WASHINGTON — Bonjour! Be our guest. And by all means, try the grey stuff. It’s delicious.
Disney’s stage musical “Beauty and the Beast” opens Tuesday night at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., launching a run of eight performances through Jan. 11.
The tale is old as time, or at least as old as 1756, when French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont published his story of a prince-turned-beast who must learn to appreciate beauty on the inside. Classic film buffs will remember Jean Cocteau’s French flick “La Belle et la Bete” (1946), while TV watchers may remember the Ron Perlman series “Beauty and the Beast” (1987-1990).
Still, the most famous version is the 1991 Disney animated movie, which would have easily won the Oscar for Best Animated Film, but the award wasn’t invented until the arrival of “Shrek” (2001). Instead, “Beauty and the Beast” achieved the impossible by earning a nomination for Best Picture, doing battle with four non-animated titans. When the night was over, “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) had swept all the major awards, but “Beauty and the Beast” took home statues for Best Original Score (Alan Menken) and Best Original Song (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman).
“‘Beauty and the Beast’ was one of my earliest Disney-movie memories,” says actress Emily Jewell, who plays Mrs. Potts opposite Jillian Butterfield’s Belle. “It struck a chord with me, like many people of my generation, because the character of Belle was so different. She was such an independent princess. She really changed the game for Disney.”
Fans of the Disney animated movie will find all of their favorite songs: “Belle,” “Gaston,” “Be Our Guest,” “Something There,” “The Mob Song” and “Beauty and the Beast.” But, to steal a phrase, “there’s something there that wasn’t there before,” with six additional songs that first appeared in the original 1994 Broadway production.
Jewell says her favorite is “Human Again,” which was originally written for the enchanted objects to sing in the Disney movie, but became a deleted scene before being revived on Broadway.
“They’re really envisioning what this could be like if this spell were broken,” Jewell says. “It’s some of the most beautiful singing I think we get to do in the entire show.”
Jewell may have the biggest shoes to fill as Mrs. Potts, a role made famous by the legendary voice of Angela Lansbury (who, by the way, comes to D.C. on March 17 for “Blithe Spirit” at the National Theatre , where she made her pre-Broadway stage debut nearly 58 years ago).
“Even though it’s animated, you can totally see Angela Lansbury’s expressions in Mrs. Potts,” says Jewell, who insists she’ll make the part her own. “The thing that makes Mrs. Potts who she is, is her hope in this situation. The whole message of the story is seeing past the exterior of someone and into their heart, and she is one of the people who knows what’s in the Beast’s heart from the beginning.”
Jewell will take the stage in a giant teapot, designed by Ann Hould-Ward, who won the Tony for the 1994 Broadway costumes, then redesigned them when the show was re-imagined in 2010.
“The costumes are amazing; you have all your favorite songs … it’s everything in the movie times 10,” says Jewell, who will take the show on the road as part of the national tour. “Bring your kids; bring your grandparents; come on a date night. There is something for everyone in this show.”
Listen below for our full interview with Mrs. Potts:
Click here for ticket information.
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