Let me say now that I am so glad I had the opportunity to see it!

I’ll try to remember the important things, but I have a crappy memory and it’s already been a few days since B&B.

• Gaston was flawless. Logan Denninghoff stole the show! His voice was practically identical to the original film at times, and at others it was an improvement! Truly a wonderful performance on his part, both vocally and with his acting.
• Lumiere was a close second to Gaston’s performance. Michael Haller put on a hilarious and quite beautiful show. Yes, he was horny as could be, but he also had good chemistry with the cast and his jokes/puns were done in a way that kept its hilarity all without being too obnoxious. Also vocally impressive.
• Belle was good! As I doubt she will ever encounter this critique, I will say that she wasn’t as impressive as I had hoped, not that I walked into the theatre with obscenely high expectations. Her voice was good, it just lacked some maturity. She carried some notes beautifully and had some great acting moments, but she also had some really immature vocal moments and a couple mediocre acting slips. That said, I was very happy with what she did. (Come to think of it, I think she was an understudy….might have to look that up.)
• The Beast was at the same place as Belle for me. Different issues though. His voice was plenty mature. It was very comforting, although at times his vibrato lost the pitch. I’d like to hear his vocals from another show. Some of the acting he did —really, just when it came to maybe two parts with the childish jokes— felt forced. The rest felt quite genuine, and it made the beast even easier to love than in the film.
• LeFou was extremely impressive! Cogsworth was also well done. They had great vocals, of course, but the acting was what was most impressive. They were well cast for their parts.
• Mrs. Potts and Madame de la Grande Bouche were marvelous!! Julia Louise Hosack has a voice I could listen to for hours upon end; it is really beautiful and I encourage you to look her up and find a clip of her vocals. And Jen Bechter was positively hilarious, nothing remotely forced in her acting. Of the supporting cast/ensemble, she may have been my favorite.
• COSTUMES. Really fantastic!!! 
• Two most memorable scenes:

1. The ball. Belle’s dress was GORGEOUS and this may have been my favorite scene of her acting. I literally had tears in my eyes when Mrs. Potts began the Beauty and the Beast melody; everything on the stage was stunning, the music was stunning, it was just beautiful, and it made me miss doing that show more than anything.
2. The Beast’s transformation. I didn’t know what to expect but whatever expectations I had were exceeded. If you’re planning on seeing the show and don’t want to get spoiled, don’t finish reading this bullet, but: they somehow managed to put a rig on him and suddenly as he lay dying (another good acting moment for the both of them, very tearful), he was lifted off the ground. The wiring was not obvious at all, it couldn’t even be seen, and you couldn’t see anything. It was a fantastically executed illusion. The music carried him up and then suddenly a flash of darkness, he whipped off the mask and the cape, and the lights returned and he was transformed, and floated back down to the stage. I’m pretty sure I was ecstatically on the edge of my seat at this point. And the rest of the show ended so wonderfully, there was a lot of love coming off the stage.

• Straight up: when the little boy who played Chip ran across the stage at the end to greet his teapot-turned-woman mother, I was with the half of the audience going “AAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!” Freakin’ adorable.
• …this may be conceited to say, but having done this show when I was in junior high, I have to admit, our junior high performance was actually way more impressive than I gave it credit for. Our costumes were pretty good, not all that different from the professional set, and for a group of kids between the ages of 12 and 14, we put on a damn good show. It’s just really interesting to compare it to the tour. I’m suddenly proud of what I did when I was 14.

ANYWHO. That’s my ramble. This show is worth the money, and I applaud the touring cast!