Friday, January 08, 2010
Gemini Theater lets viewers be a part of 'Beauty & the Beast'
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'Beauty & the Beast,' the moving and humorous classic tale about an odd romantic pairing, will be unfolding onstage this month with music at Gemini Theater."
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5 comments:
This sounds like an interesting retelling of the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, and although it's all but overused in children's theatre, both the cast and audience love to see audience members up and in the shows. The only problem I see (and this is with any children's theatre performance where a Disney film interpretation precedes it) is that some kids (and parents) will be disappointed it's not the Disney show. I worked on a production of Cinderella this summer and during the opening number, there was always at least one kid who turned to their parents with a loud "This isn't Cinderella!" or the like. That's going to be inevitable with kids, I suppose.
While it's nice to see a new interpretation of an existing story, I really worry about the existing story that Disney created. A lot of stories that Disney has told have all but become the exact story that Disney created. The new story sounds good, but I worry about how much children who have grown up on the Disney story will be able to appreciate the new story since it's not the story they first knew.
I think that it's great that this theatre company is getting kids up onstage. I think that this will make younger kids even more excited about theatre, and keep them wanting to come back. People love being involved! Responding to what Brian and Charley said about it being a different Beauty and the Beast than the Disney version, I think that it's good for there to be different versions of fairy tales because it will expose kids to more.
I agree with the statements above. The idea of interaction with the audience is a really good idea. Especially with the children. I mean, with todays children, they constantly get to choose thier own entertainment, they get to interact with it and get to be a part of thier own world.
The most successful children's theater asks for audience participation. This is simply because children, especially very small ones, get antsy very easily. Asking them to sit still in the dark for an hour and a half is absurd, regardless of how much they may like the story (when they watch the movie at home they can jump and run around and pause it as much as they want). Children's theater doesn't have to be technically dazzling to be successful, it just needs to cater to the needs of small kids. Little kids like to join in on the fun and pretend they're in an imaginary world.
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