‘Beauty and the Beast' tour hits Worcester

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It seemed Merritt David Janes' career was sitting pretty.

A musician and vocalist, he intended to be a music teacher, and he had just graduated with a degree in music education from the University of Maine at Orono. Still, he couldn't quite lighten up.

As a result, rather than teaching flute he'll be Lumiere this Friday, Saturday and Sunday when the Broadway touring production of “Disney's Beauty and the Beast” comes to The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts for five performances.

“It was a little risky,” Janes said of his decision to move to New York City and enroll in the theater school at Circle in the Square rather than seek a teaching position. “But I thought I'd give theater a shot.”

Happily, theater has said “Be Our Guest.”

Now, with the role of Lumiere in “Disney's Beauty and the Beast,” he has as close a thing to security as an actor is likely to get these days. The tour hit the road in February and James is signed up with “Disney's Beauty and the Beast” at least until June 2011 — so he's not currently living his life like a candelabra in the wind.

Of course, in the show Lumiere is the valet of a castle who has been turned into a candelabra as part of a curse placed on his boss — a prince who has been transformed into the Beast.

The prince had been less than gallant in turning away a beggar woman seeking shelter because he didn't like her looks, so now he must spiritually recant — or at least love and be loved in return — despite his new beastly appearance. To make matters worse, there's a deadline. On the hopeful side, the beautiful Belle is about to enter the picture.

The Disney 1992 animated Oscar-winning picture based on the children's classic tale was subsequently transformed into a stage musical with seven new songs and ran on Broadway for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway's sixth-longest running production at the time.

“It's a very popular, long tour — selling out all over the country,” Janes said of the new touring production during a recent telephone interview from Fort Myers, Fla., where the show was playing. There are new elements: “The choreography, set design, costumes have been redone. There are new themes. It's a new version of this,” Janes said.

People also can expect the great musical set pieces that have made “Disney's Beauty and the Beast” so well loved, including “Be Our Guest,” where Lumiere, the clock, the feather duster and the teapot do their best to make Belle feel at home in the castle.

In the movie, Lumiere was given terrific voice by the late Jerry Orbach, who made him come across as suave and debonair, very French — and a tad rebellious.

Still, Orbach and the rest of the movie cast were behind microphones in a recording studio. Janes is live on stage.

“I think the challenge is you're playing a character that was a cartoon. You have to bring real life to the character,” Janes said.

There was some work involved before the lights went on. Rehearsals began in January. “It took me a little while to get in the zone of it. I don't really watch recordings of other people doing it. I like to find my own niche with the character, but I feel I've done that. I like to give a twist by adding a different flavor to it.”

It has helped that cast and crew get along very well, Janes added. “It's a great collaborative effort on everyone's part to get on the same page.”

Janes grew up in Colchester, Vt., near Burlington, and had an extensive musical background, playing instruments and singing. At the same time, “I had always done theater,” he said. “I didn't do it a lot in college and really missed it.”

The risk of trying his hand at professional theater turned into reward when he was cast in a touring show of “The Wedding Singer,” playing Robbie Hart, not long after graduating from Circle in the Square.

“ ‘Wedding Singer' gave me a nice foothold in the theater world,” he said. As soon as the tour ended he was cast as the lead in a tour of “Sweeney Todd.” He took the summer off and then landed Lumiere. Other credits include regional theater appearances in “Little Shop of Horrors (as the mad dentist), and Shakespeare's “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (as the Duke).

The Worcester stop this week is about as close as “Disney's Beauty and the Beast” gets to Colchester, so he's anticipating there will be some family members and friends in the audience. At various touring stops, cast members give workshops, so Janes is keeping in his hand in teaching, as well. Just in case … ?

June 2011 will eventually roll around, but Janes isn't in any hurry.

“I want to stay in the business as long as I can,” he said of acting. “I'm going to ride this wave until it hits shore. … You've got to take it as it comes and enjoy the ride.”