Prior to the opening night performance of Beauty and the Beast at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, I got a chance to sit down with cast members Emily Behny and Dane Agostinis who play the iconic roles of Belle and the Beast respectively. They have traveled the continent for the past 16 months, performing eight times a week. I was totally surprised by the amount of energy they had to have a conversation with me, especially after two performances the day before. They are truly talented individuals with a passion for theatre and our conversation highlighted that. In addition, Emily & Dane gave a sneak peak at their character costumes, which can be seen in the photos below. Hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed doing it!
Thank you so much for joining me for this short chit chat just before the show tonight. Have you guys been to Toronto before?
Dane: I have not! This is my first time here in Toronto.
Emily: I came for a week in High School, so it’s been a while.
So how do you find Toronto now, at this time when its kinda hot?
Dane & Emily together: Its great!
Dane: It’s like any other hot city but you avoid the heat in interesting ways inside and luckily we had two shows yesterday!
You guys have been involved in the arts quite substantially. You both have done quite a number of shows and now of course the iconic Beauty and the Beast. What drew you into the arts? What was it about the arts that was like “Alright, this is what I want to do!”
Emily: Goodness! For me, it was when I realized I didn’t want to be or do anything else. I didn’t want to be anywhere else, I didn’t want to do anything else but be at the Theatre and be involved in telling great stories and that happened for me in my sophomore year in college. I was doing a production of Sound of Music as Liesl at this regional playhouse near my hometown and it was during finals week. You know, My finals may not have been that great that year but I was doing what I loved and that’s when I knew I wanted to do it for the rest of my life.
Dane: I definitely think that there’s nothing else that I want, or maybe, can do, besides anything involved with theatre or acting. I was a sophomore in high school when I saw my high school production of Blood Brothers. I wasn’t involved but I kicked myself for not being involved. I fell in love immediately and did the rest of the school plays. Then auditioned for NYU, and got in, and thought I guess I should take a swing at this and went up there. Luckily, I think studying in the city where Broadway is, where every theatre actor dreams to go, was very helpful. Now I don’t see myself doing anything else!
You both have ended up in one of my favourite stories of all time, which is Beauty and the Beast. It’s such an iconic story that children and adults around the world keep going back to. It’s just one of those feel-good stories. How is it to play in such an iconic story and also as the leads?
Emily: It’s a dream come true, for me. I loved Belle growing up. She actually was my favourite Disney princess and so to be able to play her every night, it’s quite surreal, one, and two, it’s just a dream to play a Disney princess; to play a character who is so loved by so many ages, especially the little girls. It’s just an honour and to tell this story about true love every night, it’s really special.
Dane: DITTO! It’s just awesome! What guy doesn’t want to be the beast in Beauty and the Beast? Words can’t really describe it because it’s such an experience and we’ve been lucky to do this for the past 16 months of our lives and it’s been really rewarding and awesome.
Of course, this was on Broadway and it was just an iconic moment on Broadway where you had such a superb story, of Disney, come on stage. For most tours in general, for musicals and such, usually there are a few changes done to adapt it for a tour. Were there any changes and in particular, to your roles?
Emily: There were changes added to the show. The original Broadway creative team came back together to recreate this version of the tour so though it is very similar to the Broadway show, it has been scaled down, obviously, so it can fit in the touring theatre’s across the country but also it’s been refreshed and rejuvenated. The choreography has been updated, some of the dialogue has been changed by the book writer, Linda Woolverton, and the numbers have just been refreshed. Belle has a new song I believe that was added while on Broadway but it wasn’t there the whole time; “A Change In Me” is the song she sings in the end of act 2 and that was added actually for Toni Braxton when she played Belle. That’s one song, in particular, that’s different for Belle. As well as “Home” that was added as well.
Dane: We have some numbers that were taken out. “No Matter What”, which was Maurice’s number, and Monsieur D’Arque’s number at the end was taken out too.
Emily: Use to be a song, “Maison des Lunes”, and now it’s a scene. Same with “No Matter What”; use to be a song between Belle and Maurice her dad and now it’s a scene.
Dane: That’s what’s great about the original company being back. They had, in the table read, the knowledge about the show and the capability to say that “oh, I don’t want that in there”, so they changed it up and made it fresh.
So you had the professionals come back from the original and be like “Alright, let’s start fixing this all up again.”
Emily: They come out every maybe five to six months and take notes and brush up the show and work with each of us. So, we get to work with the original Broadway creators of Beauty and the Beast!
Going back to the fact that you’re playing the lead characters, and now you have this refreshed play. In every production there are challenges. What were the challenges for you personally, with the role or the production generally?
Emily: I think it was hard to fight against being a Disney Princess and that sounds kinda funny but what I mean by that is there is this certain idea of what a Disney Princess should be like or how Belle should be played. I remember being in the room for one of my last call-backs, actually for Belle, and my director saying “stop being a Disney Princess. Just be yourself”. I think I did some quirky Emily move that I normally do and he was like “yes! that’s it. That’s what I want to see”. That’s what he wants and that’s what really makes it more interesting, as if you are yourself. So that was a good lesson to learn and still is to this day, is fighting against being a Disney Princess. She is not. She is a normal girl who, by chance, falls in love with a Beast who is a Prince who then becomes royalty. So then she becomes a Disney Princess. That’s the lesson to learn. Also I think just making her grounded even in the high drama situations that Belle finds herself, making sure she doesn’t cross the line and into the drama is a challenge.
How about you Dane? You as the beast!
Dane: That’s Just it! He’s a, sorry the pun, a “beast” of a role. It’s quite hard to maintain; That’s what I’ve found, the maintenance of this role for 8 shows a week. He, like you would expect, have to have like a deeper, growlier voice. Early on in the show, I wouldn’t know how to do that 8 shows a week. I would blow myself out before the middle or the end of the week came. But now, I think I have a handle on where to do it and when to do it more but just overall, everything about him, he goes through everything. I find myself quite exhausted at the end of each show but in a good way, cause I feel like sometimes if I don’t feel, then I haven’t given as much as I can to the role to that night. There’s a lot, goes through it all…y.eah… there’s a lot…It’s a good challenge and I still love it!
This is such a colourful production; such amazing costumes, such quirky characters. I’m pretty sure rehearsals would have had some interesting stories. Any funny stories you want to share with us? Anything funny that makes it very memorable?
Emily: First thing that comes to mind for me was in a performance, actually! In the part where Gaston shoots the duck, or whatever bird it is, and it falls in town, that’s supposed to happen at a very specific time a few minutes into the opening number. On this particular performance it fell when I’m walking down stage singing “Little Town, full of little people” ..*splat*… You hear a drop. I’m dragging something by my feet and I don’t know what it is and I’m like “what could it possibly be?”. The spotlight is on me, I can’t look down and then lights come… “full of little people waking up to say”. Lights up! And then there’s a duck at my feet! “Bonjour bonjour bonjour….” and I go “There goes the baker with his tray, like…”, pick up the bird, chuck it off stage “…always! The same old bread and rolls to sell!”. At the point when it’s supposed to fall our stage left crew guy chucks it into the air, lobs it, so it looks like it kinda comes, you know, from the sky! It was hysterical and so funny! You can’t write that! Just blank theatre. Things go wrong and the show must go on!
Dane: Sometimes it’s not the technical side that is wrong, it’s the actors’ fault! The only lyric that people know that the beast sings, because the only thing he sings in the movie, the “There’s Something There” song. I had a brain fart and didn’t know what I was saying and I think I sang something along the lines of “she glanced this way, I thought I saw, and when we, I touched her paw” and then I finished the song. I basically just said that, that all was the beast. At the end of that scene, Emily and I are up on the library by ourselves while “Human Again” is going on, in front of us, and she knows that I’ve made this mistake and she just looks at me, and she makes her hand into a paw and puts it on my hand! That’s all she had to do and I was silently cracking up the entire time before we had to say the other part. Stuff like that happens!
You of course play these iconic characters. Is there any other character, 1 special character, that you would love to play, whether it’s from theatre or from film, that your just dying to play? Something you want to do!
Emily: I would love to play either Cosette or Éponine in Les Misérables! Those are two dream roles for sure!
Dane: Mine, hands down, id say its Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd. I have a few years to go but I would love to play that role!
When I write, I write particularly to students and young adults who are trying to make their mark in the art world – whether its theatre, film or TV – I try to get helpful hints and tips from artists whenever I get the chance. You have been there, you have gone through the rut of auditions, you have taken your chances, you have taken risks. What would be one or two pieces of advice that you would pass on to individuals who are trying to make it in the arts?
Emily: I would say don’t forget to be a person. It’s really easy – I think with most careers but especially this one – to get consumed by it; consumed by the next gig, consumed by the next audition. I think its important to just have other interests and other activities that fulfil you, that feed your soul, so that you are not constantly only thinking about the rejection and the next thing, and how do I meet this casting director. It’s important to have other things that inform you, that make you stronger, that grow you in different ways, so that when you do go to those auditions you are a more well-rounded person. So I would say that and I would also say, be yourself. Don’t try to be somebody that you’re not and don’t try to be somebody that you think they want to see, because there is no one like you.
Dane: Yeah…I can’t follow that! Those are the two really main things on a personal level; you have to be true to yourself. I also think that if you can take classes, as many, and always be learning, because if you ever come to a point where you think you don’t have anything else to learn, then you need to get out or you need a really big reality check because you will always learn! So take as many classes as you can. Even stuff you think that you think that you are horrible in, that’s the classes you need to take the most.
Emily: Like improve… makes me want to hurl. But! it’s important to do!
Dane: In my case, like dance classes. Do that. and yeah…that..
[LAUGHS]
Hope you enjoyed reading this interview!
