Cultural Corner
Broadway history: Beauty and the Beast
By Carrina Sperry
Although Beauty and the Beast is no longer on Broadway, it is still a widely loved tale. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on Broadway is dare I say, a tale as old as time. Before it was a Broadway musical, it was a movie and before it was a movie, it was book. The book called La Belle et la Bête, was originally written by a French novelist named Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740 and was later abridged in 1756. The book was written to teach young girls morals.
Just like the book, the film version was recreated. Walt Disney’s crew attempted to create the movie several times. The movie ended up being more than 50 years in the making. Starting in 1987, Disney storyboard artists spent two years working on a version of the tale, only to have Disney studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg scrap their work and start from scratch. Eventually in 1991 Beauty and the Beast was finally completed and released. The film was a huge success, grossing $425 million worldwide.
Movie critics called Beauty and the Beast one of the year's finest musicals and immediately saw its Broadway show potential. A creative team started on the Broadway show almost right away after being encouraged to do so. All eight original songs from the film were used in the show as well as six new songs, all written by Alan Menken.
Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway on April 18, 1994. They cast Terrence Mann as Beast and Susan Egan as Belle. Terry has also been in/starred in Cats, Les Miserables, Rags, Barnum, Getting Away With Murder, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Rocky Horror Show, Pippin, The Addams Family, Finding Neverland, and Tuck Everlasting. You may recognize Susan Egan from Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret, Triumph of Love, and State Fair. The Broadway musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities.
Although Beauty and the Beast is no longer on Broadway, it is still a widely loved tale. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on Broadway is dare I say, a tale as old as time. Before it was a Broadway musical, it was a movie and before it was a movie, it was book. The book called La Belle et la Bête, was originally written by a French novelist named Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740 and was later abridged in 1756. The book was written to teach young girls morals.
Just like the book, the film version was recreated. Walt Disney’s crew attempted to create the movie several times. The movie ended up being more than 50 years in the making. Starting in 1987, Disney storyboard artists spent two years working on a version of the tale, only to have Disney studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg scrap their work and start from scratch. Eventually in 1991 Beauty and the Beast was finally completed and released. The film was a huge success, grossing $425 million worldwide.
Movie critics called Beauty and the Beast one of the year's finest musicals and immediately saw its Broadway show potential. A creative team started on the Broadway show almost right away after being encouraged to do so. All eight original songs from the film were used in the show as well as six new songs, all written by Alan Menken.
Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway on April 18, 1994. They cast Terrence Mann as Beast and Susan Egan as Belle. Terry has also been in/starred in Cats, Les Miserables, Rags, Barnum, Getting Away With Murder, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Rocky Horror Show, Pippin, The Addams Family, Finding Neverland, and Tuck Everlasting. You may recognize Susan Egan from Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret, Triumph of Love, and State Fair. The Broadway musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities.
Gone, but not forgotten the deaths of 2016
By Kailey Lewia amd Sam Hurlburt
David Bowie was an English Musician and entertainer. He produced many hits in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s, but was not as active in the 90’s. He gained many fans through his alter egos, such as ‘Ziggy Stardust.’ In the 2000’s, he started producing more music. He released his last album, ‘Blackstar’, on January 8th, two days before his death, which was caused by liver cancer. If you want to learn more about David Bowie, check out last year’s spring edition of The Globe, where there is a full length article on him.
David Bowie was an English Musician and entertainer. He produced many hits in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s, but was not as active in the 90’s. He gained many fans through his alter egos, such as ‘Ziggy Stardust.’ In the 2000’s, he started producing more music. He released his last album, ‘Blackstar’, on January 8th, two days before his death, which was caused by liver cancer. If you want to learn more about David Bowie, check out last year’s spring edition of The Globe, where there is a full length article on him.
Alan Rickman was an English Actor and director best known for appearing in many famous movies such as Die Hard, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Alice Through the Looking Glass, although he is best known for portraying Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. In 2015, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, although he kept his diagnosis a secret until a few days before his death. To learn more about Alan Rickman’s life and death you should visit last year’s spring edition of the Washington Globe where there is a full article dedicated to him.
Nelle Harper Lee who preferred to go by the pen name ‘Harper Lee’ is famously known for her award-winning novel: To Kill a Mockingbird. The book had been published in 1960 and a later work connecting to the same family used in this book; Go Set a Watchman. She died in her sleep at the age of 89.
Carrie Fisher was best known for her recurring role of Leia Organa or Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy as well as The Force Awakens. In the 80s she struggled with alcohol and drugs but had a recovery in ‘87 with her hit book Postcards from the Edge, which was adapted into a movie starring Meryl Streep. She suffered from a major heart on her way back from the Graham Norton Show in London last December from which she died two days later. Her mother was Debbie Reynolds.
Debbie Reynolds, the mother of Carrie Fisher was in several hit movies such as ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, 'Tammy and the Bachelor' and 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown.' She was involved in one of Hollywood’s bigger scandals when the husband of her children, Eddie Fisher left her for the actress Elizabeth Taylor. At the time, her daughter Carrie Fisher was only two years old. She died just two days after her daughter, most likely from the shock of losing her.
Prince, an artist best known for ‘Purple Rain’ and his obnoxiously obscure symbolistic stage name was a dancer, singer, instrumentalist and a philanthropist. He achieved wide fame in the 80’s and died in Minneapolis due to an accidental opioid overdose.
Muhammad Ali is seen as one of the most influential and significant of our 20th century sports figures. He was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., but abandoned this name when he converted the religion of Islam. Both a boxer and an activist, Ali spurred up controversy by making his position clear on the Civil Rights Movement. Ali was stripped off his boxing title and jailed after refusing to join American troops in Vietnam after being drafted due to him believing it was ethically wrong. He died of Septic Shock.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban politician who governed the Republic of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. He was born the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer and studied law in Cuba before unsuccessfully attempting to overthrow Cuba’s leader in 1953. After time spent in Mexican imprisonment, Castro conspired to overthrow Cuba’s communist dictator of the time and did do so triumphantly this time. The US was pleased at first, expecting Castro to turn up as their archetypal savior from a communist regime and its dictator… only to discover that he, himself, behaved as a dictator of a communist regime would! The US failed in assassinating Castro after finding themselves opposed to his rule as well as going through with the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an unsuccessful military invasion of Cuba. Castro’s death received many mixed emotions from Cubans as some who did not agree with his policies whether living here after fleeing Cuba or still dwelling there celebrated and rejoiced over his passing, though faithful believers in Castro’s established government wept over their beloved leader’s death.
Get the inside scoop on
Beauty and the Beast Jr.
By Lyna Faulkner
Recently, I had a chance to interview Mrs. Mendes, school music teacher and director of our school's Drama Club. Mrs. Mendes teaches chorus and applied music at our school and is the co-advisor of the Broadcast Club, she said. This year she is the director of our school play, Beauty and Beast, Jr. There were approximately 75 students who auditioned for the musical this year. The play has a large cast and stage crew, it's approximately 100 students, she said.
The play requires the support of many students and staff, she explained that Ms. Hanlon, a 7th grade writing teacher in Cluster 6 is the assistant director of drama club this year and although she doesn’t have an official title, Ms. Kwiczor, a music teacher also helps out.
Mrs. Mendes explained how she chose Beauty and the Beast Jr., “I chose Beauty and the Beast for our school play this year because when I was 12 years old I went to go see the show on Broadway. This show inspired me to want to do theater productions and I hope our students will enjoy it as much as I did,” she said.
She said that when she selects a play for our school she has to look at the run time of the show. “We don't always do Disney plays. We have done Shrek Jr., which was based on the DreamWorks production. We traditionally select “Jr. musicals” because they are a lot shorter than the traditional shows,” she said.
Mrs. Mendes explained that the real plays run around three hours long, which means the actors and stage crew would have to stay after school until very late and because rehearsals are on school night students might be tired. In high school, the music department selects the traditional length shows, she said. According to Mrs. Mendes the school play rehearsals are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but starting in January we’ll be adding choreography rehearsals on Mondays.
There are two casts, and each will perform on a different night this spring. Some of the leads from the Croissant Cast include Belle, Jocelyn Horan, Beast/Prince, Robert Plumberg, Maurice, George Hall Jr., Lefou, Alex Pagan, Lumiere, Jack DePalma, Cogsworth, Ethan Valery and Mrs. Potts, Kailey Lewia. In the Baguette Cast, the leads include, Belle, Brianna Skeen, Beast/Prince, Sathapat Chanthinith, Maurice, Gabriel Carrero, Lefou, Miguel Cardona, Lumiere, Calvin Henderson, Cogsworth, Avery Benigni, and Mrs. Potts, Juleigh Szymaszek. Gaston will be played by Tomas Maldonado in both casts.
Recently, I had a chance to interview Mrs. Mendes, school music teacher and director of our school's Drama Club. Mrs. Mendes teaches chorus and applied music at our school and is the co-advisor of the Broadcast Club, she said. This year she is the director of our school play, Beauty and Beast, Jr. There were approximately 75 students who auditioned for the musical this year. The play has a large cast and stage crew, it's approximately 100 students, she said.
The play requires the support of many students and staff, she explained that Ms. Hanlon, a 7th grade writing teacher in Cluster 6 is the assistant director of drama club this year and although she doesn’t have an official title, Ms. Kwiczor, a music teacher also helps out.
Mrs. Mendes explained how she chose Beauty and the Beast Jr., “I chose Beauty and the Beast for our school play this year because when I was 12 years old I went to go see the show on Broadway. This show inspired me to want to do theater productions and I hope our students will enjoy it as much as I did,” she said.
She said that when she selects a play for our school she has to look at the run time of the show. “We don't always do Disney plays. We have done Shrek Jr., which was based on the DreamWorks production. We traditionally select “Jr. musicals” because they are a lot shorter than the traditional shows,” she said.
Mrs. Mendes explained that the real plays run around three hours long, which means the actors and stage crew would have to stay after school until very late and because rehearsals are on school night students might be tired. In high school, the music department selects the traditional length shows, she said. According to Mrs. Mendes the school play rehearsals are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but starting in January we’ll be adding choreography rehearsals on Mondays.
There are two casts, and each will perform on a different night this spring. Some of the leads from the Croissant Cast include Belle, Jocelyn Horan, Beast/Prince, Robert Plumberg, Maurice, George Hall Jr., Lefou, Alex Pagan, Lumiere, Jack DePalma, Cogsworth, Ethan Valery and Mrs. Potts, Kailey Lewia. In the Baguette Cast, the leads include, Belle, Brianna Skeen, Beast/Prince, Sathapat Chanthinith, Maurice, Gabriel Carrero, Lefou, Miguel Cardona, Lumiere, Calvin Henderson, Cogsworth, Avery Benigni, and Mrs. Potts, Juleigh Szymaszek. Gaston will be played by Tomas Maldonado in both casts.