Beauty and the Beast - Prince Transformation

[tiomela]

Hey!
I'm directing Beauty and the Beast and my thoughts are plagued by the Prince Transformation Scene.

Here's my dilemma:

1. Do I have the Prince and Beast cast as two seperate roles?
or
2. Do I cast the Prince and the Beast as one and then have to figure out how to do the transformation from one to the other.

The biggest issue is that we may not have enough guys for the "guy roles" and I'm concerned that we might end up having to go the one guy playing the Beast and Prince.

What have you seen done? What have you done? Please give me tips!! Thanks a million!

 

[jfleenor]

I've seen it done where the Beast and Prince are played by one person, but in the scene just before the transformation, the Beast is wearing a Beast-mask instead of his Beast makeup. This makes it much easier for him to 'transform' without the transformation taking *too*long. If the makeup is going to take longer than a set change to remove, it also allows you to simply have a different actor/extra play the beast for the pre-transformation part of the scene.

 

[tiomela]

Cool! That makes total sense too.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Any one else have something different?

 

[wolf825]

Really IMO it is going to depend heavily on what you do for Make Up and costume for the Beast--how big or detailed you go for the beast.. As has been said--if the makeup cannot be removed quickly or its really detailed and can't come off quick, and you can't drag out the transformation scene/fx very long usually--you may wish to double cast. Most often also as stated the scene prior, note the actor is often 'shrouded' in their cloak and wearing a mask for the battle with Gaston..so that often helps if you keep the make-up & costume simple. You can keep the beast makeup/mask simple..or you can make it greatly detailed--choice is yours but the latter of which very often leads to a double casting (and some double costume pieces) usually...

FWIW...when I worked one of the Disney show productions at thier parks of B&B--it was double cast because the 'beast costume' was so 'large' as a full fuzzy booted & gloved character costume (and Disney can do whatever they want)....but its size presented a issue for when the prince would change places for the transformation. To give the prince the size and hump and body deformation similar to the larger character costume, in which he could wear for the transformation, what was used was an air bladder worn on the back (like a giant beach ball or balloon) inflated under the costume. The actor wore this as a 'backpack' and could slip it off during transformation with the cloak.. This gave him the same 'girth' that the character costume had and he wore a shrouded mask with his cloak. Right before we did the transformation (during the battle scene) the character costumed actor would switch places and exit at one point, with the prince wearing the same cloak with the air bladder under on his back and shrouded face come on in place to finish the scene--and when 'stabbed' he would crouch down with his back to the audience and simply deflate the air bladder as part of the effect, with smoke and strobes and sound, to see him 'shrink' on stage as the bladder deflated... When finished--for the reveal he would simply lose the cloak with the deflated bladder under it and stand up and be the prince.. This all ran with tracks for the "beast voice" as well for the entire show--so the actors doing both parts of Beast and Prince did not have to match a voice with the change greatly either..or have to futz with a wig or headset mic during the transformation...but thats Disney.. I just mention it to give you ideas to what can be done. Most school and theater shows of B&B I have seen don't do that or go that far--they just pull the voice FX or vocoder off the actors mic when he's the prince...if they use any voice FX at all. Most folks just keep the makeup a simple mask..but some go all out with the make up which leads to a double cast. Its really dependant on how detailed or far you can or want to go... I worked one B&B High School show where the transformation was IMO staged 'oddly' and the beast (a single cast here) just crawled off into the wing into the fog machine at transformation, and stripped off his wig and mask--and then as the prince--just popped out upstage like he just got off a bus after a lot of smoke and strobes.. I thought it was odd and not very dramatic but it was what it was and yet everyone enjoyed the show.. Not sayin you can't do it simply--it all depends on what you can and want to do and how far you want to go..and of course--budget...

Hope this helps give you some ideas...



-w

 

[banjokeith]

When we did it we double cast the role. Our Beast actor was a very large person who fit the role beautifully, so the "Disneyesque" transformation into a rather handsome 150lb guy was very effective. If I remember correctly, the price only needs to be able to sing about 10 seconds of rather simple verse, which if you do your transformation effectively should be rather covered by audience reaction

We had an upshooting fogger that we purchased for the production. If you can get your hands on one of these either through purchase or rental, or even if you rig a standard high-output fogger to serve the purpose, you can hide just about anything behind it.

Regardless of which approach you take, it's just like a magic show - give the people something to distract them, and then make it quick!

Anyway, good luck with the show! I hope to someday get another chance to try it!

 

[techno89]

heres how to do it, make a scrim screen on a wooden frame 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide, put the scrim screen in a frame center stage in line with your curtain, close the curtain but stop at the screen. now take two lights and put them behind the scrim a few feet back, do the narration in that screen and have the character do some funky things behind the screen for the transformation, it looks really cool with blue and red

 

[aelfric5578]

The best way to do it is with a Beast double. Our Beast was getting out of makeup right after "If I Can't Love Her" At the same time, we had an ensemble member getting into the beast makeup. When it came time for the attack on the castle, the real Beast/Prince was able to speak his lines into an offstage mic while our fake beast acted them out on stage. Our actual transformation was pretty simple. The fake Beast died in front of a large double door. Then he jerked up, the doors swung open, the doorway filled with fog and the fake Beast and the real prince switched places under cover of fog. I never got to see it from the audience because I was busy taking my fork off backstage, but I heard that it looked convincing from the audience.

 

[jowens]

I just directed a show and did it almost exactly like aelfric described. The difference being that we used an elevator behind the set to make it seem like the transformed beast was flying up.
It really worked.

 

[freddole]

When I did the show we double cast. This worked very well. The set rotated. After the Beast was stabbed he fell through the balcony door as the set rotated. The Prince was already lying in the interior room with a Beast mask/headpiece, shrouded in the Beast's blue cloak. The actual Beast was off stage before the set rotation was complete. During the "transformation" we used a lift to make the beast appear to fly. Strobe lights and fog helped make the effect successful. Now I am going to direct the show a second time and I can't wait to pull this off once again, even better.

You don't need to double cast, but it seems to me that this is much simpler than trying to get the Beast out of costume and into Prince dress in a quick, simple manner.

fred

 

[dafunkmonster]

We just finished our production of Beauty and the Beast here. We had the Beast and Prince double-cast. We used a trapdoor to switch out the beast (heavy makeup and big mane) with the prince while he lay "dying" in Belle's arms. Belle actually held the Beast's cloak out in place while he crawled down and the prince crawled up, so from the audience, it looked like someone was laying there the whole time. Then we obscured it with a fog "wall" and distracted the audience with lighting. It ended up being pretty seamless.

I did sound design for the production, and the Beast did pretty well sounding gruff and beastly, but I threw a pitch shift on him (down ~octave), and rode the wet/dry knob leaving it 100% dry most of the time, but bumping it up for key "angry" lines, etc. It was pretty slick, if I do say so myself.

 

[CrisCole]

If I may quote myself here.

When we did B&B a few years ago, I made our latex mask. Using dental hyginate, I made a live mask of the actors face. Then, using plaster of paris, I made a positive.

I used play-dough to build up the cheeks and nose as well as the chin.

I covered the positive play-dough head in a mixture of liquid latex and wrinkle stipple.

Once it dried, I removed it, and painted and trimmed it.

I then put it on the actor and finished the paint and, using more liquid latex, I added crepe hair to it. (having it on the actor so I could see what it should look like.)

I ended up using a combination of black and brown crepe.

The mask was attached to a wig, and stiffened with a coating of foam/latex rubber (with repainting...sigh).

This way, he wore the mask and wig as once peice, and required no spirit gum to attach it.

I really wish I would have took pictures....

The mask came down from the forhead (where it was attached to the wig) to the eyebrows.
There was a peice that covered his nose, and actually hooked in his nostril with a curved peice of foam rubber at the end (to ensure it stayed in place.)
It also went down from his ears to his chin.

If you've ever seen Mike Myers as the Cat in the Hat, watch the behind the scenes and look at the peice he wears. It was similar to that, but the nose was part of it, and it was easier to remove.

For the transition to the prince at the end, we lifted him up on wires, and spun him around in the air. As he was spinning, he turned his brown cloak inside out, removed the headpeice, tucked it in the hood of his cloak, and removed the hand peices, placing them in a hidden pocket on the inside of his cloak, as well as the foot peices.

He was lowered then, wearing this bright red cloak, and completely human looking.

He then said some of his lines with Belle, and when the servants entered in their human forms, the prince/beast simply handed Luimere his cloak, and Luimere ditched it offstage, so the beast/prince didn't have to worry about a beast peice falling out of his cloak.

It worked really well. Hope this helped.

 

[JohnG]

Actually we just finished a run of B&B. We had the transformation using a lift that was done with man power and a lot of mechanical advantage (weights and a lever). Also we had a the beast (who changed to look like the prince prior to the attack on the castle) and an ensemble member dress up in a beast costume double. Then the real "beast" spoke the lines behind a little curtain just upstage to make it appear all real. After the "double" beast died the lift and fog started and they switched the real beast (dressed as a prince) just tossed off his beast cloak to appear real. Then we had a moving gobo pointed down that pierced the fog perfectly! It looked really epic!
Hope your show goes well.

 

[HornsOverIthaca]

We did something fairly similar. The beast in the fight with Gaston wasn't the same guy. The real beast was having most of his makeup removed at the time. He would then put on a mask that could be quickly removed during the transformation.
We hired an illusionist to provide the levitation trick. He let us rent a levitaiton rig which we built into the set. He already knew how to cue everything and helped me with designing the lights to mask it. It worked very well. The audience was absolutely shocked.

 

[johanferreira]

I know that I post this question in the wrong place but I need a quick response:
Does anybody have a list of all the sound effects that will be needed for Beauty and the Beast?

 

[cooltoph]

Someone's done a book with all the effects in the show.

Effects of Beauty and the Beast by Chris Stolz : Lybrary.com

Hey!
I'm directing Beauty and the Beast and my thoughts are plagued by the Prince Transformation Scene.

Here's my dilemma:

1. Do I have the Prince and Beast cast as two seperate roles?
or
2. Do I cast the Prince and the Beast as one and then have to figure out how to do the transformation from one to the other.

The biggest issue is that we may not have enough guys for the "guy roles" and I'm concerned that we might end up having to go the one guy playing the Beast and Prince.

What have you seen done? What have you done? Please give me tips!! Thanks a million!

 

[tyler.martin]

when I did this with the mouse, the beast came down on one lift behind a cryo screen and then with a few flash trays the prince rode up another lift behind yet another cryo curtain...

 

[gafftaper]

when I did this with the mouse, the beast came down on one lift behind a cryo screen and then with a few flash trays the prince rode up another lift behind yet another cryo curtain...

Well that's not in my budget.

Wow that sounds like a really cool trick. The mouse does know how to do things right.

 

[ludosc]

I ran lights for B&B a few years ago...

They double cast the role but had the double play the beast in the scene prior to the transformation. Then we used two fog machines with some cheap dj lighting effects running through the fog (not my idea nor my call unfortunately). The guy playing the original beast then took the place of the double in the fog. It actually worked out pretty well.

 

[hamlett22]

Transformation..

We are finishing rehearsals now, (3 weeks to go). I cast two performers: one prince, one beast. We finally got on stage last week (been stuck in the bloody dance studio for a month) and my boys started working the transformation and fight sequences.

At top of show; Prince pouts and does his thing with the narration. Then when he is ''spelled' he crumples in a heap with his cloak/cape flowing over him as he goes down (made a pleated, oversized cape for that purpose). He drops in front of the trap door, covered. Our trap door is 2.8 feet wide x 2 feet deep, made of 1/2 inch thick aluminum, with various shapes cut into it. I hung a 'fog curtain' below the trap door, (enclosing all 4 sides below) which imprisons the fog we produce from our fog machine. We load the fog curtain seconds before needed and the fog begins to rise through the grating of the trapdoor as the prince crumples to the floor d.s. of the trap. Note on fog- we positioned our fog machine about 50 feet away with plenty of tubing and advance inline fans. I worked with the timing of on and off to get the fog to where to needs to be in time and get it shut off before we output too much. Placing the fog machine way back under stage minimizes operation noise. I used 4.5 inch computer fans, mounted in a wood frame with connectors for the fog tubing. These fans advance the fog over a long run. Then you just worry about timing.

I mounted two etc source4's to the deck below the trap. We kick those on and throw some nice tracers of light through the rising fog. Our actor playing the Beast is preset in the fog curtain below. He reaches up and opens the trap. He is training himself to walk fluidly up the steps onto the main stage deck. He steps over the prince's shrouded body, billowing his cape outward as he rises from the trap. His cape pulls fog up with him. I threw some light on his face pulling focus from the Prince to the Beast. The actor playing the prince is shrouded in fog and the beast's billowing cape as the beast steps over his body. Prince slithers down the trap and a crew member reaches up and pulls the trap door shut as the beast looks at himself in the magic mirrors and falls to his knees in agony.

We reverse this sequence in act 2 climax. Belle kneels cradling the beast's head inches d.s. of the trap. Lights and fog kick on, but we preset the trap door open with black velvet fabric stretched over the open hole in the floor. A bit of bamboo ribbing on a bamboo frame set in the trap door frame. This hides the hole from view during the fight. Careful choreo. of the fight keeps actors clear of the hole. The prince pulls the bamboo frame (which is flexible) stretched with the velvet fabric, down the hole. This avoids opening the aluminum trap door during Belle's weeping over the beast. Prince steps up with fog, cape and lights and steps over Beast to Belle's surprise. She goes to him, lights off on stage, with a single irised spot light on their faces as they come close in and kiss. Beast backs into the hole and closes the trap door.Lights up, rose petals spurting forth, etc. etc....

works really well with a crew focused and steeped in timing.

And I am a happy director.

Chad
Concordia Theatre