Maxime Prissert, Grace Suarez, Frank Montoto, and Sofia Sanabria in rehearsal for Area Stage Company's "Beauty and the Beast."
When Area Stage Company (ASC) Associate Artistic Director Giancarlo Rodaz decided to direct a production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” he did not want the final product to be just a show. Rather, he wanted to provide audiences with a Disney experience.
So, Rodaz set out to make the production entirely immersive – more so than any immersive production of a show he’d seen.
Soon, South Florida theatergoers will be able to witness the final product. Specifically, ASC’s production will run from Aug. 9 through 28 in the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts’ Carnival Studio Theater.
“It’s going to feel like you’re in a castle hall,” Rodaz said.
The production is massive, Rodaz repeated a few times during a recent interview.
“This show is just (a) giant, it’s huge,” Rodaz said. “It’s kind of freaky.”
Before this, the largest show ASC staged was Roald Dahl’s “Matilda.” By comparison, “Beauty and the Beast” will be three times or so as large, Rodaz said.
When the 26-year-old versatile theater artist thinks about Disney, its theme parks and their immersive experiences come to mind.
Imran Hylton, Roberto Chiriboga and Sofia Sanabria rehearse for Area Stage Company's production of "Beauty and the Beast" opening in previews on Tuesday, Aug. 9 and then to the public on Friday, Aug. 12 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
“You want to live in a Disney story,” Rodaz said. “They’re designed for you to want to be in them.”
Rest assured, audience members will not be passive spectators at ASC’s production of “Beauty and the Beast.”
Under Rodaz’s approach, audience members are invited to be guests at the beast’s castle. Over “dinner,” the servants tell the tale to patrons, seated at massive tables.
“We’re conceiving a(n) entire 360-degree environment, where humans, wolves, beasts, and enchanted objects collide with vivid theatricality and thoughtful storytelling,” set designer Frank Oliva said.
There will be no stage; the entire theater will serve as the playing space.
While ASC’s production of “Annie” immersed audiences in the action, ASC staged the show on a much smaller scale compared to “Beauty and the Beast.”
“Taking what we learned from our critically acclaimed immersive production of ‘Annie,’ we are turning this Broadway musical into a magical Disney experience of epic proportions,” Rodaz said.
ASC is doing that without changing the story, whose basis is the classic Academy Award-winning 2017 animated musical film. The movie is also the basis for the Tony Award-nominated 1994 Broadway musical version. The stage show played on Broadway for more than 13 years (5,461 performances). It ultimately became the eighth longest-running musical in Broadway history.
For those unfamiliar with Disney’s “Tale as old as time,” it centers on Belle. She is a young woman from a "provincial" town.
Meanwhile, the Beast is a young, arrogant prince trapped in a spell which an enchantress placed. As part of the curse, the castle’s inhabitants turned into household objects. However, if the Beast can learn to love and to be loved, the spell will break and the prince will be free from eternal doom, while the inhabitants will become human again.
Rodaz said he is trusting audiences; they will understand the story without the characters wearing fanciful costumes. And while puppets will be part of the production, all Rodaz would say is that he is not using them in the “normal way.”
The director said that a challenge the company faced is that, as far as he knows, no reference point exists for the type of production ASC is staging. Rodaz added that it took about two weeks to discover what worked.
“Doing a musical like this immersively is extremely difficult, but I think we succeeded with it,” Rodaz said.
ASC is not copying the film, although they are capturing the movie’s “soul,” Rodaz said.
Yardén Barr and Maxime Prissert rehearsing for Area Stage Company's production of "Beauty and the Beast" at the Adrienne Arsht Center's Carnival Studio Theatre.
“It’s iconic,” he added. Audiences will “be looking for the soul that the film has.”
“I think this cast captures that really well,” Rodaz said.
“It’s a dream team,” he said, referring to the artists. “They’re a massive crew of really talented, passionate people. Everyone’s so perfect for their parts.”
Except for the performers playing Belle and the Beast, each actor will portray two major characters.
“It’s a really massive project for each actor,” Rodaz said.
The cast includes Yarden Barr as Belle and Maxime Prissert as the Beast.
“It’s so exciting,” Barr said about Rodaz’s approach. “It gives us a new way to connect with the audience that I don’t think has been done quite like this before.”
Audience members “can expect to really feel like they are in our world and part of our action,” Barr said.
“I think it’s a wonderfully fresh approach,” Prissert said. “It’s almost like it should’ve been done like this from the beginning. It just makes sense.”
Area Stage Company’s production of “Beauty and the Beast” will run from Aug. 9-28 in the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County’s Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami. Ticket prices range from $32 to $63. To buy tickets, go to www.arshtcenter.org.
