Beauty and the Beast: The Savagely Silly Family Musical

Don’t go into Ross Petty’s Beauty and the Beast expecting it to resemble anything near the original fairy tale. Even if you’re fuzzy on the story’s basic plot points, it’s clear early on that Petty’s version will diverge wildly from the traditional tale – even by pantomime standards.

The only things it shares with the original story, as far as I could tell, were the presence of a beauty named Bella and a prince in the body of a beast. Instead, this pumped-up, pop-driven rendition casts the prince (played charmingly by Jake Epstein) as a wannabe rock star, who pines for the lovely Bella (Canadian Idol winner Melissa O’Neill) but can’t bring himself to express his feelings beyond the anonymous love poems he leaves on her door. He ends up making a figurative deal with the devil – in this case, the evil music producer Baron Barnum von Cowell (Ross Petty) – that he thinks will win him the hand of Bella. Of course, it only serves to turn him into a beast.

As expected, he needs his true love to fall for him in order to reverse the spell and save the kingdom, but this show throws in the bizarre twist of turning Bella into a beast as well. There’s also a confusing subplot where Cowell morphs animals into pop stars, including a sheep diva named Lady Baa Baa and a pudgy creature named Buskin Beaver, for his own evil benefit.

The plot is awfully complicated by this point, especially for a kids’ show, and the spontaneous twists and turns tend to overshadow the more appealing musical numbers. Though there are some great quips – “First I fork you, then I spoon you,” is how Zack’s trusty sidekick explains his transmutation into a “spork” – the jokes are rarely of the laugh-out-loud variety.

The musical numbers are fun and full of energy, and offer a good balance of classic rock hits and contemporary choices such as Miley Cyrus and Adam Lambert. The cast is also quite strong: Jake Epstein is equal parts dreamy and nerdy as the lovelorn Prince Zack, and Melissa O’Neil is very likable as the story’s heroine. Lisa Lennox deserves special mention for making the most of her role as Bella’s adorably expressive pet sheep (and soon-to-be Lady Baa Baa), while Scott Thompson gets the most laughs as Bella’s loyal Aunt Plinky.

The show’s most original moments often coincide with its use of multimedia, whether it’s a slideshow retrospective of Bella’s and Baa Baa’s treasured moments, or the hilarious spoof commercials promoting the show’s sponsors. But the predictable jokes about Justin Bieber and greedy music producers get old fast. A Ross Petty pantomime is always a treat, but this one might have done well to stick more closely to the source material – or at the very least, focus on the central love story without letting so many aimless plot threads get in the way.

Beauty and the Beast runs until Jan. 2 at the Elgin Theatre. For more information, visit www.rosspetty.com.