‘Beauty And The Beast’ On Ice A Big Hit With Kids
Disney on Ice
“Beauty and the Beast” Monday, Dec. 25, the Arena
If the children are any bellwether, the Disney’s World On Ice production of “Beauty and the Beast” was a winner. The kids were rapt by this Christmas outing. Considering that most of the under-8 set spent the previous night listening for reindeer hooves, you’d think there would have been some sleepy bods being shouldered out to the cars by the end of the show. Nary a one.
Comments from some nearby young reviewers were telling. Before the show: “Daddy, when are they going to open that curtain?” Father’s reply: “In 22 minutes.”
In the second half, after the Beast saved Belle from the wolves: “Now he’s a good guy, right?”
Children love to have a story retold, so with a megahit like “Beauty and the Beast,” it’s hard to go wrong. Assuming the populace at large is familiar with the story, producer Kenneth Feld was able to eliminate some details and machinations of the plot and focus on the big scenes. As someone’s very first introduction to this fable, the ice version would leave some gaps, but this is not a problem since everyone who goes will have seen the animated version.
There was some marvelous skating in this production. Victor Baryshevtsev, as Gaston, performed bigger-than-life leaps with the appropriate swaggering gestures, garnering much applause for his skill. Belle, skated by Tatiana Ratchkova, elicited oohs and ahs for her grace and speed, and did a wonderful job acting. It has to be difficult to portray subtle emotion to an entire arena.
Joey Daysog, as Gaston’s comic sidekick Le Fou, also got a lot of time on the ice. Performing axles with a big foam butt must offer its own challenges, but Daysog was as deft at these as his humorous actions, including spraying ice to the tenth row and falling over the footlights into the audience.
Spectacular lighting and effects, including smoke, fire and fireworks, make the production a feast for the eyes.
It may be just a sweet little fairy tale, but brains, compassion and inner beauty triumphing over brawn, shallowness and transient physical attributes is a wonderful message to hear. And kids just loved the way it was told.