Manatee Players score again with ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Director Cory Boyas and actor Dave Downer said they wanted to make their production of “Beauty and the Beast” more human and less like a cartoon. They’ve succeeded in doing that.

The new production, with Downer playing the Beast, opened Thursday in Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center.

We’ve all come to expect great things from Manatee Players when they take on this kind of musical — sparkly but substantial, with opportunities for great imaginative design work and large ensembles.

The first act, which has the flashier musical numbers, is pretty good in this production, but not as strong as regular Manatee Players audiences might hope for. A big part of the problem is that the music is recorded, not live. The company really had no other choice — Disney owns the rights to the musical, and they require either a large orchestra, way beyond the financial limitations of almost any theater company, or recorded music.

It may have been necessary, but it just sounds weird, and it palpably sapped some of the energy from the big musical numbers.

It also presented some obstacles for the cast, which they avoided admirably on opening night. Some of the scenes had underscoring, with the recorded music playing while the actors were talking. If actors had taken too long with their spoken lines, the next song would have started before they were ready.

There were times on opening night when it appeared that an actor fumbled some lines during those passages, but invariably the cast recovered gracefully and promptly.

Recorded music aside, the first act is a pleasure, thanks to outstanding performances by Downer and Melanie Bierweiler in the title roles, an endless array of spectacular costumes by Becky Evans and atmospheric but unobtrusive lighting design by Joseph P. Oshry.

But it was in the second act, when the story becomes more intimate, that this production truly comes to life. There’s still plenty of great music and stage magic in the second half of the show, but the emphasis is on the love story. Stripped of the fairy-tale trappings, the witch’s spells and the talking tableware, “Beauty and the Beast” is a simple story of a damaged man finding love with a misfit woman. Bierweiler and Downer both have gorgeous singing voices, but it’s the emotion in their singing and their acting that makes this production succeed.

Of course, the performances and the design work would scarcely matter if the material weren’t so strong. “Beauty and the Beast” made a star of composer Alan Menken. His melodies are gorgeous, and the evocative lyrics by Tim Rice and Howard Ashman fit into those melodies in stunning ways. Linda Woolverton’s book is more elegant and more emotional than we’re used to getting from musicals.

“Beauty and the Beast” isn’t the best show Manatee Players have done in recent years. It would have been the best from a lot of other theater companies, including some professional ones. But the performances are generally very strong (Marianne Hernandez as Mrs. Potts, Griffyn Holcomb as Lumiere and Mark Eichorn as Cogsworth were all a treat) and the songs stick with you long after the final curtain. And if the story doesn’t tug at your heartstrings, the problem is with your heartstrings.

Details: Through Dec. 18, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $27-$37. 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Manatee Players score again with ‘Beauty and the Beast’."