Disney’s Beauty and the Beast returned to the Calgary stage Tuesday night at the Jubilee, but rather than feeling like a rerun, it felt like a fresh, new reboot of a theatrical classic. Why? Was it the satisfying set design (by Stanley A. Meyer), which conjured up -- well, a Disneyfied sort of rural French village at some point in the faraway past, where handsome but overly-entitled Gascon (Stephen Mark Lukas), armed with a Buzz Lightyear chin, pursues the affections of Belle (Kyra Belle Johnson), the beautiful-but-bookish daughter of the local oddball inventor Maurice (Aaron Kaburick)? Or could it have been the way this Beauty and the Beast brings to life the reverse-mirror world of the Beast (Fergie L. Philippe), a burly, self-absorbed bachelor prince who gets a unique spell cast upon himself that turns him into an automatic swipe left unless he’s able to find someone out there who would swipe right and reverse the spell? Is it the charming support staff of the castle who find themselves transformed into a candlestick (Lumiere, played by Danny Gardner), a clock ((Cogsworth, played by Javier Ignacio), or a portable, rolling end table (Chip played by Levi Blaise Coleman), as they conspire behind the Beast’s back to find him a soulmate who can love him and thus transform them all back into humans? Or maybe it was the clever production video design (Darrel Maloney), which transformed the stage at the Jubilee auditorium into a scary forest straight out of a children’s fable, where wolves go human hunting? Maybe it was just the singing, which was powerful and personal, from Johnson, Philippe and the entire cast, on an iconic songbook (with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice) including the Oscar-winning title song and Be Our Guest? Or maybe it was just the seamless way director and choreographer Matt West brought together all the disparate parts of a Disney fable to create a theatrical universe for the audience to absorb itself into for two-and-a-half enjoyable hours at the Jube, including a generous number of younger fans who weren’t around when Disney’s Beauty and the Beast debuted on Broadway 1994, before going on to become one of the most successful musicals of all-time? Maybe--just maybe--the pandemic changed the way we experience old favourite stories. Now, a fable about an isolated, lonely prince who is somewhat of an anti-influencer with no one to talk to except a candelabra and a clock feels sort of relatable in 2026. Everywhere I go, I see people sitting in their vehicles in parking lots, their faces glowing from the light of a digital device, and Beauty and the Beast feels less like a fable and more like a prediction. Why ask why? Whatever the reason, director West summons excellent performances from Philippe, Johnson, Gardner, Ignacio, Harry Francis (as Lelou), Lukas, and the rest of the cast, who sing and dance the 1994 musical back to life with a revival that’s entertaining, emotional -- and a perfect way to get the kids off their screens during Remembrance Day days off. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Jubilee Auditorium through Sunday.
