Laurie Veldheer and Todd Adamson are simply sublime in La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment’s Disney Beauty And The Beast, the all-around best and most spectacular of the six big-stage regional productions I’ve seen so far.

It’s hard to believe that over a quarter-century has passed since Disney’s take on the fairy-tale classic made movie history by becoming the first full-length animated feature to score a Best Picture Oscar nomination.

Those who haven’t yet experienced Disney Beauty And The Beast live on stage may wonder how its 1994 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 Disney Beauty And The Beast’s 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 tuneful additions (lyrics by Tim Rice) 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, this is ideal family entertainment for elementary school-aged and up, the kind that adults can enjoy every bit as much as the kiddies.

Director Michael Heitzman signals from the get-go that there’ll be nothing at all by-the-numbers about this Beauty And The Beast, first by eschewing the customary live prologue for some beautifully animated storybook projections, and then by fine tuning one stellar performance after another with added points for unexpected comedic bits throughout.

Belles don’t get more incandescent than Veldheer, who makes this Disney heroine her own smart, spunky, gorgeously voiced creation opposite a magnificent Adamson, vanishing inside Beast’s hideously deformed skin to reveal the pain, the depth, and the beauty within, and like his leading lady, Adamson’s vocals are simply sublime.

 Fresh from the Something Rotten National Tour, Josh Grisetti is as magnifique a showman as Lumieres get and Phillip Taratula is a deliciously puffed up delight as Cogsworth.

Matthew Ragas ups the hilarious hunk factor to the nth degree as narcissist extraordinaire Gaston, and local audiences can rejoice that Justin Cowden’s second-in-a-row outing as comic sidekick Lefou is even more outrageously funny than the first, with abundant extra pratfalls to boot.

Alexandra Melrose is maternal perfection (and sings with angelic, fairy godmother-ready pipes) as Mrs. Potts, talented child actor Kaine Koltoniuk is a Chip any mother would be proud to call hers, and Joey D’Auria is dotty daddy perfection as “crazy old Maurice.”

The divine King follows Singin’ In The Rain’s Lina Lamont with the sauciest of Babettes, Denton makes Madame de la Grand Bouche an outrageously operatic scene-stealer, and Michael Stone Forrest serves up a suitably creepy Monsieur D’Arque when singing the praises of the nuthouse otherwise known as “Maison Des Lunes.”

Carly Haig, Tayler Mettra, and Antonia Vivino do some Silly Girls scene-stealing of their own, and like their fellow ensemble members Quintan Craig, Chaz Feuerstine, Anthony Gabriel, Veronica Gutierrez, Julie Hackett, Brandon Halvorsen, Antoine Lee, dance captain Adrianna Rose Lyons, fight captain Dylan Pass, Mackenzie Perpich, and Jay Robinson, prove themselves masterful triple-treats every song-and-dance step of the way.

And speaking of dance, choreographer Robbie Roby not only makes each and every production number a bona fide show-stopper, he does so with abundant originality and zest. (Even when paying tribute to the original Broadway “stein-ography” in “Gaston,” he makes the evening’s most extended applause-getter very much his hilarious own.)

Front Row Theatricals’s sets and Maine State Music Theater’s costumes (original designers uncredited) make this Disney Beauty And The Beast the most gorgeous-to-look-at I’ve seen, with refreshingly original touches throughout.

Jonathan Infante’s projections are all terrific, and never more so than when spooking audiences with the spookiest of woods, Jean-Yves Tessier lights the La Mirada stage with accomplished finesse, and Kevin Williams’ props, Katie McCoy’s wigs, and Denice Paxton’s Beast makeup merit cheers as well.

Last but not least, the production sounds as sensational as it looks thanks to musical director extraordinaire Darryl Archibald, his Broadway-caliber pit orchestra, and Josh Bessom’s impeccable sound design.

Jill Gold is production stage manager and Lisa Palmire is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Julia Flores. Chris Conrad is technical director.

I’ve seen Beauty And The Beast on tour in both Equity and non-Equity incarnations, in major and minor regional productions, and even scaled down to 99-seat proportions, and though most of them have merited cheers, none of them has matched the all-around magnificence of Disney Beauty And The Beast on the La Mirada Theatre stage.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
June 1, 2019
Photos: Jason Niedle

Tags: Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theatre Review, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Tim Rice