Beautiful time for the little beasts

A musical adapted from Disney’s Beauty and theBeast, must meet the film’s expecations. The touringversion of the Broadway show brought here by Dallas Summer Musicalswon’t disappoint.

The Broadway rendition of “Beauty” stays true toDisney’s celluloid version. The story of the cursed prince iscast in deep, dreamy colors.

Roger Befeler as the Beast moves quickly and deliberately,whipping his cape around like Dracula as he dashes across thestage.

Enter Marc G. Dalio, portraying Gaston like the CartoonNetwork’s blond-beefcake buffoon, Johnny Bravo. He strikesposes and flexes his impressive muscles complete with soundeffects.

You would expect “Be Our Guest” to be the pinnaclemusical performance of the show, and while it was veryentertaining, Gaston’s ode to himself was a lot of fun aswell. The drunken bar scene with the townspeople, Gaston and Lefouwill likely receive roaring applause for the dancing andsynchronized beer mug play.

Befeler keeps Beast close to the character in the film, but addsa few comedic twists to give his role a bit more character.That’s more than can be said for Jennifer Shrader’sboring and predictable Belle.

Rob Lorey as Lumiere takes his performance to over-the-top fun.From his first appearance on the stage, the audience will beimmediately enamored. Lorey played Lumiere in the Broadwayproduction of “Beauty,” and his hip-twitching,hot-blooded, flame-sparking performance kept him on for thenational tour.

“Beauty” is a good show, although the two-hour runtime exceeded the attention of my 4-year old companion.