Haunting ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Not Just for Kids

Disney and “Beauty and the Beast” may seem synonymous, but there are many ways to tell the 18th century French fairy tale, and a theater company out of Pennsylvania has its own ideas.

Landis & Company Theatre of Magic’s touring production of “Beauty and the Beast,” in Thousand Oaks and Long Beach this weekend, was inspired by Jean Cocteau’s hauntingly romantic 1946 film “La Belle et la Be^te.” It’s meant as much for adult audiences as for children.

In its version of the tale, the professional theater company mixes haunting ambience with a taste of commedia dell’arte, featuring sleight-of-hand tricks and illusion, live actors behind compelling masks, and sumptuous 18th century-style costumes. Physical movement and mime are central to the performance, as are evocative shadow-play and life-size and larger puppets, including a 12-foot sorceress.

Inside the Beast’s castle are invisible servants, living statues, delicate roses and a magical, luminous butterfly. There the tusked and shaggy Beast’s humanity can only be restored through the gift of love. It’s up to the beautiful young woman, who sacrifices her freedom to save her father’s life, to discover the beast’s true nature.

In this European-flavored presentation, the only voice heard is that of a narrator, and a legato pace and carefully placed silences are key, said Landis Smith, who founded the company with his wife, Jennifer, in 1980.

“We wanted to create the feeling that the audience is reading a book--that magic that happens when you open a book and it says, ‘Once upon a time,’ and . . . the place, the characters and what’s happening, all of that in your own mind’s voice, starts to unfold.”

The recorded narrative is sparingly used to tell the story, enhanced by an evocative classical score by composer Andy Tierstein.

“I’ve had people swear to me afterward that the actors did speak,” Smith said.

Stage illusions and magician’s tricks make flowers, dresses, dishes and furniture seem to appear out of thin air, but the fantasy world is constructed as much out of lighting and stage designer Deneil Koval’s creative shadows and lights as from the actual sets and set pieces.

Just as important in drawing audiences into the tale, however, are the physical theater techniques used by Smith and director and co-writer Leslie Reidel.

“We didn’t have to be realistic; we didn’t have to have a whole forest there, or a whole castle,” Smith said. “By how we moved things and how we moved in space, we would lead people to imagine the things for themselves. A lot of people think that the play happens up on stage, but it really doesn’t,” he added. It’s “what people walk away with, what happens in their minds during the play.”

So a horse can be a whimsical head on a broomstick; a forest and a stream are suggested by tatters and billows of soft fabric manipulated by black-hooded performers; and Beauty’s bickering sisters are comical life-size puppets.

As Beauty, Jennifer Smith, gorgeously gowned by designer Susan Smythe and wearing an ethereal, melancholy mask, moves with such grace that she resembles an exquisite marionette brought to life. Landis Smith’s in-depth training in mime and movement shows in his own expressive portrayal of the Beast.

The actors were challenged by working in the masks created by Ken East, whose credits include Cirque du Soleil and the Bread & Puppet Theatre. But Smith felt they were necessary for this version.

“We were creating a world with larger-than-life-sized images,” he said. “Even the shadow puppets are tiny little things that, when they are projected, create a very strong image. We realized that we couldn’t have ordinary actors--and,” he joked, “all of us are really quite ordinary looking when you put us under the light--playing next to puppets, against archetypal kinds of figures.”

The production is a departure for the company, its first wholly theatrical production. Many of its other shows, magic- and classical music-based, were staged as a series of vignettes and meant to be performed with symphony orchestras.

“Beauty and the Beast” was a natural choice for their first fully theatrical venture, Smith said. “The first time I ever encountered it was the Jean Cocteau movie. It is very beautiful, very haunting, with images nobody will ever forget. I saw it as a 6-year-old and I had to ask my parents to read the subtitles, but it never left me.”

The minimal “wiggle factor” among children in the audience has been deeply gratifying, he said. “We notice that from the stage. There’s an energy there that we hadn’t noticed before, the quiet is very lively, and their responses are more intense.”

BE THERE

“Beauty and the Beast,” Fred Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, Friday, 7 p.m. $12 (children), $15 (adults). (805) 650-9688, (805) 583-8700. (Information: [805] 646-8907). Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach, Saturday, 2 p.m. $12-$15. (562) 985-7000.