This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Kim Huber: I was an enchanted broom, Jeffrey. You have Tony Award winning Anne Holdward turning you into a broom. Oh, but God love her. I mean, she worked so hard. The things were incredible, but it was a night. My costume ended up, there were only two people who wore it, where we look like Gumby. All you can see is like, my face came out like this. I had to lean like this. I had to like get like on a stool to get into the skirt. I had a back piece. I had this whole, I had dust pans on my hands, but I couldn't complain because everybody had something.

[0:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome everybody to A Musical Theatre Podcast where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theatre history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons. You can call me Jeff. Today we are discussing the musical BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which was a listener request from several of you, including Austin, who wrote in and said, quote, between the music, the characters and the story itself, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST has always been one of the most beautiful and exciting productions I've seen. I am still waiting on a revival for this show so that I can experience it in all of its majesty and splendor with a full-fledged Broadway budget. And my wishlist for actors who would be incredible in the role of Belle is about a mile long, end quote.

Well, Austin, today's guest is someone who was actually incredible in the role of Belle. She's a member of the original Broadway cast of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, as well as other shows, including SUNSET BOULEVARD and MARIE CHRISTINE. It's interesting, Kim, how, like, you started with Disney and then just went, like, dark.

[1:58] Kim Huber: Don't forget that Floyd Collins took time in my life.

[2:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, and Floyd Collins, of course. Exactly. Getting stuck in caves. We heard from her briefly in our MAMMA MIA! episode a few years back, and now she's here as our very special guest. Everyone, please welcome the wonderful Kim Huber! Yay!

[2:13] Kim Huber: Hello! Thank you!

[2:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Kim, so grateful you're here. Now, you were telling me you, like, you were a baby, a baby when you were in the show.

[2:22] Kim Huber: I actually had one of those Broadway moments that you hear about that actually happened to me. I went to UC Irvine, and at UC Irvine, it was before, in California, it was kind of before the musical theater conservatories. There weren't a lot of musical theater schools back when I went to school. This was 1993. Like, CCM, University of Michigan, but UC Irvine had a really wonderful program headed by this professor named Clayton Garrison, and he taught so much of what I know about musical theater. And what he did, instead of having some sort of showcase that schools do now, he put together an intensive where we had classes with Tommy Walsh, back in the day, Anne Rankin, and Uta Hagen. We had classes with Uta Hagen, but we also had a class with Jay Bender, who was a big casting person at the time, and we got to spend a day with him singing songs and seeing what he had to say, and he was casting Beauty and the Beast at that time, and little 21-year-old Kim said, he's going to discover me, and do you know what?

He did. He kind of did. I sat through a couple hours of him talking to everybody, and giving some feedback about not wearing enough makeup, wearing different sorts of clothes, different things. I went back to my apartment at the lunch break. I changed my clothes. I put more makeup on. Smarty pants. I did all the things. I came back, and I sang a song, and he said, what else do you have? What else do you have? And he asked me what, we all were given sides from the three shows he was casting. He was casting that, and Damn Yankees, and something else, and said, well, what did you bring to read? And I said, Beauty and the Beast, and he said, good for you.

[4:17] Kim Huber: Fearless, Kim. Where did that come from? Sit down. Never came back. Sit down. I'll talk to you later, is what he said. I flew back to New York, so I worked with him on, they had already cast Susan. They were looking for another study. He got me in for also the show Cyrano, the musical. I went into New York. I flew back in that summer of 1993, and I flew in that weekend. I auditioned for Beauty and the Beast on Friday. Monday morning, I auditioned for Cyrano. I got the call that I got both of them in the same hour. I got to cover Cyrano, and to cover Roxanne, and then to cover Belle in Beauty and the Beast. That is, that's the dream.

[5:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's crazy. It sounds like it's the dream. And I took Beauty and the Beast, and what's really cool is who ended up getting the Cyrano job, and their Broadway debut was Tammy Tapp and Damiano.

[5:15] Kim Huber: Oh my gosh, another LA queen.

[5:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes, our friend. So, 21 years old, I had done a lot of regional theater where I played a lot of roles in non-union, a lot of roles building up, and I had done a lot of theater as a kid. But this, I dropped out of school and got my equity card and started a show on Broadway. And not just like any show, but a show that changed a lot of things. I don't know, did you even know what it was? Like what you were stepping into? Because you had no prior experience of the Broadway machine or anything like that.

[5:50] Kim Huber: I didn't. And one thing I wanted to talk about, the other thing that, it's such a thing now, Disney and Broadway, that wasn't a thing. That was like a figment of every girl my age's probably imagination. This was coming out of Phantom and Les Mis and all those shows.

[6:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: The mega musicals.

[6:07] Kim Huber: All the Cameron Macintosh shows we wanted to be a part of. And growing up, going to Disneyland, listening to Cinderella, and all those movies were such a part of our life that when the movie Beauty and the Beast came out, it was a marriage of Broadway and Disney and this strong heroine where I about lost my mind. This is what I want to do. And when I found out they were making it into a stage musical, the whole thing was such a miracle that Disney and that sort of art came together was so fun and so unexpected, let alone the corporate side, which is a whole other thing that came in. But just the whole idea that we were so used to now, that wasn't a thing, Disney on Broadway. And that Times Square was a mess. Times Square was terrifying. And Disney coming in, changing the landscape of Times Square, the landscape of Broadway, the tourist destination of it. Everything changed with that show.

[7:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Insane. There's so much to talk about with this thing. Truly, I sat down and was like, oh, it's going to be fun. It's going to be Beauty and the Beast. And then as I started really thinking through it, I'm like, how do I even structure this? There's so much to discuss. What I want to do though, right off the bat is talk a little bit about the source material, the original fairy tale, La Belle et la Bête, which was written by, French people have the longest names, Gabrielle Suzanne Barbeau de Villeneuve, I don't know. Sorry, y'all. Around 1740, she was inspired, I guess, by this real life couple named Petrus and Catherine. Petrus, the dude, suffered from hypertrichosis, which is this condition where really thick hair grows all over your body and face.

And he was originally from the Canary Islands and was brought to France to live with the royal family there as kind of like a sideshow type thing. It was really sad. Catherine, his bride, was a servant of the royal family and wasn't allowed to see Petrus until their wedding day. But when she saw him, she wasn't freaked out. And they ended up having lots of kids, many of whom inherited the same condition as their dad, and the family became celebrities in Europe. So that was the real life thing that then inspired this woman, Gabrielle, to write her original fairy tale version, which was actually over 100 pages long and pretty complex. In it, Belle was the daughter of a fairy and a king, and was living in this provincial town to keep her safe from enemies in a sleeping beauty type way.

And the beast had been turned into a beast when he was younger because he wouldn't sleep with the enchantress. And she got mad, kind of like Potiphar's wife or something. So this complex tale that starts out, like I said, over 100 pages long, gets simplified over the years for a younger audience. And inevitably, like all fairy tales, gets adopted by most cultures and languages into their own version of the story. The Disney version is most like a different French version. This one was written by, here we go, Jean-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Beaumont? Where the hell is Beaumont? This was a story that Walt Disney himself had kicked around back in the 1930s and 50s, but they couldn't quite crack that nut, you know, similarly to The Little Mermaid.

And now cut to the 80s, Disney's having this real crisis, kind of existential crisis of what is the animation department going to be? And they go back to some of these stories that were tossed around at the beginning, at the very beginning, but never surfaced, to use a term from The Little Mermaid. When Mermaid becomes a huge hit, you know, it ushers in this huge Disney renaissance. And we've talked about this in our Little Mermaid episode, if anybody wants to go back and listen. But that's largely in part to Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who were the writers of, of course, Little Shop of Horrors, who had been brought in to, like you said, Kim, marry the animated musical film, which had a long-standing tradition with Disney, and the traditional book musical that we have always enjoyed on Broadway. So, this becomes its own new musical theater art form, these animated movies.

[10:41] Kim Huber: When the film comes out, so let's see, how old were you when it came out, if you don't mind me asking? I'm trying to...

[10:47] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Nineteen. Nineteen? Okay, I was just a little bit younger, but still, this movie blew my freaking mind.

[10:54] Kim Huber: Yeah, yeah, didn't I? Roger, I was dating my husband at the time, and we...

[11:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What? I didn't know you guys were dating back then.

[11:05] Kim Huber: We've been, we were dating since college, yeah. So, so all of this, yeah. Wow. So, we saw that, I would say, let's go see it again. We saw it like three, four times. Like, I was obsessed with it. I loved it so much. Like, I, it, there aren't a lot of movies even now, like, for me, you know, people like me, it feels like, and that, and it just spoke to me in so many ways that I had to keep going, keep going, see it, and have the music in my car. Oh, the, I just, it was the first film I remember seeing where the sound, when the beast roared, I could feel it in my body. And the, the spectacle of Be Our Guest, like, had me twirling, like, Maria von Trapp on my mountain in Willard, Utah, you know, because, like, I just wanted to recreate, you know, when all of the candles go, and a ripple effect?

Like, I was waving my arms to try and create that, you know, because the feeling was so overwhelming when I saw it. And when that film comes out, Frank Rich, the butcher of Broadway, calls it the best Broadway musical of that year. And it was a film, you know what I mean? It was clear that Disney was doing something that even New York couldn't figure out at that particular time.

[12:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So this felt inevitable.

[12:23] Kim Huber: Did you do any research on it? Because I'm not for sure about how I think this stage show is because of the success of the Disneyland production?

[12:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, yeah, let's bring in some other people. Because the Disney, the Disney world is huge, right? And they had been thinking of jumping into Broadway for a long time, clearly with their stage shows at the parks. Those had been successful. But it was always too much of a financial risk. The bottom line is always going to be the numbers with Disney. And they couldn't ever quite justify, at least according to, you know, Michael Eisner, whoever was CEO at the time, they could never quite justify the amount of money for the return. That all changed with Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis, these huge mega musicals. They're like, oh, this is a brand, right? This isn't just a show. This is a global entity that can really turn in a really solid investment over many, many years.

Now, kind of along with that trajectory comes Robert Jess Roth. This was one of the guys who was a director of the shows at the parks. Most famously, he did the Dick Tracy show at the park. That's right. I forgot about that one, of course. And he was like 27 or something at the time.

[13:47] Kim Huber: Yeah, super young guy, right? He was only 30 when he did Beauty and the Beast. That's crazy. That's actually crazy. But they really trusted him with a lot of the shows at the parks. In particular, for those who don't remember, Dick Tracy was a movie that had Stephen Sondheim songs in it. But it was very secretive because there's a lot of twists in the plot. Nobody could see the movie. And so they hired him to create this stage production of it at Disneyland, but he couldn't see the movie. So they just said, come up with a Dick Tracy type show and stick the Sondheim songs in there. So famously, the Dick Tracy show at Disneyland had absolutely nothing to do with the Dick Tracy movie because nobody knew what it was about.

[14:27] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I completely forgot about that show. I know the movie, but I forgot about the show at Disneyland. That's crazy. As he's working with Disney, he's constantly

[14:36] Kim Huber: Trying to pitch them on how about a Broadway show? How about Mary Poppins? And Mary Poppins got pretty far, at least in pre-development, to think, okay, how could we turn Mary Poppins into a stage musical? But ultimately, it doesn't go. The numbers don't add up. When Disney finally decides to go ahead with the stage musical, they decide on Beauty and the Beast, and they turn back to Robert S. Roth to be like, okay, you're our guy. This is surprising, I think, to everyone in the theater community, because this is bound to be an incredibly difficult show. And you're bringing in someone who has never directed a Broadway musical before in their life. And it's a young guy, apparently, too, right? So yeah, I mean, I get this is kind of not off the record or anything. I think this is kind of my idea behind it is that, that I that I think happened is we had Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg there constantly.

[15:35] Kim Huber: Titan. I think they, yeah, they were there constantly. And I think that they were able to direct him directing the show. And he was the right person to the right person that already knew had a working relationship with them, didn't have to say, I'm this Broadway director, don't you know who I am? You know, so that was the energy I think that they wanted. And I think that made it so that the show happened. And it was smooth. And it was a hit. And I think that's my opinion on why they went that way. Because they could really, they gave you could tell the notes that came from them. Yeah, constantly, constantly came from them.

[16:17] Kim Huber: No, yeah, he was. It was tricky, though. I think that there was a there was a lot of resistance from the cast about him. There was a lot of resistance, very much so.

[16:24] Kim Huber: Wow. Very much so. A lot of a lot of veterans, a lot of everybody scared about taking this leap, taking this leap, doing the show, and all these costumes, all these things happening, and all of this spotlight at the time, you know, is that I think that it's scary to not have someone you have 100% trust behind that way. You know, because he not not because he wasn't capable of doing it, but he hadn't earned it in their eyes yet. It was very, it was an interesting dynamic to watch as the chorus girl number four were all the people like, you're talking behind behind behind the curtain, of course, but it was an interesting time to be part of, you know, the New York energy coming from LA not knowing anybody and hearing all and just hearing all this information.

[17:09] Jeff Parsons: Well, I'm so glad that you brought it up. Because now I don't, I was nervous about even saying this. But Hal Prince, or Jerome Robbins, aren't gonna let Disney tell them what to do. Right? So it makes sense to have this be an option. What I find really interesting is how they went from that to Julie Taymor.

[17:36] Kim Huber: I would I'd be really curious to know why to rely on King, you know what I think actually, I know, I think it's Thomas Schumacher.

[17:42] Kim Huber: Oh, okay. Thomas Schumacher started taking over Disney theatrical, right. And I think that he had a vision for what Disney theater could be, that we could be innovative, that we could be on the front edge of that instead of just it's kind of started out as, let's put Disney on Broadway, it kind of felt, but it kind of became bigger than that. And then we didn't get checks from Disney, we got checks from the Dodgers, the Dodger theatricals, we were so we didn't need a general management was not through Disney, general management was through the Dodgers for a long time. It wasn't until I was on tour that it became Disney theatrical. So I think that has something to it started to become its own division and people having their own vision for what it was going to be other than this. All of Disney putting this on Broadway, it became its own division, its own thing. I wasn't there later.

[18:38] Jeff Parsons: Yeah. That's really important, though, because even you talking about how the cast was nervous, anyone who's ever worked in one of the Disney parks, I have worked in a Disney park, you you get used to the Disney way of being given notes by your, I say in quotes, stage manager, which are just basically things like, you stepped on this word instead of this word. And you're like, Oh, I'm sorry about that. I was there was a there was a, you know, someone had puked out their, their cotton candy. So I apologize for not stepping when I was supposed to, you know, like, it's, it's, it's a fascinating push and pull between the creative and just the Disney brand, which is they want it to be this way. Because their main concern is to give the Disney experience to every guest and have it be consistent.

It's a consistent, you know, it was interesting as a but but what I will say is that I did feel a real want to listen to the artists listen to the designers and listen to the people and their feedback. So it was a real push and pull. It definitely wasn't a corporate, this is what we're doing. This is what it is. It was just it was more of a birthing process where we were pushing back and forth, you know, like a labor of love that way where I I don't feel that there was any real resistance other than fear on either side to to get it going.

[20:14] Kim Huber: Good. That's great. I think that this has only become more true since, say, like the prequels for Star Wars, and, and you you live with some nerds. So I think I can have Star Wars with you. But fans are kind of the worst, right? Like, you're never going to please the fans when it comes to some of these things there. You either give them something new, and they're like, why did you mess with the old thing? Or you kind of regurgitate what they originally liked. And they're like, but it's just the same old thing. And you're like, I can't please you no matter what, what do you want? And I can imagine a little bit of that happening in the creation of this musical, where it's like, okay, it's got to be its own thing. But once again, we want to give the fans what they want what they loved about the movie. Did you kind of feel that at all?

[21:05] Kim Huber: You know, I didn't because I really did feel like we were putting the movie on stage without anything really new happening. I didn't really feel like I mean, in a good way. I think it was honoring a really great story and a really I mean, the animation, everything's beautiful. The movie is perfect. But why it's so wonderful is because the book and the score. So we still have this book and the score written by most of the same people that are fully invested in the story and fully invested in the music. So the rest of it, if we didn't mess with that, it was going to work. I mean, I think that and I will say that the show never ever, ever worked better than the very last day in the rehearsal hall with no costumes, no anything.

Before we went to Houston, the show was perfect. And then it took a long time to get it back once all the stuff came on. And so this so I think we were it was always going to work. No matter what they did, if we kept the book and the score intact, and the right the right integrity of that score, and if anything, they just wanted to make sure it wasn't a cartoon. They wanted to stay why the cartoon was so good is its honesty and its truth, and trying to continue that integrity. And I think everybody wanted to do that.

[22:24] Jeff Parsons: You've given us such a great segue into discussing the writers themselves. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, like we said, had done The Little Mermaid turned it into what it was, I mean, in addition to many animators and the directors and everything, but truly, they changed Disney forever. Howard then wants to do his next his passion project, which was Aladdin. So Menken and Ashman start working on Aladdin. You know, there are always several Disney films being made at the same time. A studio in London starts working on Beauty and the Beast, not a musical version. They get working on it. And Katzenberg, to his credit, realizes that it's not working, they need to throw it all away and rebuild it again, but this time as a musical in the in the tradition of Little Mermaid.

So they go to Menken and Ashman and are like, Hey, we need you to stop on Aladdin. And we need you to work on Beauty and the Beast. The thing is that Howard Ashman at this point is dying from AIDS, which is like, I can't even talk about it. It makes me so sad. They move the entire production of Beauty and the Beast from London to upstate New York, where Ashman is currently struggling for his life so that they can be close to him. And they rebuild Beauty and the Beast into what it is.

[23:41] Kim Huber: When I think of Belle, the opening number, and how sophisticated that writing is, period. It's one of the great openers of a musical. And it started out as an animated film. It gives me chills. Yeah, I'm seeing it. I mean, I still just think about the first time I saw that number. And it started and she's saying on the well and I've lost my mind. And that was my favorite thing ever. Singing that with the sheep. And then it goes into the cacophony at the end.

[24:20] Jeff Parsons: Anyway, continue.

[24:20] Kim Huber: No, no. Working along with them, though, was Linda Wolverton, who was the original screenwriter. Most of the time Disney films up until this point had been written by animators and storyboards. It's like kind of writing by committee. Everybody gets in a room and decides, oh, this is how it's going to go. This is how it's going to go. Linda, from what I understand, was the first screenwriter hired by Disney Animation for a film. She was the first person who was like, a screenwriter had nothing to do with animation to come in and be a writer, which is which then goes to what you're saying.

[25:01] Jeff Parsons: No, 30 years ago that they were hiring. I mean, hiring someone like her to do that. It's even rare now.

[25:06] Kim Huber: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it goes to your point about it being like a strong script, a strong book. You had an actual screenwriter coming in to help structure the piece. They hire Linda Wolverton, who she says she found out about turning the film into a stage musical while she was vacationing where? On Maui.

[25:25] Jeff Parsons: Yes.

[25:25] Kim Huber: I also loved, apparently, in the animation, all the times that Belle has that piece of hair in her face that goes down like that, that's not Paige O'Hara. It's Linda Wolverton.

[25:39] Jeff Parsons: No way.

[25:39] Kim Huber: They're saying that was something they picked up from Linda.

[25:43] Jeff Parsons: Oh, how sweet.

[25:43] Kim Huber: With that hair that keeps coming down. I would see that with her. I love that. One thing I want to make sure I wanted to talk about today, too, is how important Linda was to the musical staging in so many ways, because she brought Howard in the room all of the time. Everything. She would go, this is what Howard meant by this. When we put this into the script, this is what Howard said. She didn't take ownership from much of it at all. Most of it, she gave to Howard. The entire library scene was something they had written before. And all of that, she just gave to Howard. I didn't write this. This was Howard. She, across the board. She was there more often. We never saw Tim Rice and Alan Macon was in and out. But she was there all of the time and brought Howard in. And so we kind of felt him in the room every time she brought him in.

[26:35] Kim Huber: That makes my eyes water. He was so special. And I love how prickly he kind of was known to be a little sassafras. And yet his understanding of story just has completely fused with my DNA. I realize how much of what I understand about storytelling comes from Howard Ashman.

[27:01] Jeff Parsons: Isn't it amazing, too, that it's kind of, I had thought of this before, but I'm thinking about it now. And what's amazing is as to Oscar Hammerstein to Sondheim, I feel like it's Howard Ashman to Lin-Manuel Miranda. That got in his DNA. He said, how he talks about how his musicals got in his DNA and the words of Under the Sea and stuff. And you hear so much of Howard Ashman in Lin-Manuel. And I think it's so amazing. Every time I listen to his stuff, I'm like, oh, that's a Howard Ashman. That's a, yeah.

[27:28] Kim Huber: I can't think of, there are very few lyricists, and I think you're right. I think Lin-Manuel is up there as well, who can be as clever as they are warm and soulful. And that's Howard. And storytelling, never sacrificing the storytelling, never to be clever.

[27:43] Kim Huber: I really feel bad for Tim Rice.

[27:47] Jeff Parsons: Can I be honest about this?

[27:51] Kim Huber: I actually, so I might get me in trouble on this. We never saw Tim. He was in London, and he would send, from what I remember as a 21-year-old girl who was not in the room for most of what was going on, we got a lot of his lyrics by fax.

[28:05] Jeff Parsons: Oh my gosh, he just.

[28:06] Kim Huber: Yes, we did. Like, here's his new lyrics for this. And I think that they always wanted different lyrics for the end of If I Can't Love Her. Because if you notice, if I can't love her, he says, let the world be done with me. And then the next scene, he's running to chasers. We never found out what changed his mind to go get her.

[28:25] Jeff Parsons: Oh, great point.

[28:26] Kim Huber: And he did send us lyrics that were like, yeah, no, these aren't better. And they just kept the old ones. So if you've ever wondered why that doesn't really work, it just kind of was one of the things that everybody went, we're good. It's one of those.

[28:42] Jeff Parsons: Yeah, it's never made sense to me.

[28:49] Kim Huber: Let the world be done with me. Intermission. Hopefully, everyone will forget that I said that. And now.

[28:53] Kim Huber: It changed my mind. Though all the actors who have ever done it have done it in a way of like, I am making a change in my life. I'm going to do this. And then they sing that last line and go, don't remember what I said, but no, he really doesn't. He wasn't really around. And, you know, apparently the story is, is he hates being in the theater.

[29:12] Kim Huber: He loves being in the studio. He wants to be in the studio all day because think about those concept albums of "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Chess," "Evita," all of those. He wants to do that. He cannot sit still in the theater. He's not really interested in it. That's the rumor I've heard, and that makes sense. Yeah, and everybody has their process, right? There are some great additions to the score though, and we can talk about them as we go through the piece because it seems to me that every addition to the stage adaptation includes a deepening or an expansion of character, every single one. And so when we talk through the show, I want to definitely spend time looking at how Linda and Alan Menken and Tim Rice helped to do that.

Let's finish out our little timeline first though. So you go to Houston. You have a great rehearsal process. You said the piece worked really well in the room. And every day, what was really amazing is it was back in the day at 890 Studios, which was downtown a little bit more, and it was in the same building as Barbara Matera where they built all the costumes. And so we would be called for costumes. I'd just go down the elevator down to Barbara Matera where she would get you for your clothes. But Houston was hard because there are so many things that were in the show that got cut. At one point, they did not want to have dancers as wolves. No wolves, which is now usually done in the show. No, no, no. We're not going to do dancers with wolves.

And they had this treadmill where Tom Bosley would run on this treadmill. And they had these little, some of the dancers had like these little puppets where they're like in the pit of the stage. And they would have almost like these little rats that were chasing after him. That didn't work. Gaston has gone through, they went through a hundred changes of Gaston. Gaston, if you know now, usually it's traditionally done with the clinks with the—oh, the number "Gaston." Yeah, the number "Gaston," by the way, there's one of them. I still have one of the originals. When you leave the show, they give you one. How cute. Yeah, the mugs, like those little mugs, the mug dance. Yeah, that was not... One of my favorite Easter eggs on this is the recording of the Broadway musical is hilarious because they hadn't figured out the mugs and so they hadn't written the dance arrangements yet.

And so when you hear it now, it is just extraneous laughter, random. Have you ever listened to the... The whole hit's so bad because I've been listening, I've done the show a thousand times since. And so all of the... And all those are ingrained in my body. And what is this? Yeah, because they hadn't even figured out the mugs. That went in on previews on Broadway, but they had about... Really? Yeah, they had a thing with stools. They had a thing with jokes. They had a thing... Anyway, Houston was hard. And the number one thing that they did that was hard was they had designed this incredible prosthetics, incredible costumes, and we completely lost the show. The show was gone, especially from Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts.

They're covered in the beast. We lost their entire facial expressions. We lost everything. So it wasn't just the costumes. It was a full prosthetic makeup on top of it all. Absolutely. They had a whole thing where Gary Beach, he had wax coming down his nose. Oh my gosh. In the second act. Wow. The element of time that they brought to the show that's not in the movie, that they have to get it done by a certain amount of time, which is such a perfect device for any musical theater is giving you a deadline. But those costumes where everybody ended before the transformation, all of them gone for those principles. That was the biggest thing. They had these trailer things that would change set, that would move for the woods.

They never would work, and then we'd have to stop the show for 25 minutes. It was a nightmare. And the worst thing for me was that we would have to get in our costumes at noon. Those full costumes where you either couldn't sit, some people had 30 pounds on their head, or Gary Beach would be carrying 30 pounds. We would be called at 12 to get in costume and stand there while they did lights around us the whole time. I feel like I'm crying out loud. For five hours. That's a rough tech. I feel like I paid my dues on that a lot. It was one of those where you've learned a lot. I'm like, I want to play Evita in a barn at 18. I heard 21. You call that paying your dues? This is paying your dues. I'm wearing my broom costume in the light.

I can't sit down. It was really, really hard, and it got okay reviews. But then we went back to New York, and we had to rethink a few things, redo some choreography. Not a lot changed. It was mostly tech that got tightened up. Then we did another six weeks or something crazy of tech and previews in New York. Then we opened. You opened in a season where I think we're still kind of struggling a little bit finding our footing here in the early 90s. You've got a lot of revivals. But in terms of new musicals, it's kind of you guys and "Passion." Once again, it's always the polar opposite with "Beauty and the Beast." I don't know, the winds of change, baby. You got this mega Disney musical up next to essentially the most celebrated writer of musical theater of all time, Stephen Sondheim.

Everybody, of course, is rooting for Sondheim on some level, right? I actually think it was more of the fear. I think it's a lot of different fears of the corporate coming in. I think it has more to do with, so not just from the actors wondering what that's going to be. But I think also the established producers don't want to compete. The old boys. And they don't have the resources, the sort of resources that Disney has, or what if this opens it up to Universal and all the things that where we really are now. Where we are now, actually. Yeah. And I think that, so I get that. I get that. But it didn't, it was really interesting because I didn't really understand the, I still look back on the reviews and it all seemed sort of inevitable to me, so I didn't really worry about it.

But people who had been in the business a long time in our dressing rooms were nervous about what was going to happen. If this was going to run, is this the biggest flop ever? They had all that history in their DNA that I was like, we're on Broadway. It's going to be a hit. Isn't everything a hit on Broadway? I'm completely clueless. And we got not great reviews, but the line was up around the block. Isn't that interesting? I mean, it sold like crazy. Going from that to "Sunset Boulevard" right after, I didn't know what it was like to be in a show that just didn't sell out. Well, I think that in general, just people struggle with change. That's a human problem. It's not a Broadway problem. It's not a theater problem.

It's a human problem, right? And the truth is that there were a lot of things that needed to change in New York. Theater coming out of the 80s wasn't as robust as it had been in decades before. And nobody had really any other answers other than to be mad that the British had somehow figured it out with the juggernaut musicals. Well, it's hard to talk about the 80s though, without remembering that it's because of the AIDS crisis. And then the AIDS crisis on top of it all. It just killed everything. I mean, it stopped so much momentum, so many careers, and also the mentorships, whatever those links are. It's not just the people we lost, but the link. We lost so many links to the greats. But still, I do think that change is difficult.

And I think that critics come in and they didn't like it. And you read those reviews. I reviewed them before recording with you, and they are not great. And sometimes they're mean. They're downright mean. And yet, the audiences were like, take my money. They're literally throwing money at the Palace Theater saying, let me in. So, I feel like this was a big moment when the theater community needed to realize maybe we need to give people what they want, and not just what we think is worthy of being here. Because otherwise, how do we survive? How do we exist? How do we thrive? And there are, of course, consequences with that. But I don't know. It's complex. But it didn't sacrifice the book and score.

It sure didn't. I will always be a fan of the original production. I think there's some stuff. But the bare bones of it works. So, it works, period. Well, let's go through it, because I want to get some of your memories and perspectives on it. Of course, like we said, the show begins with Belle. We have this amazing heroine character who's living in a town. And despite being gorgeous and smart and a great singer, she is ostracized. Now, when you were regularly in the show, is it true that you were "I Need Six Eggs"? Yes. That's me on the Broadway. I had to belt that E every night, first out of the gate. I need six eggs. It was really high, because it's like a step higher in the Broadway production.

Than the movie? Than the movie, yeah. Oh, wow. That's why I don't sound quite as haggard, and I have to be all up here. I also sing, "What Lovely Grapes." That's my favorite. What Lovely Grapes? What Lovely Grapes. It's in the cacophony at the end. Oh, at the end? Yeah. Oh my gosh. I'm going to have to listen for it. Right before she sings, "It must be more than this provincial life." Yeah, it's in that spot. When was the first time you went on for Belle, though? Do you know the story, Jeffrey? No, I do not. Okay. This is a crazy story. Okay. I love it. If it was now, with social media and stuff, it would have been a thing. So, first of all, before I say anything, I want to make sure I wanted to talk about this, too, and then I'll tell you the story.

I just want to say how lucky we are, all the women of musical theater, that Susan Egan was Belle. That this 23-year-old woman made her Broadway debut in this corporate situation with all these Broadway veterans and fought for so many things in the script, fought for so much integrity of Belle. You know, there's that part of me when I was 21, like, I can do this. No, I could do the show fine. What she was able to navigate, I mean, I want her to go, and now she's producing this Disney Princess concert thing she's doing that's really successful. I need her to produce. Susan, go produce on Broadway. We need you. She's brilliant. Wow. And we are all so indebted to the work she did on this role. And I just think it's really important to say.

I have full-body chills. I had no idea. That's okay. I just, we all are really indebted to her. So here's the thing. As much as this is exciting for me, I want to say that this is crap. So Susan, beginning of the second act, they had since changed the wolves one more time. The wolves became— The wolves. Oh my God, the wolves. I have to say this too. I keep backtracking, but this is good stuff. So it became these wolves on a stick. That these wolves would be, these huge wolves, apparently each one was $100,000. But they had lighted eyes, but one of the eyes was always not working. And they would shove them, they were dancers in black and the wings, and they would shove them and the little legs would go, they would make these little flap with their legs.

And they would throw one of them at the beast. And he had, it was like a pillow and he would wrestle with it. And you go, and then throw it away. And mind you, of course, the actors or all the dancers are going, get it, get it. They would all be yelling at you, just being stupid, right? So anyway, because it was so terrible, they decided to fill the stage with fog. Of course. And it condensated all over the floor. It was so wet. Oh no. Susan complained for three days. They kept covering it up. Susan fell once, it's too wet. Second act, she runs out on stage, slips and dislocates her elbow and they have to stop the show. Oh, for crying out loud. This is Tony week, Jeffrey. If you watch the Tony Awards, Susan's arm is in a sling.

She did not perform Belle that day. I did, that whole week. She was not able to go on. She can always say she lost to Donna Murphy at the Tony Awards because people didn't see her. I mean, true. I was on all Tony week. Wow. So here I am in my yellow tights for my broom with my bright yellow capesios. It was somebody's birthday. We are having cake and the show stops. So mind you, no one had been on. This is June '94. No one had been on at all. No understudies. I had had one understudy rehearsal where I kind of saw where things were. I had had no rehearsal, but I'd been with the show since September. You were well acquainted with the show with this much tech that terrifies me. Not a thing because we had the Tonys to do.

We had the commercial to do. We had the opening to do like there was no time for understudies. So I'm sitting downstairs and the show stops and I start seeing all the wolf people come down and her arm is just wrong and the entire cast just turns slow burn to Kim and looks at the baby 21-year-old in the corner. So our stage manager comes over and he goes, well, we're going to put you on and they throw the wig, my wig on me, cutting the

[43:49] Kim Huber: Never worn any of this. I mean they had built me bodices that go into the dress, all of the things. It is the beginning of the second act of the show. They're waiting. They don't know what, you know, the audience is ready to go. They throw everything on me. I get it on, I get in the wings. I see Susan in a gurney going off into the ambulance again. Oh my god. I'm Terry, man's coming up to you ready, baby. Like, oh my gosh, the audience is literally going right, doing the clap clap clap and I hear ladies and gentlemen, the role of Belle will be played by Kim Huber and I think this could be really bad. I don't remember anything because I had to think everything I did had to be what's coming up that I don't know.

What's coming up that I don't know? Like I didn't work on the kill the beast lines. That's not fun. You know what I mean? Like things like that, right? I was practicing home, which has already been a diva number. I don't know. I don't touch him. I don't know those lines, you know, and it ended up being spectacular. I mean, it was great. I went up for the week and luckily she wasn't out too long. But I'm really mad that that happened to her when she had talked about it being unsafe for a long time. Yeah, and she wasn't listened to. So that's a really important part to know about the story is it and having been a young leading woman, you know, you're worried about being bossy or being in and you're still not listened to and it's really frustrating.

[45:27] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's a good lesson to hear. Thank you for sharing that.

[45:30] Kim Huber: So then you become Belle for First National, right? You're the Belle.

[45:32] Kim Huber: Yeah, I actually took a break. I got Sunset Boulevard and I kind of was like, hey, if you guarantee me Belle afterwards, I'll stay. And they went, no, thank you. So it's really heartbreaking. Oh god, horrible. It was really, but you know, because I'm not significantly taller, but I look a lot taller than Susan and at that time they were really looking for people to create that illusion to make the Beast look huge. Like the very next one they cast was Kerry Butler, you know, for the Toronto company. They just weren't into me. That's fine. All right, but that year in Sunset was just kind of transformative. I really found myself that year with friends and that show was, they made us feel really beautiful in a way.

My broom did not. And or just being in that kind of energy was hard and this was a show, this was, it was a transformative year for me. So that when I went to my audition, Robert Chess Roth literally said to me, Kim, wait, he had a very, he had quite a little southern some kind of accent going on where he said, Kim, I don't want to offend you, but what happened? Anyway, I did do the role. So then I started the national tour and I did it for two and a half years. The most fun part about that is that about a year and a half into the show, the understudy of the Beast left and my husband was on, Roger was on the Phantom of the Opera tour and I said, hey, I'll stay even longer if you hire my husband.

And they did. And what's really fun is so he understudied it and apparently every time he and I would be like mouthing his words. But we never played it officially together. When I went to go do the show on Broadway, he was opening in Boston as the Beast. So he took over as the Beast and finished out that national tour while I did Broadway and then I was done with the show.

[47:35] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's incredible. My gosh, what a journey with it. So I guess that means you were with the show on and off for how many years?

[47:42] Kim Huber: Like three or four, four, like four and all in the beginning years before it moved to the Lunt-Fontanne. The other fun fact about me is I was in between on Broadway. I was in between Debra Gibson and Toni Braxton. Oh, and was there when they wrote a change in me, right? And so I never got to sing it because it went in the day after I left on Broadway. So the Tony went in after you. Wow, oh my gosh.

[48:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay. Okay. So anyway, all of this is me getting to the question of what's your read on Belle?

[48:16] Kim Huber: I read on like who is this girl, you know? It ends up being, I mean, what's the heart after doing it a long time and why I think I love the movie so much is I felt like she was me. It's like a weird thing to say and I think that that's kind of why a lot of women love Belle is because they find themselves in her in a way instead of seeing an outside in. It's more of an inside out of being misunderstood and other people expecting me to be something or someone that they need me to be and finding themselves in really connecting with another person. And I think those are the books. I loved reading. Those are the books I felt, you know, Anne of Green Gables or all those things growing up that I actually just, it was one of those roles where they say find yourself in the role.

I actually look back on it now and I couldn't tell you my read on Belle because I, in a way that no other role I've ever done, I've ever been, I've always been outside in. This one has always just been me saying the truth, saying the truth or being a little too bold and having to take it back and all those things. There still aren't enough roles like that for women that we can really get behind. She's flawed. She thinks she knows everything and she doesn't, but I also think she does hard things. I think giving up the Beast to go take care of her dad and I think giving up her dad.

[49:42] Kim Huber: Yeah, I think what's interesting about it to me too is I don't think of it as a feminist story that way. I think of it as a feminine story as more like how women feel obligated and have different sorts of choices than men. In stories where she has to go take care of her father, you have to take care of your children. You have these things that we feel compelled to do that are in our DNA as women that makes her a woman that isn't just I can do all the things, you know? Ultimately, she can't, but that's what saves her is by being the real woman that she is by saving somebody else. Wow, that sounds like a great read to me, girl.

[50:26] Kim Huber: Ultimately she's like I can do anything, but she has, you know, priorities. What is the, there's a great Brene Brown where it's like if you have too many priorities, you have no priorities. Yeah, and I think that the story isn't you can do whatever you want, girl. It isn't actually, it isn't as you have to do what's right in your soul and she does and that's what redeems them both really.

[50:50] Kim Huber: So within this provincial life in this town, she's raised by a father who's also kind of a special guy. He's an inventor. He's created this invention that will chop wood. You guys had so many contraptions and illusions and magic during the show. He's taking this new invention to like a fair, right? Like a competition and he gets lost in the woods. Wolves, there's always wolves. And in looking for refuge in the woods, he comes upon this castle. Upon entering the castle, he realizes that there are all of these enchanted objects, you know, everyday objects, a candelabra, a clock, a teapot who have, who are animated. They have come to life. Now this is one of the big, I think maybe the biggest thing that is different about the musical that Linda Woolverton brought was, like you said, this idea of passage of time.

The enchantment that has come over this castle is something that is getting stronger by the day. The Beast, who has this rose, oh my gosh, we didn't even talk about the enchantress. My bad, my bad, but this spell that's over the castle is getting stronger and stronger. So Lumiere starts out the show as kind of a candelabra and as time passes, he's becoming more and more a candelabra. That builds in this like clock, right? Tick tick tick, we got to take care of this before the show's over or we will never be human again.

[52:38] Kim Huber: Now, can we talk about this enchantress a little bit? Because the whole little prologue, the whole idea of this story is that the Beast was a spoiled little brat child. Then this old lady comes to visit him. He's mean to her. She changes him into a beast. I think that's, looking back on it as an adult, this is a little harsh. It's a little harsh.

[52:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I think so. I think that's why we always kind of fly by it.

[53:03] Kim Huber: Yeah, as I read through the script before talking to you and I thought, you know, you treat someone like a beast long enough, they're gonna act like one. And I think that, yeah, maybe the Beast was spoiled and maybe he made some wrong decisions, but he's young and can probably learn. But if you treat someone like a monster, I'm pretty sure they're gonna start behaving like a monster.

[53:28] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So you are, are you thinking about the objects being kind of complicit to how he, so that's why they got to, I mean, I was thinking that's kind of interesting about it. Why they got punished. Why did they get punished?

[53:40] Kim Huber: Absolutely, they're servants. That's just what happens. Yeah, or maybe it's just the idea that every, you know, every decision we make has consequences, some bigger than others. I mean, there is that and that is true. Like your selfishness may affect other people even though it seems like you're just looking out for yourself. There are consequences and I think that the psychology of fairy tales is always, it's very stressful to be a child and sometimes your parents are gonna punish you and make you feel like you're probably bad. And guess what? At the end of the day, you are still loved and you are not the beast that you may think you are. I think that underneath that, that is the psychology that's found within these fairy tales. It gives children this idea of sometimes I feel like a bad boy, but underneath I am NOT that person.

[54:33] Kim Huber: Right, and you know, and also when you think about, you put the psychology of Howard Ashman to it myself because he really put himself as the Beast. Apparently so much of the Beast was how he felt about himself at the time, you know, think about it. You know, I think there's a lot in that too. Isn't that the dedication in the film? It's like dedicated to Howard who gave, oh, it makes me cry. Yeah, they gave the mermaid her voice and the Beast his soul or something like that. So yeah, it was interesting because I think Human Again was written for the movie originally and was cut, yes, right? Yeah, and so, you know, in looking at the musical when they were trying to figure out how do we make these little objects into six-foot-tall humans?

That was the key when we went Human Again. Wait, they're humans. They're human people. We can do whatever. So if we start them as human and not if we think of everybody there as a human, but you don't in the cartoon. Yeah, you really do think of them as a cause they have been completely cartoons.

[55:34] Kim Huber: Yeah, yeah, we think about we're conditioned with cartoons that, you know, yeah, clocks alive, you know? Which is kind of hard to do in, so this really is like, yeah, I'm a man in a costume and I'm stuck, you know? So it kind of helps the costumes too of being I am a person who's stuck in this thing.

[55:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, let's talk about a few more of these real human moments. There's the beautiful moment before I guess Maurice goes to share his invention, no matter what, which is a sweet little moment and makes perfect sense that father and daughter should have a song together. They don't get any other time together really in the show. You've also got Gaston having his song, which is just every baritone's dream.

[56:21] Kim Huber: You know, do you know what the staging, you know, now I'm completely aging myself on this, but you know what the idea behind the original staging of that is where he's dragging her around?

[56:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, what?

[56:32] Kim Huber: He thinks of it as Pepe Le Pew.

[56:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh my gosh, of course.

[56:49] Kim Huber: So the whole time versus to think about the cat and Pepe Le Pew shorts, I think that's really fun. Long story short, too late, this when you break down the story, it actually is quite complex when you think of all of the enchantments, the magic mirror, the lore behind it all. It's actually a pretty tightly constructed story. Belle finds out that her father is missing because of a scarf that LeFou found in the forest. So she goes running to the, you know, after him, finds the castle. The Beast is upset that his life is being disrupted because of course he's living in isolation and shame. She offers that in terms of imprisonment that her life be traded for her father's. Her father comes up with a great argument, by the way, which is I'm old.

I've lived my life, like let me be the prisoner. And she very stubbornly says no, you need to live. And so the Beast keeps her. Now, how much do you think plays into his decision of being like, oh, maybe she could love me? Like do you think that's even in the forefront of his mind, let alone the back end?

[57:51] Kim Huber: No, doesn't. I don't know. I don't even know if he goes that far. I wasn't sure where the moment is. Yeah, I don't, I think it's when they start talking to him about it where he thinks about it. But I think he's just mad because he just, yeah, you know, and he's also perplexed. You would do something for somebody else. You would do that. You would take his place. He goes through that whole like I've never heard any, he has to backtrack for a minute while she's deciding. He never thought anybody would do that. And I think that's intriguing. I think that's intriguing, but I don't.

[58:24] Kim Huber: I don't think he thinks yet, and I think that's the first time he's thinking.

[58:28] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Mm, that's cool.

[58:29] Kim Huber: And I don't think, my point of view always was that Belle, it just, it was an instinct. It wasn't, and she gets, she says it twice. She goes, take me instead. And then she decides the second time.

[58:41] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wow.

[58:41] Kim Huber: And she says, yes, take me instead, is what, is what I think is that, so I think it's an impulse, like, I'll do anything, so take me, and then she doesn't really think about the recourse until.

[58:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's really beautiful.

[58:52] Kim Huber: Really, until home. That shows that her instinct is selfless, right? From the get-go, this is a wake-up call to Beast of like, no, people can react instinctively from a place of selflessness, of love. And I think that's also why it's important they put the song in, that they put No Matter What in.

[59:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[59:12] Kim Huber: That they, you see that you have to establish that relationship, otherwise, we don't, we don't know why, like, who is this guy?

[59:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. There in her room, she meets some of the other objects. You've got the, you've, of course, got Mrs. Potts, the incredible Beth Fowler, who I don't think I've ever talked about on the podcast, but, like, what a legend.

[59:33] Kim Huber: She's, talk about someone who's kind of seen it all.

[59:35] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, yeah, and she's just so consistent and wonderful and just as warm on stage and off.

[59:41] Kim Huber: Yeah, lovely.

[59:41] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's beautiful. You've also got the wardrobe, Madame Grande de la Bouche, is that it?

[59:44] Kim Huber: De la Grande Bouche.

[59:47] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: De la Grande Bouche. Now, this is, like, the biggest costume in the whole piece, right? Was this?

[59:52] Kim Huber: Yeah, and did you notice a discrepancy about who is on the recording and on the, on the Tony Awards as to who played the role originally?

[1:00:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, tell me.

[1:00:02] Kim Huber: So, Eleanor Glockner was the original Madame de la Grande Bouche. And, like I told you earlier about the costumes and how heavy they were, like, I was even looking up for our thing. I am correct that Belle's dress was 45 pounds.

[1:00:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: The gold one.

[1:00:17] Kim Huber: The gold, it was 45 pounds. So, if that, and I got to wear it for three minutes, you know, which was fine. Eleanor Glockner not only wore that, during Home, she stands there, you know, wearing or standing in this outfit while Belle is singing and then she wakes up. She goes on on a pallet and sits there the whole time for that song, let alone the five hours that we were standing being lit for any of these situations, right? The pressure of the costume on her back, it made her lose her voice for six weeks. Just like the alignment. Something, something happened where that she was at and she was out. She did not get to do the opening of the show or the cast recording.

[1:00:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh my gosh.

[1:00:59] Kim Huber: So, that's so cute. So, anyway, I just wanted to give her a shout out because she worked really hard, but yeah, but everybody had a story, but hers was the worst.

[1:01:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, that's crazy.

[1:01:06] Kim Huber: So, I never, I always laugh about the broom, but don't complain because there were so many other problems.

[1:01:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Because you could have had all hours.

[1:01:12] Kim Huber: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, Home, which you just mentioned is one of the big songs that they added.

[1:01:18] Kim Huber: I love Home. I think it's classic Alan Menken, beautiful music. Tell me about singing that song.

[1:01:25] Kim Huber: So, I got to audition with Home for when I auditioned for The Understudy. So, that song's always really important to me because it's like all those years of doing your musical theater and learning how to craft a song and doing it to get a song and go here, there's no Broadway recording of this. Nobody knows how this goes. I got to learn this and just, Susan hadn't sung it yet. I got to just sing it in my voice and find out what I thought about it. And yeah, it was like my, it felt like my thesis. Here's a song and then go and sing it and get a Broadway show. But what I love about it is it gives her a chance to change her circumstances. It kind of, in the movie, it goes from her turning on the bed and crying and then deciding to not go to dinner with him.

So, what happens to her? Because she finds she has to pull on her own inner strength. And I always love songs like that for women. And I also just love that he tied in the, you know, the da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da. That's in the bridge, like how, I remember hearing it the first time and going, oh, he's pulling in all the themes from the score. And so, it's gorgeous and it was really fun to get to sing that all the time.

[1:02:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I love that. All right. Well, now we got to talk about Be Our Guest, because the enchanted objects are much more motivated than the beast to try and help her feel at home, because their future depends on it. And they put on quite a show for her in presenting dinner. I can't think of a better showstopper in an animated film. This is just that on steroids to a certain degree. From the get-go, was the audience insane about it or did you have to work for it?

[1:03:06] Kim Huber: They really were, especially when there were fireworks. We had Pyro on stage at the end. And also because of Gary Beach. I mean, Gary Beach was just the most phenomenal. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. What a joy. And I got to be on tour with him for a little while, too. So, I just adore him. And what's so fun is he really was Lumiere in real life, too, where he'd be like singing and then he'd be looking, he'd turn around and look at me like, what the hell are we doing? It was so much fun. I can't stand it. Just absolute joy. And his joy and his commitment.

[1:03:40] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, just owned it.

[1:03:41] Kim Huber: Through everything that I think. And I think that brought it for everybody from then on.

[1:03:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[1:03:46] Kim Huber: So, it was really fun to do every night when I got to go on or I remember the first time going on and getting to meet all the friends when they came out. And apparently, Robert S. Roth and Anhold Ward just went to like a Bed, Bath & Beyond one day. And like looked at utensils and were like, what do you think? Should we think about doing like an ice cream scoop? No, I'm not that. Like, what about the whisk? Yeah, totally. Literally, that's what they did. They went to a store and talked about all the different things that they could use and they could have in there. That's how she was so inspired.

[1:04:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Amazing.

[1:04:24] Kim Huber: From what I know, we were talking so much about costumes, but it took her two years from what I read to design.

[1:04:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, and then trying to...

[1:04:32] Kim Huber: And it was non-stop. We were in costume fittings once it opened to fix it, to make it better. Because it was never a matter of, this is what I made and you're going to make it work. It was always like, uh, yeah. It's not quite right. We'll get that back. We'll figure it out. It was never, you know, and things just take time. You know, like my costume, I told you, was rough. But in two years, you know, the girls who took over later had a costume that was more open and a little more feminine.

[1:04:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So, then what did the broom become, by the way?

[1:05:02] Kim Huber: It was still a broom.

[1:05:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It was still a broom, but it wasn't Gumby.

[1:05:05] Kim Huber: It was more like, and it was still in the same kind of apparatus. But part of the problem was we had done all these musical rehearsals and I couldn't hear. Because I was completely covered. I couldn't hear. And they ended up putting like sound things on the side. Because at first I couldn't hear at all. Because it was, yeah, things like that. So, they opened it. They kind of give her like a little window where you could see her come out. And she had like a cute little bustier and was kind of sassy. And I had dustpans on my hand.

[1:05:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Naturally.

[1:05:38] Kim Huber: And if you ever notice, be our guest at the very end, I just kind of come out at the end because I couldn't go upstairs. And I had to be the 21-year-old girl going, Hi, I can't make it up the stairs. I'm so sorry, but I can't walk. And they would go, try. Like, I'm trying. I'm really trying. And I couldn't do it. And it wasn't a matter, I mean, nobody could do it. It wasn't, I couldn't do it. It couldn't be done. But and I mean, they were always amenable to it. They were always sweet. They just had a lot to take care of.

[1:06:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[1:06:08] Kim Huber: And it got taken care of.

[1:06:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It did.

[1:06:10] Kim Huber: But yeah, be our guest in the pyro. I don't know if my sinuses have ever recovered from singing in that pyro for years. But it was spectacular. The end of the first act is the beast. I mean, being mad about be our guest for sure, right? Because everyone's having fun.

[1:06:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No.

[1:06:32] Kim Huber: Wait.

[1:06:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, why does she leave then?

[1:06:34] Kim Huber: I'm trying to remember.

[1:06:35] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No.

[1:06:35] Kim Huber: Okay. It's actually this. I'm really glad you brought this up because this is a really important Susan moment. Well, first, Bell is a bitch. And he's doing that cute thing where he's like, he's got, he's like, I'm going to be nice. And he's got the tray of food and he's going to bring her the food. And she's like, I don't want to see him again. You know, she said, and he hears her and he goes, throws the tray and he's mad. Right. So that just sets it up. But he tells her you can do anything you want.

[1:07:03] Kim Huber: Oh, of course. But you cannot go to the West Wing.

[1:07:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right.

[1:07:06] Kim Huber: And she goes, it's in the West Wing. And she goes there and he scares her. And she said, and she leaves. And Susan was like, this doesn't work. This doesn't make sense. And I remember really vividly her on this staircase, just having it out with Rob and talking about this, that something has to happen for her to break her promise because she was wrong and she knows she's wrong. And it's not so much, it can't be enough that he scared, just scared her. It doesn't make sense. And so they came up with that, the moment where he kind of grabs her and pulls off her sleeve and rips her sleeve. And so that's, and so she's on the floor, he's holding the sleeve, feeling vulnerable. And she's like, I didn't sign up for this.

Right. This is, and that, and she goes, I will not stay here anymore because it feels like something else is happening. And it's not, he's actually just trying to give her the sleeve back. He's just a brute. He's too big. And he did make a mistake to grab her, but he wasn't trying to, he was trying to stop her. He was trying to keep her from going. It's still not right, but he wasn't trying to attack her or do anything else. And it's just a moment where nobody's thinking and it goes too far. And that was Susan. That was Susan saying something has to happen. It can't just be the beast roaring and then she runs out of the castle when she shouldn't have been there.

[1:08:33] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[1:08:34] Kim Huber: And that's like a sort of thing I mean about Susan being in the room going, this isn't strong enough and this is what needs to happen. What would need to scare me would be something like this. And that's why. And then so he gets to in the scene, traditionally holding her sleeve and having something to play with during, if I can't love her about beauty and about something he can hold on to is her sleeve. And I had two different sleeves. I would change them during guest on.

[1:09:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh wow.

[1:09:01] Kim Huber: I would change my clothes. I had this thinly stitched sleeve that I would be really careful during be our guest that I didn't tear off. That was easily terrible. That was sewn on, hand sewn every night by my dressers. Hand sewn. I would change them.

[1:09:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wow.

[1:09:13] Kim Huber: And the best story about it all though, is the night that when Terry and Susan did the show and he accidentally grabbed her ponytail and pulled off her wig. That'll make you run into the woods. They looked at each other and he took it and he threw it at her. And then it ran off.

[1:09:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, that really happened.

[1:09:40] Kim Huber: It was awesome. Anyway, so that moment's really important. That's important. I'm glad we talked about it. And what's nice about it is that they feel like, so when he saves her and she decides to go back with him, it's because she knows she was wrong and she has something to apologize for too. And so it starts them off kind of on an even plane that they weren't on before.

[1:10:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And it's physical, right?

[1:10:06] Kim Huber: And I'm thinking about it now. It's interesting now that she asks for forgiveness and says she's sorry by touching him. By fixing his wounds.

[1:10:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right.

[1:10:20] Kim Huber: Yeah, it's a good show.

[1:10:22] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's a good show. I mean, you're right. The story is just so strong. In the second act, so he sings, If I Can't Love Her. We talked about that. Which, by the way, I think I prefer to Evermore. We're not going to talk about the movie version, which I think is kind of a disaster.

[1:10:38] Kim Huber: Can I say something really quick about that? About the movie? I just want to say one thing.

[1:10:43] Kim Huber: Do you know, only because it's a callback. Do you know the one person that was not, I don't know why, was not involved in the movie version, the new movie version of Beauty and the Beast?

[1:10:54] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Who?

[1:10:54] Kim Huber: Linda Wolverton.

[1:10:56] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What?

[1:10:57] Kim Huber: Her name is nowhere on the, I kept looking. I said, something's missing. Something's missing. And it's mostly men who are in charge of that show. And it shows. And also Linda brought, like I said, Linda always brought Howard in the room. And anyway, that's my opinion on it. But moving on to Evermore.

[1:11:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Moving on.

[1:11:19] Kim Huber: In the second act, Belle comes back and they have this really beautiful scene. I've always loved something there from the original Disney film, but it's expanded now because of this scene where she's reading to him.

[1:11:32] Kim Huber: That's the other thing about Beauty and the Beast is that it felt like the biggest advocate for literature and reading from my childhood. The importance of books. To see how much Belle loved reading was really indelible to me as a young person. And that's amped up a little bit in the stage musical because the Beast can't read. And just think about that. Or the fact that it seems like she also opens up his inner life. Not reading as someone who doesn't have an inner life or an inner dialogue to make new choices or to reflect.

[1:12:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes.

[1:12:11] Kim Huber: And these stories are so empathic. When you see King Arthur leading as a strong person within the round table from a place of kindness and loyalty. And all of a sudden your mind is open, especially if you've lived in a castle your whole life as a beast. You know what I mean? The power of this art and the power of reading and storytelling, I think, is such a beautiful part of this story. Anyway, so there's the great scene with him being reading to-

[1:12:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Isn't that great?

[1:12:44] Kim Huber: I love that whole... And it's all underscored within an inch of its life. And I love every second of it. I mean, that was the moment when I went on that I was just in that pink dress after that crazy fast change I hadn't rehearsed. And it's just so magical. The library and that whole sequence.

[1:13:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome back to A Musical Theatre Podcast. Today, we're diving into the enchanting world of "Beauty and the Beast," and I am thrilled to have with me original cast member Kim Huber. Kim, thank you so much for joining us today!

[1:13:30] Kim Huber: Thank you for having me, Jeff! I'm excited to talk about this incredible show.

[1:13:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: "Beauty and the Beast" has such a rich history and cultural impact. Can you share a bit about your experience being part of the original cast?

[1:14:10] Kim Huber: Absolutely! Being part of the original cast was like stepping into a dream. The energy in the theater was electric, and we all knew we were part of something special. The music, the story, and the characters really resonated with audiences.

[1:14:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It really did change Broadway, didn't it? The way it brought animated films to the stage was groundbreaking.

[1:14:50] Kim Huber: Yes, it was! It opened the door for so many other Disney adaptations. The combination of stunning visuals, heartfelt storytelling, and beautiful music made it a unique experience for everyone involved.

[1:15:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What was it like working with the creative team behind the show?

[1:15:30] Kim Huber: Working with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman was a dream come true. Their passion for the project was infectious, and they really knew how to bring the characters to life through music. It was a collaborative environment where everyone felt valued.

[1:15:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's wonderful to hear. Do you have any memorable moments from rehearsals or performances that stand out to you?

[1:16:10] Kim Huber: Oh, so many! I remember one rehearsal where we were all just trying to get the choreography right, and we ended up in fits of laughter. It was moments like that that really bonded us as a cast.

[1:16:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Laughter is such an important part of the process. It helps create a supportive atmosphere.

[1:16:40] Kim Huber: Exactly! And when you're performing night after night, those moments of joy really help keep the energy up.

[1:16:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Speaking of energy, the show has such a powerful message about love and acceptance. How do you think that resonates with audiences today?

[1:17:10] Kim Huber: I think the themes of love and acceptance are timeless. In today's world, where there is so much division, the message of looking beyond appearances and finding the beauty within is more relevant than ever.

[1:17:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely. It's a message that transcends generations.

[1:17:40] Kim Huber: Yes, and I think that's why the show continues to be beloved by so many. It speaks to the human experience.

[1:17:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And the music! The score is iconic. Do you have a favorite song from the show?

[1:18:10] Kim Huber: I love "A Change in Me." It really captures the transformation of Belle and her journey of self-discovery.

[1:18:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's such a beautiful moment in the show. It really highlights her growth.

[1:18:50] Kim Huber: Yes, and it’s a reminder that change is possible for everyone, no matter their circumstances.

[1:19:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well said, Kim. Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences with us today.

[1:19:30] Kim Huber: Thank you for having me, Jeff! It's been a pleasure to reminisce about "Beauty and the Beast."

[1:19:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And to our listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on "The Little Mermaid" featuring original cast member Chelsea Morgan Stock.

[1:20:10] Kim Huber: You won’t want to miss it!

[1:20:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: The best way to support "A Musical Theatre Podcast" is to give us a nice rating and review.

[1:20:50] Kim Huber: Yes, every little bit helps us reach more musical theatre lovers!

[1:21:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: For more great content, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and X.

[1:21:10] Kim Huber: And don’t forget about our bonus episodes on Patreon!

[1:21:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Exactly! Thank you for being part of this wonderful podcasting community.

[1:21:30] Kim Huber: Thank you, everyone!

[1:21:40] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Until next time, keep celebrating the magic of musical theatre!

[1:21:50] Kim Huber: Bye!

[1:22:10] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:22:30] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:22:38] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:22:48] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:22:58] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:23:18] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:23:28] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:23:38] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:23:48] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:23:58] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:24:08] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:24:18] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:24:28] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:24:38] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:24:48] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:24:58] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:25:08] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:25:18] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:25:28] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:25:38] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:25:48] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:25:58] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:26:08] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:26:18] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:26:28] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:26:38] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:26:48] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:26:58] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:27:08] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:27:18] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:27:28] ♪ Musical number ♪