puppetmaker | Beauty and the Beast(s)

This is a picture of the costumes I have been working on for a while now. The Belle dress was created by Susan Olsen and worn by her daughter Marina. The Beasts are (from left to right) Vincent from the TV series Beauty and the Beast played by me, The Beast from the Disney Animated feature played by Ariel, and Hank McCoy aka The Beast from X-men 3 played by Peter.

We won 1st place Champions Cup and Best in Show. I received a workmanship award for "The Big Giant Head" aka the Beast's head.

More details about the sketch are behind the cut.

I am grateful that the whole thing worked and to everyone who participated in this.

A little background on how we came up with this one. Peter, Ariel and I were watching an episode of the TV series Beauty and the Beast and Peter thought it would be funny to see Vincent dance with Belle which was the spring board for the rest of the sketch.

The Sketch
Peter is the master of timing when it comes to these sorts of things. I let him direct the action.

The music to the song "Beauty and the Beast comes up" and the intro plays. I can hear the audience settling back in their seats for this one. The song starts and Belle goes out on stage. The audience is either impressed with the costume or getting ready for a good snooze because they have seen this before.

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
The Beast enters to some gasps and laughter in the audience. They are now watching what is going on
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
They bow to each other and the Beast crosses to Belle and they start to dance. The audience settles back into their chairs since they have seen this before in their minds
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same
The Beast spins Belle into the arms of a cloaked figure
Ever a surprise
The figure pulls back the hood to reveal Vincent from Beauty and the Beast and the crowd loves it
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Vincent starts to dance with Belle only to be interrupted by the Beast. The two of them square off and it looks like we are in for a fight. Belle tries to reason with them but gets pushed aside

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Belle is about to leave when Hank McCoy aka the Beast shows up with a bottle of Champange. She looks at him. She looks at the fighting beast. He offers her his arm and she takes it. Meanwhile the Beasts have stopped fighting to watch this interloper sweet talk their girl. The audience is laughing so hard at this point it is getting hard to hear our music cues on stage.
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Belle and Hank walk off arm in arm while the Beasts watch
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

The Beasts look at each other and shrug. Vincent offer his arm to the Beast and they exit arm in arm
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

Thunderous applause by the audience and we go off to take pictures

The rest of the story
This one was going to be a bear from the get go. I had one large cartoon character and two complicated make-up jobs to do. I figured out the head with some help from a tutorial on WereVarmit Productions website on how to make a Toaster Mascot Head. That was the PIMA I kept talking about. I had to sort out a bunch of design problems so Ariel could wear it and dance at the same time. It worked out pretty well.

Peter's make-up was my first foray back into theatrical make-up in over ten years. It is nice to know that once you have learned this stuff you retain it. The latex mask I was wearing was the one that Jeff, Angelo and I used oh so many years ago for our Vincent costume. I had some ragged edges and aged latex I had to deal with but it worked like a charm still. I managed to get that make-up together in about 25 minutes since I was really pressed for time.

Overall I am quite pleased as to how things worked out. I am glad that Susan took on the Belle dress since it has to be fitted and would have been that one costume that would have put me over the edge (Thank You Susan!). Ariel was a real trooper considering what we were asking her to wear. I did build the costume so she could go to the restroom with ease. I also made it so she didn't have to wear the head and hands the whole time. I wanted to keep her as cool as possible. It took a little time getting her into the rig but that was the trade off so she could breath. My costume was so much easier to put together this time. (3rd Vincent costume) and I wasn't wearing a heavy sweater. Most people didn't recognize either Peter or me which was fun. I am a happy camper this morning.