Posted on: Saturday, October 13, 2001

Stage Review
Wacky 'Beauty & the Beast' provides surprises

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

Thanks to Disney and other productions, most schoolchildren are familiar with the story of "Beauty & the Beast." A loyal daughter rescues her errant father by agreeing to become the lifetime guest of a hideous monster — whom she comes to love despite his appearance.

Many could also articulate the moral behind the folktale — that beauty is only skin deep and that character is more important than looks.

Despite the story's widespread recognition, there are more than a few surprises in the version by Bret Fetzer, currently in production by the Honolulu Theatre for Youth. Playwright Fetzer gives it a new and slightly wacky twist with contemporary characters and streetwise dialogue.

HTY director Mark Lutwak cranks it up several more turns with a broad and zany production style and designer Melanie Burgess adds outrageous costumes.

Company player Kelly Williams has the part of Rose — the girl who comes to realize the goodness in the Beast. But she's not just another pale, long-suffering storybook heroine.

Rose is an offbeat, awkward young thing who trades her simple pigtails for high hair and chiffon when she moves into the Beast's palace. Instead of finding him hideous, she reacts with the curious interest a convent student might find in a Hell's Angels biker.

The Beast, played cross-gender by Cynthia See in a rubber snout and an explosion of shag carpeting, is a self-absorbed crybaby who simply needs a bright spot to keep him from terminally sulking around his enchanted forest.

The girl's father (BullDog) is a gullible patsy, more comfortable talking to his horse (Hermen Tesoro Jr.) than to his family of demanding females. Rose's sisters are a whining valley girl in spike-heeled boots (Monica Cho) and a blissful dimwit in an ocean of green lace (See again, in a blur of multiple casting).

Minor characters include a clock, a mirror, and a door — not quite personified , but played as talking stage props.

The set is a stripped-down backdrop designed for touring to the neighbor islands and hung with long-stemmed, red roses. Sound and lighting are subordinate to the lavish costumes.

Despite the production trappings, the action line sticks to tradition and offers no surprises. But the new take on an old story continues to offer new perspectives as the action unfolds, proving that seeing things in a new way can be interesting and fun.