Beauty and the Beast Deja Vu

First, a little background:

In the summer of 1995, July 5th to be exact- I wrote it down somewhere- I attended the Los Angeles production of Beauty and the Beast the Broadway musical with much of the original cast.  I was 13 at the time, about to start high school and already quite the Disney fan.  I loved the show so much that by the curtain call, my cheeks were literally sore from smiling so hard for so long. My mom bought me the cast recording a few months later, and for a good chunk of my freshman year, I listened to that cassette (yes, cassette) on my portable cassette player every morning as I got ready for school. I got a big coffee table book all about the behind the scenes of the musical that I would carry with me alongside my school books until it was downright dogeared.

Fast forward a couple years, and the original Belle, Susan Egan, had just voiced Megara in Disney's Hercules. Now she had done not just one but two of my dreams, playing a Disney character both on stage and by voicing an animated character.  I was enamored. I then discovered she had a website.  But best of all, this website had an email address. I eagerly penned (well, typed) a gushing letter to my new favorite actress.

At this time, my whole family shared one email address. Three days later, I entered the house after my school day, and my mom said, "Guess who wrote to you? Susan Egan!" Whoa, did my heart race, and my feet raced right upstairs to the computer.  I couldn't believe it.  A real Broadway actress had written to me, and it was a real, personal response- not a form letter!  I printed that letter out and read it over and over.  I even brought it to school to show everyone.

After that, every once in a while, I would write to Susan.  I'd even send her little tokens like drawings or once a tiny homemade pillow with her name on it.  I requested and received an autographed picture.  I'd wish her happy birthday.  Sometimes she responded, sometimes she didn't.  When she did, I'd print it out and place it in a folder I'd decorated with her picture.

Finally, in March of 2000, a friend invited me to come with her to see Susan on Broadway as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. I wrote to Susan that we were coming. 5 years after I first saw her as Belle, I would finally get to meet her.  I was a nervous wreck that day, physically shaking to the point that I could barely hold the camera to take my friend's picture.  It was a very brief visit- Susan had another show that evening, and she disappeared back up the stairs to her dressing room in the blink of an eye.

During college, I backed away from contacting her for a while, fearing I was bothering her, being too pushy of a fan.  I didn't see her again for another 7 years.  Thankfully, after that, I was able to catch her in a number of concerts in various places, and I got the courage to contact her again.  A friend of mine whom I actually met through her old website even tried to get her to call me and congratulate me on my first leading role...she wasn't able to, but instead she did one better and sent me a lovely note and an inscribed copy of a book about musical theatre history.

It all accumulated in the best experience of all.  I auditioned for a chance to participate in a Broadway Bootcamp in which she would not only teach a masterclass but also sing on stage with us. While I wasn't chosen for any of the solo parts in the concert, and I didn't get the chance to sing for her in the masterclass because I was too timid to jump in line quickly enough, I did get to sing back up for "I Won't Say" and we did a lovely choral arrangement of "Beauty and the Beast."

I had noticed during our rehearsal that Susan seemed to be locking eyes with me from across the stage as we sang the titular song.  During the actual performance, she did it again. I wondered if I was imagining things. Afterwards, I didn't see her and thought to my disappointment that maybe she had left already....until another girl from class came running over, exclaiming excitedly that Susan wanted to say goodbye to me. After a big hug, Susan said, "Did you see I sang "Beauty and the Beast" for you?"  So it wasn't just me! She really was doing that on purpose.

These days, she still interacts with me every once in a while.  We aren't buddy-buddy or anything, but I do think it's pretty special that she knows who I am.

Through the years:

                                                   Backstage at Cabaret, 2000

                                               Naples, FL 2007

                                                    South Bend Indiana, 2009

                                                                    NYC, 54 Below, 2014

                                             Broadway Bootcamp selfies, Monterrey, CA 2014

And that brings us to a few days ago, when I got to experience some serious deja vu and see Susan return once again to the role that first made me fall for her 23 years ago in 5 Star Theatrical's production of Beauty and the Beast!

It was a lovely production- the only thing I really missed from the original were the amazing sets and costumes (and perhaps some of the effects.) They weren't quite of the same caliber this time.  But it certainly wasn't too shabby at all!  I like how they added a small children's ensemble.  What an amazing opportunity for those kids! I also noticed perhaps a little more variety in body type than you might see in a Broadway production which was nice. The other actors easily matched Susan- I especially liked Lumiere (Marc Ginsberg) and Cogsworth (Gregory North) who reminded me of John Cleese. Gaston (Adam Hollick) was great at milking it and had the audience in stitches. Maurice (David Gilchrist) was perfectly lovable- a bit like Doc from Fraggle Rock. Mrs. Potts (Sarah Marie) was an understudy, but she was very sweet. And the Beast (Jason Chacon) was able to hold him own opposite a Broadway star just fine.

Susan herself was just wonderful.  Her voice shone as much as ever, just like the recording I'd listened to so many times before, but the best part of seeing her perform live was watching her expressions.  Susan has fabulous comic timing.  I love how she makes Belle just a bit sassy.

While now in her late 40s and technically too old for the role, she pulled it off.  I completely bought into her as Belle again.  It's amazing what make up and costume can do! (And it certainly didn't hurt that she really knows her craft!)

In the theater, the seat to my left remained empty.  But next to that empty seat was a familiar face- Nick Pitera!  If you aren't familiar with him, look him up on YouTube.  He does these amazing, multi-part Disney song videos.  He had made a guest appearance at the recent Broadway Princess Party concert I had attended.  I met him after that performance. But I didn't have the guts to say hello this time, and he was looking at his phone most of the period before the show and during intermission so I didn't want to bother him.

I had told Susan beforehand that we'd be there, and she told me that she'd put me on the list to go backstage for a quick visit.  All we had to do was go to the info table in the lobby and give them my name.  We noticed that Nick was doing the same thing. It didn't take long before we were led through a roped off area to where the dressing rooms were.  It felt special to be escorted passed everyone.  We had to wait for a few minutes outside the door, catching a couple half dressed actors who said quick hellos.

Susan opened the door and after a quick autograph for a young girl in front of us (my husband and I- the kids were with a sitter), we got to say hello.  She loved my Beauty and the Beast ensemble from Hot Topic- a rose skater dress, enchanted rose earrings, and matching hairbow. This was followed by my usual silent smiling, my inner voice going, "Say something, Angela, time is ticking!" She asked me if the show was the same as last time, and I said, "Pretty close!" Then she asked if I remembered it since I had been so little when I saw it!  (Gee, I was 13, not 5- ha ha. And yes, I had told her this just the other day in a tweet.) I told her that I remembered hearing her sing for the first time because it actually took several listens to get used to a different Belle since I knew the movie by heart. Even today, I hear the movie in my head when seeing the stage version.

Susan asked me about my girls, and I eagerly pulled out my phone to show her a cute video.  She popped away for a moment to talk to someone then came back to us and watched, delighting in my daughters joyfully shrieking at each other and noticed the baby wearing an Ariel onesie. She remarked to enjoy this stage where they are getting along as it doesn't last!  Ha!

Knowing we were running out of time (it was late, and they needed to clear the theater soon), I asked for a picture.  Susan happily obliged.  I started to take my glasses off as I usually do for photos, but then I stopped when I realized Susan was wearing hers.  Susan went, "We're going to wear our glasses for the picture!" We ended up doing a second picture because Susan didn't like the way her bangs were in the first.

I thanked Susan again, and my husband started ushering me out, knowing that I'd dawdle if given the chance.  I did have a lovely evening, and I was only minimally embarrassed by my social awkwardness.  Incidentally, when I mentioned this to Susan in a message the next day, she told me that I wasn't awkward at at and to rest easy on that.  She really is a lovely woman, and I know I am quite lucky to have her acquaintance.

Celebrating It's a Small World style!

Obviously, we are a Disney family (mostly because of me), and even though my daughter Ella has recently all but abandoned Disney Junior in favor of Nick Junior, she still loves the Disney parks.  For her 3rd birthday, she chose to theme it after one of her park favorites- It's a Small World!  I had a lot of fun putting it together for her.

Themed parties have been my thing since I was a kid myself!  I came up with a lot of my own parties growing up and used to love to check out party planning books from the library.

If this had been a party for a slightly older child, I think I would have gone with stations representing different countries, but I wanted to come up with a simple activity for toddlers.  My mom reminded me of something she'd done for one of my sister's parties when we were little, so a day or two before, Ella and and I dyed a bunch of dried pasta a variety of different colors that could be spooled onto yarn. I know colorful necklaces don't have that much to do with the ride, but it worked.  To dye the pasta, we divided it into several Ziplock baggies and poured in several drops of food coloring and a dash of hand sanitizer. Ella loved getting to shake the bags.  Then we laid them flat to dry over night.

Ta da! Arts and crafts table!

I also rented a children's party table from a local bounce house company and bought a nice gold and white table cloth.

For the door decorations, I cut out geometric shapes from construction paper and used letter stickers and punch out shapes to write hello in different languages like the signs on the ride:

I also made a food table poster recreating the display at the entrance to the ride at Disneyland.  I cut out the flags and used letter stickers again.  I even found cut-outs of international children at Michael's.

I added my own It's a Small World doll and food labels using the clockface that I made myself on my computer.  For fun, I bought a bunch of international treats from World Market- an idea I came across online.  Yum!  Since Ella had mentioned wanting a tea party, we also served tea sandwiches made by my mother-in-law on a tiered tray, and pre-made tossed salad and quiche.  The kids got chocolate milk and could even decorate these paper tea cups I found on Amazon with Small World stickers I found on Etsy.

 Target had these awesome create your own banner flags that happened to be in the right color scheme, and I used glittery stick on letters to write, "Happy Birthday, Ella!" Then I topped it off with hot air balloon Japanese lanterns that I found on Amazon.  We left them up long after the party.  They've been falling down in the middle of the night one by one.  After 5 months, there are 3 left standing!  Well, hanging anyway.

Party favors were little pretend passports with stampers and colorful little maracas.  I tried to get a parade going with the kids, but it ended up being just me and Ella marching around the house.  My husband has set up the coolest sound system in our home- we can actually program different music to play throughout the house, and he set it up so that each room was at a different part of the music creating the effect of going through the ride.  It was so cool!  We even had the clock music and sound effects playing on the porch.

Oh- I forgot to tell you about the cake! We had a custom cake created for us by Suzie Cakes and they did a fabulous job with a complicated request:

All in all, I think everyone had a great time!  I can't wait to come up with more parties.  And I've done plenty of Disney parties in the past, so I can probably make this into a series.  Ella says next year she wants a PJ Masks party at a gym place, and even though her birthday isn't until December, my mind is already buzzing with ideas.  Seeya next time!

Muppet Babies!

Whoa...I've let 2 years slide between posts.  This has got to change.  My goal is to eventually morph this into a real, more professional blog.  But for now, I've got another fun topic for you...

The return of one of my childhood favorites- Muppet Babies!  There was a time when Muppets were a separate entity from Disney, but since Disney now owns them and Muppet Babies is on Disney Junior, they are fair game. This works out perfectly because Jim Henson is just as much of a hero of mine as Walt Disney.  I'm a huge Muppet fan!

Recently, a whole slew of comebacks from my youth have popped up- everything from Duck Tales to Full House has been rebooted, and frankly, I'm getting a huge kick out of it!  Having been born in 1981, I am firmly in what's known among the Muppet fandom as the Muppet Baby Generation.  It's true- the babies were my introduction to the Muppets, my gateway drug if you will.  In fact, I have memories of the first time I saw the adult Muppets in I believe it was 1986's Muppet Family Christmas. I remember thinking they had made adult characters based on the babies and was quite confused about the absence of Skeeter. It wasn't until later that I realized the babies were actually based on the adults and that Skeeter was created for the show as another female character to balance out Piggy.

Anyway, over 30 years after the premiere of the original cartoon, we now have a brand new version airing on Disney Junior.  I'm absolutely thrilled that young children will be introduced to these classic characters much the way Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gave them Mickey and the gang.  The show definitely has the spirit of the original, and the characters have all their signature traits- Fozzie desperately wants to be funny, Piggy is bossy with a sweet side, Kermit is the leader, Animal likes to go crazy, and Gonzo is weird.  I did notice that they down play Piggy's long time crush on Kermit and completely left out Gonzo's pursuit of Piggy for better or for worse.  Also gone is the gag of Fozzie getting repeatedly hit with tomatoes for telling bad jokes.

Missing from the original set are Rowlf, Scooter, and Skeeter who has been replaced by a new character- a purple penguin named Summer. Summer is girlie and feisty and is a fun addition to the gang.  That being said, I still really miss Skeeter.  She was the sporty tomboy character and a more interesting contrast to Piggy.  However, I have hope- Skeeter clearly does exist in this universe as there's a portrait of her and her brother on a seesaw on the wall in the background. Even more fun are the baby versions of characters never previously seen in baby form like the Electric Mayhem, Sweetums, and even Mahna Mahna and the Snowths!  I hope this is foreshadowing future guest appearances- we've already met Baby Rizzo and Baby Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker.

The new voices work just fine, but as a fan of the original, it's a bit jarring at first to not hear, for example, Russi Taylor as Baby Gonzo.  Yes, he shared a voice with Minnie Mouse! Kermit was famed character voice artist Frank Welker who probably voiced a character in nearly every cartoon you remember from that era- from Fred of Scooby-Doo fame to Abu from Aladdin and many more. But, the new voices still capture the nuances of the characters in a way we recognize.

One of the biggest differences between the old and new generations of Muppet Babies is the length of the stories.  The new show now features two 11 minute shorts rather than one full length narrative. While that might be better suited for their preschool audience, as an adult fan, I think they got to play around a lot more in the old stories. I have many memories of favorite episodes- the one when the nursery is being painted and all their toys are put away so they made up there own versions of classic books, the one where Scooter gets sick and they travel inside his body to make him better, the one in which they go on a search for Animal who goes missing, the one where they make their own version of Star Wars (my introduction to that series actually!), the one in which they create their own cartoons, and probably my favorite- the one in which they act out Snow White and Skeeter and Piggy fight over who gets the title role.

The new stories are short and sweet- Gonzo befriends a potato, Piggy makes too many rules until no one wants to play with her, Summer wants to be bigger but Bunsen accidentally makes her tiny, the babies go searching in a dark closet for Nanny's sweater (or Miss. Nanny as she's called here) and it's revealed that Kermit is scared of the dark, and a pirate adventure in which Kermit has to figure out that it's okay for a leader to ask for help.  I do love that they've kept the theme of using imagine, and just as in the original, they show both what is actually going on and what they are imagining.  In this version, though, the setting seems to be more of a preschool than a place where they all live together. They also come across as just a bit older, more preschooler than baby or toddler. In the original they slept in cribs and wore more babyish clothing.

So far, I don't think the humor in the new show is quite as clever as the original. A lot of this may be due to the onslaught of pop culture references and old film footage they used to use.  They've touched on it in the new show- a time travel adventure briefly has a great bit in which the babies come across the opening number of the Muppet Show and wonder who those guys are- but it's not quite up to speed overall. It may be harder to get the rights these days though.  I particularly remember an episode that hilariously riffed on a whole slew of sci-fi properties including Star Wars, Star Trek, Bill and Ted, and the Jetsons with the babies each taking on multiple roles.  It included such gags as Rowlf-as-Astro wondering why he has to put R sounds in front of every word and a futuristic car that won't stop singing a parody of the Jetson's theme song.  We are still early on in the new series, though, so I expect the laughs will get better.  They've definitely made me smile.

The animation in the new show is fantastic.  You can see all the fuzzy texture of each character much like their fleece and foam counterparts.  I've read they actually developed a program that allows them to flop around like puppets.  Everyone looks great, and the backyard play area where they hang out looks like such fun.  Heck, *I* want to play there! I appreciate how they often use different style animation for the backgrounds of the fantasy sequences, a callback to the original show, and I'm pleased they continued the Henson tradition of including some fun songs.

All in all, I am excited to see the Muppet Babies back on TV.  It may not be exactly the show I grew up on, but it's heart and spirit are in the right place.  I have been having a lot of fun watching it- I'm not just a Muppet fan, I'm a fan of children's programing in general.  There are several shows on Disney Junior that I follow even without my 3 year old. I'm tickled to be able share the Muppets with her. Thanks to YouTube, she has had the chance to check out the original too and seems to like both.  Now, someone needs to work on getting the old one released on dvd!