(Photo by Emily Cooper)
Year after year, almost without fail, Theatre Replacement’s East Van Pantos are some of the most innovative, entertaining productions we see all season. Beauty and the Beast is one of the best.
Co-writers Jivesh Parasram and Christine Quintana have modeled their script very loosely on the Disney version of the story. In the Parasram/Quintana telling, Belle wants to pursue a degree in finance so she can address the injustices of capitalism. In a refreshing touch, everybody she talks to about her (sound) analysis finds it so boring they fall asleep.
The frankly stated theme of this panto is that it’s important to be able to change your mind. The Beast in this version is a wealthy, intransigent young man from West Vancouver: “I don’t flip for nobody!” When he tells an Enchantress who’s disguised as a beggar that, if she can’t afford sushi on her own, maybe she should examine her life choices, she transforms him into a mattress. If you’re familiar with the huge Mr. Mattress sign at the corner of Clark and Venables that advertises “No No-Flip Mattresses!”, you’ll get the joke. And, if you don’t, who cares? The surrealism of Jason Sakaki bouncing around as a baby-blue twin still works.
Everybody who was in Fujiya at the time of the transformation — that Japanese food store is another East Van landmark — is simultaneously turned into staples. So Mrs. Potts from the Disney story becomes Miso Potts, and a brown businessman from next door becomes a piece of sushi: Salman Roe.
I’ve been repeating these goofy jokes to my partner all morning and chortling like a kid. There’s a gang of skunks. They have a musk cannon. [Read more…]
