David Spangenthal plays "The Beast" in Diamond Head Theatre's production of "Beauty and the Beast."
Beauty and
the Beast
Diamond Head Theatre brings the
classic Disney fairy tale to life on a
scale grander than its ambitious
"Titanic" production
It's bigger than "Titanic." That's how stage designer Douglas Scheer describes the production of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" that starts its run Friday night at Diamond Head Theatre. The "Titanic" reference is DHT's ambitious staging of the production that capped its 2001-02 theater season.
On stageDiamond Head Theatre presents "Disney's Beauty and the Beast"Where: Diamond Head Theatre, 520 Makapuu Ave. When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays, through Aug. 7, with Saturday matinee performances at 3 p.m. July 23, and 30, and Aug. 6 Tickets: $12 to $42 Call: 733-0274 or online at www.diamondheadtheatre.com
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"It's absolutely huge. You can't believe how big this show is on our little stage. I can't stress enough how big everything is," Scheer said Monday morning, sounding fresh despite "a very long day" of rehearsals that didn't wrap up until around midnight.
"The castle is the size of the 'Titanic' set. The whole castle comes downstage 6 feet. ... There's a huge staircase in the back, and then the west wing where the rose is kept is another whole piece. There's a ledge that comes out for the fight between Gaston and the Beast, there's the whole village in the beginning. ... (The set) covers the whole thing, and it moves toward you."
Although guest directorchoreographer David Spangethal didn't finish casting the show until June, Scheer has been "building on" the show since March, when he returned to Honolulu after checking out the Broadway production (which continues its successful run since its debut in 1992, a year after the popular animated feature hit movie screens) and started working with DHT costume designer Karen Wolfe.
"I think the first thing we constructed was before 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' even opened. ... Then the set designer got here and everybody just pitched in. Several people in the cast were helping Karen make costumes."
"Being in the show is just a small part (of the work)," he says.
Try designing castle torches that will look like the real thing while also complying with local fire safety regulations, for example, or making sure that everything he'll be near while in costume is fireproof.
"I don't know if this is a word, but (the important thing is) the 'easibility' of how it works. Costumes and props don't only have to work, but the easier the better."
Scheer also designed "the headpiece, both hands and the boots" he'll be wearing on stage.
The headpiece he'll be wearing on opening night is the third one he designed and made, the first two being too heavy.
"This one is about 8 inches above my head, and the hands are that size. We can't divulge how they're actually lit, but the candelabra hands light (and) they're just big enough that I don't catch on fire.
"Holding on to the lighting apparatus is the only thing I have to hold on to. For the number 'Be Our Guest,' I have to do a soft-shoe, and in the meantime, Devon Guard hands me a little bamboo cane and a straw hat to do this whole French number ... it's not easy, the boots are about three times the size of my feet -- dancing and walking, even, is difficult -- but it all works."
Twirling dancers surround Lumiere (Douglas Scheer, also the prop designer) and Belle (18-year-old Shawna Masuda) in "Disney's Beauty and the Beast."
Scheer says that Spangethal's casting adds to the visual impact of Belle's numbers with the costumed characters of the castle.
"He cast most of the show very tall, and our Belle is very tiny. Dennis Proulx is playing Cogsworth, and he's a big man anyway, over 6 feet, 4 inches, and with his costume on, he's 4 1/2 feet wide. He's a huge grandfather clock. There are all these huge, imposing characters around her and she just falls in love with all of them."
In addition to Scheer, Proulx, Masuda and Spangethal himself playing the Beast, the rest of the DHT cast includes Jimi Wheeler as Gaston, Katie Leiva as Mrs. Potts, Pamela Young as Madame de la Grande Bouche, Devon Guard as Babette and Elizabeth "Bit" Harrison as the Enchantress.
In staging this version of "Beauty and the Beast," Scheer said "we were told it has to be up to Disney standards, but cannot copy anything they do, because everything Disney has done is copyrighted. So we've tweaked the designs and patterns so nothing's exactly like Disney because (our version is) not funded by Disney. Disney's name is on it, but it's not like they're helping us do it."
The combination of the Disney name and DHT's hard work should pay off. Demand for tickets has already resulted in an extended run through early August, even before the musical has opened.
Scheer last performed on stage in DHT's 2003 Po'okela award-winning production of "Ragtime," and he says this is another show that "called" to him.
"This is Disney, and it's very special, especially for us performers in Hawaii, because we don't get to do Disney shows and shows of this caliber this often. It's so well written, and it's a beautiful story. To see the transformation of the Beast at the end is just ... I watched it last night and I was just amazed at how it worked."
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