It’s a tale as old as time.
Well not quite, but very few people aren’t at least somewhat familiar with Beauty and the Beast and with it being the 25th anniversary of the Disney classic, it’s a tale that’s being featured on a number of screens and stages across the region.
But according to director Jaymes D. Goodman, there aren’t any shows in town quite like the one Four Seasons Musical Theatre is about to premiere.
“It’s very costume heavy … we’re doing a bit more steam punk,” Goodman said in the midst of a busy rehearsal. “Every single solitary costume had to be created from scratch.”
But it’s not just the costumes that set this rendition apart. “We’ve done a few things with the characters,” Goodman noted, referencing Belle as an example. “We’ve made her a little bit stronger, she’s not the typical Disney princess … She doesn’t like being called ‘odd’ and don’t mess with her,” he warned.
With the vision starting to form in his mind back in the fall, the group’s spring performance was pushed back from the typical early May show dates to allow the sets and costumes to really come alive.
The Beast, played by Dwayne Gordon, said “it’s a process, there’s prosthetics … (and) it’s a lot of hair … The trick with the Beast is making him look large and intimidating and still be able to move.”
But it’s allowed him to really focus on his movements as an actor, since his face will be covered for the beginning of the production and his facial range will be limited later on.
“The thing with the Beast is the physicality of it,” Gordon explained, and using that to portray emotion.
Goodman added, “these are big costumes … they take a large portion of the stage.”
It’s an adaptation that requires a lot from the entire crew and cast.
“The process has been long … But it doesn’t feel that way,” Gordon said. “It’s a great cast, great crew.”
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That process is also reflected in an extended run. “When you ask people to put this amount of time and effort into a show I don’t feel it’s fair to say you’re only doing four performances,” Goodman explained.
That commitment has spread and a number of cast and crew members also have their children involved in the show.
While the original script technically only calls for one child actor, Goodman has created space for a children’s choir and more involvement from the group’s younger members.
Gordon noted their youngest member is six and the range is well past the 50-year mark. “It truly is a family company,” he added. “There’s no other group in Victoria that really does that.”
Well at least not for all of their shows Goodman noted.
The role of Belle is played by one of those younger members but at 18 Charmaine Koenig can hold her own on set when she’s belting out her lines.
“Going into it I was really nervous, I’ve never done a performance with Four Seasons,” she said.
But “throughout the months I’ve created some great friendships and everyone is super supportive.”
Her dad is even part of the band. “This is the first show we’ve been in together,” she added.
And they’ve spent plenty of time together lately as producer Samantha Eustace noted, the cast has put in more than 1,800 hours.
Goodman noted they’re putting in 10 hours of rehearsal every week in View Royal and that doesn’t include the practice cast members do on their own time.
All of that hard work will pay off on stage. The first week of performances will be at the Mary Windspear Center in Sidney with shows on June 15 to 17 at 7 p.m. as well as at 2 p.m. on June 17 and 18.
During the second week, performances will take place at The Ridge Theatre at Claremont secondary at 7 p.m. on June 22 to 24 with 2 p.m. shows on June 24 and 25. Tickets for those performances are available at victoriaticket.ca or fsmtheatre.ca.
