FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Shawna Masuda as Belle is a bit overwhelmed by J. Vincent Wheeler's performance at Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast."

Villains steal laughs
in Disney musical

J. Vincent Wheeler as Gaston, and Pedro Haro as Gaston's hapless sidekick, Lefou, steal the show in Diamond Head Theatre's long-awaited production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." The Disney name and the romantic allure of the well-known "tale as old as time" are certainly important factors, but this version seems as much about the two bad guys as it is about Belle and the Beast.

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" Presented by Diamond Head Theatre, continues through Aug. 14, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Matinees are at 3 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 to $42. Call 733-0274 or visit www.diamondheadtheatre.com.

Gaston is much more than villain. This guy has no redeeming qualities at all! A gentleman would never force a woman to marry him by having her elderly father committed in a mental hospital, let alone stab an adversary in the back -- twice, yet! -- in a duel. And yet, maybe it's Disney, maybe it's guest director/choreographer David Spangenthal, but for most of the show, Gaston is a bombastically comic figure rather than a creep. Wheeler plays him as a blend of Sir Lancelot during Lance's "C'est Moi" phase in "Camelot" and Conrad Birdie in the film version of "Bye Bye, Birdie."

Wheeler taps every comic nuance -- and does it well. Haro gives an equally well-nuanced performance and rolls with the punches -- literally -- as the obsequious sidekick.

The dancing utensils are fun when the action shifts to the castle, and Spangenthal, who also stars as the Beast, has some good moments playing a man, er, beast, in love. He makes the Beast's biggest number, "If I Can't Love Her," a dramatic highlight in both acts. Shawna Masuda (Belle) has good moments, too, yet Wheeler and Haro still dominate.

The Disney version of this dark tale is a sugarcoated parable about the importance of not judging people by appearance. An arrogant young prince makes that mistake and discovers too late that the elderly woman he has turned away from his castle is in fact an enchantress who changes him into the titular "beast." The prince has until the last petal falls from an enchanted rose to find a woman who will love him despite his fearsome appearance. If not, he will remain a beast forever.

The prince's servants feel the wrath of the enchantress as well and are turned into household objects. If their master fails, they will remain that way forever.

Dennis Proulx (Cogsworth) and Douglas S. Scheer (Lumiere) are the spark plugs among the servants. Scheer moves well, despite a bulky candlestick costume, and meshes nicely with Devon Guard (Babbette); Scheer's only problem on opening night was getting his "candles" to light on cue. Little candlelight was evident, but Scheer gave a spirited performance.

Proulx is appropriately imposing as the excitable grandfather clock. Clock hands on his nose, and a swinging pendulum on his stomach, underscore the fact that this is a big clock. Proulx's work in "Human Again" is especially good. The castle scenes are also enlivened by Pamela Young's big scene as a ornate chiffonier, and Katie Leiva as the singing teapot.

Spangenthal plays the Beast as a basically decent guy with a bit of an anger management problem. So decent and vulnerable, it appears, that had the Beast not forced Belle to live with him by holding her elderly father hostage, she might well have fallen for him much sooner. So what if he has horns and tail? He's a nice guy underneath all that hair, and how about his library?

But Spangenthal doesn't let the costume and music do all the work. His effective use of facial expression and body language in "If I Can't Love Her" does as much as the lyrics to express the Beast's fear that the woman he loves might never reciprocate his feelings.

Masuda sings beautifully and suffers nobly as the plucky standard-issue Disney heroine.

Willie Sabel's colorful village set gets the show off to a good start. Karen G. Wolfe (costumes), Jess Aki (makeup and hair) and Scheer (doing double duty as props master) share credit for the many visual elements that add color, detail and entertainment value.

There were some noticeable hollow spots in the stage miking on opening night, but no problems hearing Spangenthal, Masuda, Leiva and the others when musical director Emmett Yoshioka backed them on the big numbers.