Maurice is a sign of the right kind of caring in the performance, while the relationship between the other characters in the performance is based on the pursuit of an advantage or some other goal, such as the undoing of magic.
The charm of the musical lies in its visuals, but it is also based on the soulfulness of Marika Westerling , who interprets Bella, and the silliness of Bella’s father, Maurice, Markku Huhtamo .
They stand out the most strongly among the musical’s interpreters. The strength of Westerling’s expression lies more in the vocals than in the gestures. Instead, Huhtamo’s Maurice’s strength lies precisely in his acting, Huhtamo makes Bella’s father a really warm and sympathetic character.
The monster of the premiere was played by Kari Arffman, who interprets the monster in a very physical way, but in such a way that the change from self-centeredness to openness is built through very precise details.
The musical’s central characters are introduced in pairs, such as Ursula Salo’s excellent Mrs. Nokkava and her son Kippo, Antti Lang. The comedic characters, Risto Kaskilahti’s candelabra Lumiére and Eero Saarinen’s closet clock Gogsworth, work together and as a single performance in a delightfully wonderful way.

Successful productization

Beauty and the Beast draws the audience in to enjoy a story in which a narcissistic prince learns to love, despite the fact that the object of love is the most beautiful woman in the village. Not the ugly one, of course, but beautiful in spirit.
The Disney format is strongly visible, especially in the costumes. An example of this is the monster with a lion’s mane. The set design also has the visuals of the film, for example, in how the monster’s castle is perceived.
The commercialisation of the musical is also indicated by the fact that Berndtsson has also directed Beauty and the Beast for the Göta Lejon Theatre in Stockholm during this stage season.
Although the musical Beauty and the Beast can be labeled ‘very commercial’, it is top-notch in stage entertainment.