Bub & Me: Disney's Beauty and The Beast Musical, Marina Bay Sands

Last night we caught Beauty and The Beast gala opening performance in MasterCard Theatres, Marina Bay Sands. Seen by more than 35 million people, the original Broadway musical spectacular came to Singapore for the first time!

Based on the 1991 Academy-Award winning animated feature film where it premiered on Broadway in 1994 and ran for 13 years, the show's original Broadway creative team reunited after 20 years to re-imagine the international tour of Beauty and the Beast and bring this Broadway classic to life. 

Ever since Lil Pumpkin saw the posters up when her daddy brought her to watch Disney Live! Three Classic Fairytales performance in November last year at the same theatre, she's been reminding us to bring her every now and then. That's a whole 4 months of "nagging"!! Gosh, the Force is strong with this one :P

Nonetheless, really happy to have made her dream come true :)

After collecting our tickets, we had some time to spare so took a quick look at the souvenir shop.
There were the usual T-shirts {S$40}, caps {S$20?}, charm bracelets {S$30}, mugs {S$20} and magnets {S$15} but nothing really caught our fancy. Wish they had like magical rose light-sticks, princess capes or some other more interesting stuff. 

In the end we bought a musical program to read more into its production {S$20} - it's our must-have souvenir whenever we watch musicals - and took at photo at the Canon booth {S$10}. The photo cost goes to the Singapore Cancer Society and the print-out is much bigger than the one we took when the boy and I watched Phantom of the Opera.

Since it was the Opening Night there were lots of celebrities and media personalities around. When we were walking in to watch the show, I was pleasantly surprised to be stopped by Justin Ang {half of the Muttons} and Timothy Oh from Class 95fm!

They were on the lookout for the "Best Dressed at the Theatres" and they chose me {was wearing my Lark & Peony Princess in Crimson modern cheongsam} so I won a pair of tickets to watch the next musical, Singing in the Rain, at Marina Bay Sands! Woot woot! So lucky!!

I guess it does pay to take time and dress properly when you go to watch shows and musicals, especially if you go to a grand venue like MasterCard Theatres. I think it shows respect to the artistes and performers as well when you turn up well-attired :)

List of the company cast who were performing last night.

Here's an interesting trivia: Hilary Maiberger who plays Belle and Darick Pead who plays The Beast are a couple in real life, as well as on stage! I guess that's why their love emotion for each other seemed so real during the performance.

Before there was Frozen's Elsa to show the world that not all fair maidens in fairytales need a prince to come and rescue her for all her dreams to come true, there was Beauty and The Beast's Belle. Brave, intelligent and independent, Belle was was truly a strong heroine in her own story who was kind and saw past the exterior of someone to their true interior and love them for who they are.

It's something I hope Lil Pumpkin would learn and grow to remember, and Beauty and The Beast is an excellent way to reach out and tell her these important values in a simple way that children as young as her can understand.

It was a strange, happy feeling watching Disney's Beauty and The Beast cartoon unfold on stage. Could real human beings with limited special effects bring out the magical moments that were drawn from the imagination of some of the world's best cartoonists?

Yes they can! And if there was anybody that was meant to represent Belle in reality, Hillary Maiberger was her. Her demeanour, beauty and voice was everything I expected Belle to be. Oh that voice!! It was just so unbelievable!! In the original cartoon, Belle was voiced by Broadway actress Paige O'hara and I think she would be very pleased with Hilary's performance of Belle last night.

Darick Pead as the Beast held up his end well too. He was really funny and strong, although I felt he could be a bit more ferocious!?

Lil Pumpkin laughed and laughed at all his jokes though heh. I'm so glad she was well enough to make it to the show. She was feeling rather sick since last night and slept most of the day yesterday before the show.

But I guess even if I wanted her to stay home and rest, she would still insist to go and not miss it for the world!!

It was wonderful hearing all my fave Beauty and The Beast songs like "Be Our Guest" and "Tale as Old as Time" again.

As a musical based on a Disney Princess cartoon, I was afraid the boy would not like it and be so bored. However, he told me that it was really enjoyable and it gave him a "fuzzy feeling" i.e. goosebumps, in a good way, from all the wonderful singing and dancing.

So yay, this show is daddy-approved too! :)

Highly recommended for the whole family, the whole 2 hours will just fly by from the non-stop laughter, singing and dancing. With maybe a tear or two at the end when you see The Beast finally learning the lesson of how to love someone other than himself, and Belle coming back to save him.

Oh, I heard that there are some Disney "Easter eggs" or hidden elements of Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse within the show. I didn't spot any since I was so mesmerised by the whole performance, including the elaborate costumes and stage settings. Let me know if you go and spot any, please! :)

If you plan to go, do book your tickets early as the show is in Singapore for only about 3 weeks and as you can see, it's really popular! If these people from last night liked it as much as we did and tell everyone they know, I think the show is going to sell-out soon :P

Photography and recording is strictly prohibited during the performance, but take a look at the video above to see some behinds-the-scenes shots and a sneak peek at what the actual performance is like.

Beauty and The Beast Musical
MasterCard Theatres, Marina Bay Sands
Event period: Sat 21 Mar - Sun 19 Apr 2015
Ticket Price {excl. booking fee}:  S$65, $85, $115, $145, $170, $190, S$460 {Box seats 4 pax}, S$760 {VIP Box 4 pax}
Show Times: 8pm {Tues to Fri}, 2pm & 8pm {Sat}, 1pm & 6pm {Sun}
Duration: 2.5 hrs {incl. 20 minutes interval}
*Kids under 3 years old may be admitted free of charge & must be seated on the lap of a parent or guardian. Kids aged 3 years and above require a ticket for admission.

Also check out the rest of our Bub & Me activities or list of kid-friendly places in Singapore :)

* Disclosure: This is a review for Beauty and The Beast Singapore Musical. All opinions are my own. Unless otherwise stated, image credits to Base Entertainment.

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