A luminous Susan Egan’s return to the role that made her a Broadway star is just one reason not to miss 5-Star Theatricals’ five-star revival of Disney Beauty And The Beast, though it is easily Egan’s incandescent star turn that gives the production’s two-weekend run at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza event status.

 It’s hard to believe that twenty-four years have passed since Disney transformed its 1991 Oscar-winning animated film into a Broadway musical that went on to run thirteen years, play 5461 performances, and feature such stage and screen luminaries as Debbie Gibson and Toni Braxton in the title role (Beauty that is, not Beast).

 Egan was the first of them all, scoring both Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, and it is her voice that countless Beauty And The Beast fans have listened to again and again on its Original Cast Recording, the same exquisite soprano an ever radiant Egan shows off on the Kavli Theatre stage in a performance that has not lost an iota of Belle’s warmth, her charm, her girlish wonder, or her intelligence, and just wait till you see Egan show off high kicks that would do her 24-year-old self proud.

 Those who haven’t yet experienced Disney Beauty And The Beast live on stage may wonder how its Tony-winning Broadway adaptation managed to recreate with living, breathing actors the animated film’s Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, servants transformed by an enchantress’s spell into items of furniture, especially in production numbers like “Be Our Guest.”

Suffice it to say that book writer Linda Woolverton and the show’s creators came up with ingenious solutions likely to surprise those who may have thought it couldn’t be done.

 The 84-minute film’s original songs (music by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman) have been supplemented by a number of additions (lyrics by Tim Rice), most notably Belle’s “Home,” Gaston’s “Me,” and Beast’s powerful Act One closer “If I Can’t Love Her,” which serve to flesh out and enrich Woolverton’s characters, and though the stage musical’s longer running time will test the attention span of children under five (i.e., leave those toddlers and preschoolers at home), this is family entertainment for elementary school-aged and up, the kind that adults can enjoy every bit as much as the kiddies, and who better to direct it for 5-Star than Yvette Lawrence, who replaced Egan during the show’s extended 1995 L.A. run, and clearly knows her B&TB like the back of her hand.

Under Lawrence’s inspired direction (I love that we get to see Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and the rest of the castle staff in pre-transformation human form in the show’s prologue), Egan is not the only performer to light up the Kavli stage.

In his most major role to date, rising SoCal star Jason Chacon matches Egan’s Belle every step of the way, investing Beast with a gentle heart, childlike wonder, oceans of pain, and a Broadway-caliber baritone that makes “If I Can’t Have Her” every bit the equal of Egan’s “Is This Home?” and “A Change In Me.”

 Among humans-turned-household objects, the always fabulous, ever revelatory Marc Ginsburg gives Lumiere oodles of French flair, Gregory North provides appropriate pomposity as Cogsworth, Devon Davidson makes for an ooo-la-luscious Babette, understudy Sarah Marie plays and sings Mrs. Potts with marvelous maternal warmth, Luke Pryor is perkiness personified as Chip, and Nandini Sinha is a big-voiced operatic hoot as Madame de la Grande Bouche.

 Adam Hollick is not only the most musculature-blessed of the nine stage Gastons I’ve seen, he gives the handsome hunk some hilarious body-builder poses before taking Belle’s would-be suitor to some dark and creepy places all the while displaying operatic pipes to match his bulging biceps.

Justin Charles Cowden’s gloriously goofy Le Fou does some of the side-splittingest pratfalls in town, David Gilchrist makes for a delightfully daffy Maurice, and William Carmichael is suitably creepy as Monsieur D’Arque.

 As for Beauty And The Beast’s singing-dancing ensemble, Melia Bacon, Claudia Baffo, Daniel Berlin, Daisy Bishop (Silly Girl), Lulu Bishop, Aaron Camitses (Young Prince, Wolf, Salt), Amanda Carr (Wolf), Josh Christoff (Bookseller), Ron de la Peña, Courtni Gidish (Wolf, Salt), Veronica Gutierrez (Enchantress), Marcus Henson (Wolf), Grant Hodges (Cheese Grater), Keenon Hooks, ensemble swing Ashley Knaack, Liana Leininger, Sharon Logan, Sean McCarthy, Jade Rosenberg (Silly Girl), Pablo Rossil, Katie Self, Jessie Sherman (Silly Girl), Olly Sholotan (Wolf, Doormat), and Jater Webb prove themselves consummate triple-threats throughout, executing Cheryl Baxter’s high-energy, entirely original choreography with abundant flair in “Gaston,” “Be Our Guest,” and “Human Again.” (Special snaps to Bishop, Rosenberg, and Sherman for their three very different but equally silly Silly Girls, Sholotan for his gravity-defying acrobatic Doormat, and the Kids Ensemble* for being pint-sized charmers). Danielle Jensen is ensemble swing.

 Beauty And The Beast sounds great thanks to musical director/conductor Dan Redfield, the 5-Star Theatricals Orchestra, and sound designer Jonathan Burke.

Rented sets are imposing if not spectacular, but Beth Glasser’s costumes, rented from numerous sources, are Broadway-caliber all the way save Belle’s frumpy pink number. Jose Santiago lights all of the above (Alex Choate’s props included) with dramatic storybook flair, with additional production design kudos shared by Daniel Robles’s hair and wig designs, Denice Paxton’s makeup design (Beast’s in particular is a stunner), and some fabulous flying effects provided by ZFX, Inc. (The eleventh-hour transformation is an eye-popping wonder.)

Talia Krispel is production stage manager and Jack Allaway is technical director.

One of the absolute best Beauty And The Beasts I’ve seen, 5-Star Theatricals’ is easily the must-see-est of them all. Susan Egan makes it so, and if you don’t catch her Belle between now and July 29, you’ll be kicking yourself for the next twenty-four years at least.

*Gil De St. Jeor, Luca de la Pena, Marissa Margolis, Drew Rosen, Madison North, and Bayley Tannenbaum

5-Star Theatricals, Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks.

www.5startheatricals.com

–Steven Stanley
July 20, 2018
Photos: Ed Krieger

Tags: 5-Star Theatricals, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, Ventura County Theater Review