Quick. What musical is this line from?
"And when we touched, she didn't shudder at my paw."
Don't know it? Ask your children. They'll tell you the words are sung by the Beast and are about Belle as he realizes she no longer is repulsed by him. It's the title song of the Disney musical "Beauty and the Beast," which is headed our way next week courtesy of Broadway in Tucson.
Justin Glaser is the man who gets to sing the line in the production headed our way. He's been playing the Beast in this road show since early this year - and he couldn't be happier.
"I love the Beast," he said in a phone interview from Fresno, Calif., where he was preparing to open the show.
"He definitely undergoes a great journey through the show. He changes quite a bit over 2 1/2 hours."
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The Beast, in the traditional tale, was a prince who once refused to allow a fairy to come in out of the rain, so she turned him into a hairy, scary, ugly beast. The spell can be broken only if - and when - he finds true love.
Belle is the beauty who may bring him salvation. Or death.
"Obviously, there's something very good in his nature, in his heart, that Belle brings about," Glaser said.
"It's quite a privilege to undergo such a character transformation each night."
Liz Shivener, who plays Belle, is just as enchanted with her role.
"Not only is she a great Disney character, but she's a great theatrical role, too," said Shivener, a Midwest gal who was still bubbly from that day's visit to the Sequoia National Forest outside of Fresno ("I had never seen a sequoia before!" she said with a bit of awe).
"What I like about Belle is that she actively participates in every single part of the story. She saves her father. She doesn't wait for anyone do it for her. But you also get to do the love story, and fall in love onstage, and sing beautiful music."
Shivener has been with the tour since it set out earlier this year, and she can't imagine getting tired of it.
"There's so much to Belle; the possibilities are endless with her," she said.
"She stands for something. It's incredible to be that character."
Shivener and Glaser are part of a non-Equity cast that is tackling a "reimagined" "Beauty and the Beast."
It has the creators of the original Broadway show, including director Rob Roth and choreographer Matt West. Among the changes are the omission of some songs, including "No Matter What," sung by Belle and her father, and "Maison des Lunes," sung by Gaston.
Other changes may be hinted at in this Roth quote in a press release: "The theme of 'Beauty' is about seeing past the exterior into the heart of someone, and this is reflected in the design for the show, which is about transparency and layers, seeing past one thing and into another."
One thing not missing is that title song. "Beauty and the Beast" wouldn't be the same without it.
Here are a few of the ways Disney has tweaked the classic tale:
• In the original by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, the beauty in the title was named "Beauty," and her father was a rich merchant who lost his fortune. In the Disney version, Beauty becomes "Belle," and her father is a poor inventor.
• The original explains the curse on the Beast as being the result of a spell put on him by a fairy who was refused shelter from the rain by the then-prince. Naturally, she turns him into a pretty scary creature. In Disney's version, a beggar woman stops at the prince's castle and offers him a rose for shelter. When he refuses, she curses him with a life as a Beast.
• In the Disney version, that rose is in a bell jar, and if the Beast doesn't find true love by the time the last petal falls, it'll be curtains for him. There's no such bell jar in the original, and the Beast isn't faced with a deadline. He just must find love if he is ever to become a prince again.
• There is no Gaston in the original; in the Disney version, he's a braggart out for Belle's heart. And since there's no Gaston in the original, there's no battle between the Beast and the townspeople.
• In both versions, the Beast is dying when Beauty (or Belle) doesn't return to him. And in both versions, she hustles back, saves him, and they live happily ever after.
www.disney.co.uk, www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html
If you go
Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"
• Presented by: Broadway in Tucson.
• By: Music and lyrics by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice; book of the musical, based on the 1991 Disney movie, is by Linda Woolverton.
• Director: Rob Roth.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday; 2 and 8 p.m. next Friday and Nov. 27; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 28. No performance Thanksgiving Day.
• Where: Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave.
• Cost: $30-$75. $10 discount on the best seats, and 50 percent discount on select seats for children and students.
• Reservations, information: 1-800-745-3000. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Tucson Convention Center box office, 260 S. Church Ave., between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays
• Running time: About 2 1/2 hours, with one intermission.
Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.
