32 CLASSICAL

Germany rethinks Kurt Weill.BY JOSHUA BARONE

14 FILM

`Trainspotting' ages its seedyclan of lads. BY ROSLYN suLcas

18 TELEVISION

Julie Andrews's new group offriends. BY LEAH ROZEN20 ART

A fractured American dream.BY JORI FINKEL

THEATER I MUSIC I FILM DANCE

TELEVISION I ART Arts&LeisureT; Nctu pot* Vines

SUNDAY, MARCH 12,'2017

Why Mess With Memories?

Remaking a classic like 'Beautyand the Beast' can be a challenge

fora studio. Just ask Disney.

By BROOKS BARNES

BURBANK, CALIF. — The inoocl at Walt Dis-ney Studios here last spring was euphoric:A risky live-action remake of one of Dis-ney's mast hel oved animated films, "Beautyand the Beast," was coming off without ahitch. Disney had assembled an all-star castIL. by Emma Watson as Bel.. A bet on un-tested technology LB creole a brutish yetempathetic Beast had paid off. A 90-secondteaser trailer had generated a record 92 mil-lion vievvs in its first day online, leaving Hol-lywood slack jawed —not even "Star Wars:The Force Awakens" had attracted as muchinterest.But then came a tempest. in an actual

teapot.Disney released a video showing Ms.

Watson and her "Beauty and the Beast"cast mates at an early rehearsal. In thehackgmund, behind Luke Rvans (Gaston)and Josh Gad (Leyou), was concept art of awhite teapot with a human face on its belly.Thal was Mrs. Polls, housekeeper turnedenchanued kelde? She didn't look a thinglike the one from the 1991 cartoon version.Where was her spout ease? The Internet de-livered a not-on-my-watch foot stomp."We wanted to keep the spout nose, we

really did," Bill Condon, who directed thenew film, said recently with a sigh. "But nomailer whai we tried, she just looked like aPig"CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Above left, Belle and the Beast in Disney'sanimated "Beauty and the Beast." Above, DanStevens and Emma Watson in the remake.

Getting the BandBack TogetherPaul Shaffer prepares for apost-`Late Show' tour.

Ry DAVE ITZICOFF

The last time Paul Shaffer went on a full-fledged rock 'n' roll tour, it was 1980 and hewas playing with the Blues Brothers. Whathe remembers mull about the experience,more than any hedonistic misadventureswith John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, istraveling from cityto city with a hand of vet-eran Ri{d1 musicians on a fragile, twin-en-gine propeller plane."We're with contemporaries of Buddy

Holly and Otis Redding,," Mr. Shaffer re-called recently in his dry delivery. "Some-

body said, let's at least write a song about anair disaster so that our families will havesome curl of annuities,He begun to sing the lyrics from "Air Dis-

aster," a preflight song the entourage wouldperform to ward off evil spirits:

Rock tragedyA11 they had to do was spend a couple

more g'sRock tragedyIncluding several members of the M.G.'s

That was half a lifetime ago for Mr. Shaf-fer, 67, who came from Fon William, Ontar-io, to Now York in hopes of becoming a greatsession musician. Instead, Ile spent moreCONTINUED ON PAGE.

This spring, three heroinesthat Phillipa Soo, 26, helpedoriginate will be on Broadwayat the same time. By MichaelPaulson. Page 8.

BEN BRANTLEY, THE NEW YORK TIMES

lVaW 6t'MASCO THEATRE I 111 W 44T11 ST/ TELECHARGE.COLI / GlASSMENMERIEONBROADWAY.COLI / 212.239.6200

Beauty and the BeastThe New York TimesBrooks BarnesSun, Mar 12, 2017

Material supplied by Daily Buzz, LLC to you may be used for non-commercial and internal review, analysis and research purposes only. Any editing, reproduction, modification,publication, rebroadcasting, public display or public distribution is forbidden and may violate U.S. and international copyright laws. This material may include printed documentsand images, audio works, audio/visual works, content stored on electronic storage media such as CDs and DVDs, electronic communications, and electronic documents and othercontent attached to or accessible through such electronic communications. By accepting, accessing and using the material, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmlessDaily Buzz, LLC for third-party claims of intellectual property infringement based upon your violation of the foregoing restrictions.

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16 AR THE NEW YORK TIIVIES, SUNDAY, MARCH 12,2017

Film

Why Mess With Memories?CONTINUED FROM PAGE'

For Hollywood, it, a. tale as old as lime:Me. with memories, even with the best in-tentions, and face the consequences.Usually these brouhahas quickly blow over,as was the case with Mrs. Potts. In other in-stances — the rec.ent dust-up nver a gaysupporting character in "Beauty and theBeast" comes to mind — online consterna-tion can snowball into a potendally damag-ing news story. Why did Disney decide thatmodernizing "Beauty and the Beast" was arisk worth taking? And what is behind thestudio's plans to do the same with "The LinnKing," "The I.ittle Mermaid" and a host ofother animated gems that fans hold nearand dear?Some people see a cynical money grab, a

vt'ay to keep those theme park turnstilesclicking and little girls begging their par-ents for princess gowns. But the answer isactually a int more complex.Hollywood loves to revisit hits in ways

that can be maddening — oh, that old scriptwas wonderful; we'll change everything —and Disney has a particular tradition ofmining and remining the same stories. Butthe company's movie studio usually doesnot return to classic characters inc willy-nilly manner Walt Disney himself gravi-tated toward "Cinderella" and other fairytales largely because he saw a way to use aninnovative cinematic art form (in his case,hand-drawn animation) to bring the char-acters to life in an engaging, contemporarymanner.Mr. Condon's "Beauty" set for release on

March 17, had the same mission.The story is essentially the one you know

A bookish young woman, an outcast in hersmall-minded French village, is taken cap-tive in a castle, where Lhe servants hatebeen magically turned inta household ob-jects (a feisty candelabra, a fussy clock). Anarrogant prince, transformed into a mon-st.er, must find truelove tn reverse the spell.Yes, Belle wears a flowing yellow hall gownin the ballroom scene, and the "Be OurGuest" dancing-cutlery sequence is still aBusby Berkeley-inspired showsLopper.But the screenwriters Stephen Chbosky

("The Perks of Being a Wallflower") andEvan Spiliotopoulos ("The Huntsman:Winter, War") added depth — what ha,pened to Belle's mother, more about whythe prince gat zapped — and a new house-hold character, a touchy harpsichord (Stan-ley .lucci). Mr. Condon also pushed for mod-ernizations, including making Chip (Na-than Mack), the teacup son of Mrs. Potts(Emma Thompson), more of a skater dude.Mn Gad's comedic manservant, LeFnu, isnow gayMost important, this "Beauty and the

Beast" mixes live-action filmmaking withdigitally rendered characters and back-drops — the cMemaLic language of the mo-ment — to bring the tale to life in a freshway much as Disney did last year with "TheJungle Book." Mr. Condon's Beast, for in-stance, is a fully digitized character. Phos-phorescent makeup that appeared blue un-der ultraviolet light was applied to DanStevens C.Downton Abbey"), and miner.tracked every pore of his laic as he per-formed; special software then convertedhis expressions into data and the furry,horned Beast."We never want in say, 'Well, here it is

again:" said Sean Bailey, president of pro-duction for Walt Disney Pictures."Beauty and the Beast," produced by the

team of David Hoberman and Todd Lieber-man ("The Muppets," from 2011), may seemlike a no-brainer now with advance ticketsales via Fandango outpacing those for"Captain America: Civil War." (That super-hero film took in $179 million over its firstthree days in May.) But Mr. Condon's musi-cal WM actually a major risk.Ms. Watson, known for playing Hermione

in the "Harry Potter.. series, was not seen asa strong singer. "Beauty .d tlie Beast" costmare than S300 million to make and market,an d Disn ey — despite concerns about a I We-action musical's appeal to men and boys —committed to that mega-budget before "LaLa Land" demonstrated renewed in Mies l inthe genre. (Disney inikaily planned to re-make "Beauty and the Beast" witliout tinesongs, but "they saw with 'Frozen' thatthere could be a massive international audi-ence for musicals," Mr. Condon said.)And there was the issue of fandom. Dis-

ney already had other live-action remakesof animated classics on its assembly line, in-

.I. ,GE5 FROM DISNE1

A pair of Belles: EmmaWatson, above, inDisney's new "Beautyand the Beast," and theoriginal; left, in theanimated version, from1991. The animated"Beauty" has come tosymbolize a creativelyfertile period from 1989to 1999 known as theDist, Renaissance_

New and old householdsupporting characters:above from left, the clockCogsworth, the teapntMrs. Potts, fanlike thecandelabra and thefeather duster PlumetteM the new "Beauty";from far left, Mrs. Potts,hum., the cluster antiCogsworth in 1991.Britton, Dan Stevens asthe new priime in Beast'sclothing.

eluding "Cinderella" and "The JungleBook," which would both become criticaland commercial hits. But "Beauty and theBe.t" was special. The imagery and musicfrom the 1991 version have never faded, inpart because Disney USed the score as theInundation for a blockbuster Broadway mu-sical that ran for 13 years and toured 20countries. "Beauty and the Beast" alsoparted with Disney's princess formula —she saves him— and it has come to symbol-ize a creatively fertile period from .8) to1999 known as the Disney Renaissance."We feel a pretty tremendous obligation

to the animated classics," Mn Bailey said,"and part nf that means asking ourselves,before work even gets started on the newfilms, 'What is the contract each one haswith the audience," With the older classics,what people seem in remember are emo-tions. But 'Beauty' is the first from the ren-aissance. People really know it chapter andverse."Disney's live-action adaptations list now

includes "Dumbo," with Tim Burton direct-ing; "Aladdin," directed by Guy Ritchie;"The Lion King," with Jon .Favreau behindthe camera; "Cruella," starring EmmaStone; and "The Little Mermaid," with Lit,Manuel Miranda coming aboard to strifeadditional songs. The strategy, set by Alan

'We feel a prettytremendous obligation tothe animated classics:

Horn, Disney's movie chairman, replicateswhat Disney-own. Marvel Studios hasdote with superhem films — take charac-ters that have permeated popular cultureand elevate them by bringing on top starsand serious filmmakers,

11,1r. Condon, whose directing credits in-clude the musical "Dreamgirls," which wasnominated for eight Academy Awards in2007, winning two, was not especially keentn take nn another computer-generatedworld. He had done that with the final twoinstallments in the five-part "Twilight"vampire series. His two-part "BreakingDawn" (203-12) was a commercial smash,but most critics were not kind. Even Mr.Condon, who won an Oscar himself in 2003,for his "Chicago" screenplay, winces at thememory of using computer-generated im-agery to create a half-human, half-vampirebaby As he recently told The Ilollywood Re-porter, "That was a disaster."But he was intrigued by the tonal chal-

lenge of making a grown-up movie starringtalking furniture, and lie said he loved theidea of melding the most advanced film-making technology with a lavish, old-fash-ioned musical. While certain characterswere entirely digital creations, Mr. Condonplaced them in ultra-real settings. Thescene that opens the keen — Belle walkingthrough her rural village and pining forsomething "more than this provincial life.'— included'. ex-tras, 28 wagons and hun-dreds nf live animals."What T loved the most was the opport,

nity to reclaim some of the musical tradi-tions of Hollywood," Mr. Condon said. Heeven lucked in allusions to song-and-danceextravaganzas like "Singin' in the Rain" and"The Sound of Music."

Initial "Beauty and the Beast.. reviewshave been mostly positive, with criticspraising Ms. Watsnn's stmng-willed Belle;Sarah Greenwood's sumptuous productiondesign; and Mr. Condon's vivid handling ofthe household objects — even Mrs. Pmts."Mrs. Pats, the poor darlMg, she was al-

most more complicated than the Beast," Mr. ,---Condon said. "We went through a lot of trialand error to make her appealing in three di-mensions. T think people will he happy."And if they're not?"Someone, somewhere" will surely be in

a snit about someihing, he said, with alaugh. The trick wiLh social media flare-ups,Mr. Condon added, is not to overreact — orreact at all. (Disney never publicly com-mented on LeFou's sexuality, which helpeddouse that uproar. No fresh fuel.) Within aday or two, people almost always forgetabout it. Ho hum, on to the next outrage."I'm glad Lhat people are protective," he

said. "That means they are invested,'"Beauty and tine Beast," with its Rodcette.-kicking forks and canoodling feather duster,Plumette, may strike non-fans as a sillything to obsess oven he added, "but for a lotof us those characters are family"

14.

Beauty and the BeastThe New York TimesBrooks BarnesSun, Mar 12, 2017

Material supplied by Daily Buzz, LLC to you may be used for non-commercial and internal review, analysis and research purposes only. Any editing, reproduction, modification,publication, rebroadcasting, public display or public distribution is forbidden and may violate U.S. and international copyright laws. This material may include printed documentsand images, audio works, audio/visual works, content stored on electronic storage media such as CDs and DVDs, electronic communications, and electronic documents and othercontent attached to or accessible through such electronic communications. By accepting, accessing and using the material, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmlessDaily Buzz, LLC for third-party claims of intellectual property infringement based upon your violation of the foregoing restrictions.

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