The Beauty And The Beast Tag

This last week has been Beauty and the Beast Week at On Stories and Words, and as today is the last day it was my last to chance to fill out the lovely tag she created for this week.
Here it is:

                      

1.When did you first experience Beauty and the Beast?
The first time I watched the movie was when I was 14, but I read the fairytale much earlier.

2. In what forms(book, movie, retelling) have you experienced Beauty and the Beast?
As mentioned above I've seen the movie and read the original fairytale, and apart from that I've also watched the Broadway musical.

3. Who is your favorite character in Beauty and the  Beast?
Belle! No doubt about it. I loved her even before I watched the movie. (I mean; she loves books! Can a more relatable princess exist?)

                   

4. What is your favorite song from the cartoon Beauty and the Beast?
I think I've had all the songs as my favourite at some time, but for many years it's been "Something There".

5. If you were turned into a piece of furniture what you want it to be?
I don't know..a piano maybe? I could play so much beautiful music:)

6. What would your dream cast for Beauty and the Beast be? (This can be as elaborate or simple as you desire.)
I think the cast for the new movie seems pretty perfect.

7. If your school were performing BatB which character would you want to play?
Belle!! It would probably be quite a mouthful but worth it! She has all the good songs.

                           

8. Like Belle, do you enjoy reading books multiple times?
Oh yes!

9. If you were to write a retelling, what would you change?
I can't think of anything I would change. I think the story is perfect as it is.

10. Are roses your favorite flowers? 
As a matter of fact they are;)

           

For many more Beauty and the Beast themed posts don't forget to pop over to Meredith's blog where a link-up will be up later:)

Beauty And The Beast - The Broadway Musical

Back when I first fell in love with Beauty and the Beast I remember thinking that this movie would make an awesome stage musical. So imagine my excitement on discovering that Disney was actually turning it into a musical!

                   
                           
And after countless years of listening to the Broadway soundtrack and dreaming about seeing it live, it was finally played in Denmark and I actually got to see it!

And it surpassed every expectation! The songs, the scenery the costumes (emphasis on that last one) it was all so beautifully made.

                                           
But I will not spend this entire post gushing about the musical experience. Instead I will highlight what is different from the movie.

First let's talk about the new songs!

The musical has no less than 7 new songs!! And they're great!
One thing I really like about the new songs is that in many of them some of the instrumental score from the movie is used. And that makes you "recognise" the song even though it's the first time you hear it. Just some really good thinking on the song writer's part!

Let me briefly talk about each of the songs:

No Matter What is a song where Maurice tells Belle that she is in no way odd, and no matter what he'll be by her side.  It's sweet and funny and shows off their father-daughter relationship in a good way.

Me is the very narcissistic song Gaston sings when he proposes to Belle. It's basically the proposal scene from the movie with the words sung. I must say I like this song a lot - it's hilarious and always has me laughing out loud.

Home is a gripping ballad Belle sings after arriving at the Beast's castle where she reflects on the bleakness of her new "home". This was the first song I heard from the musical and it's just so strong and beautiful and don't get me started on the lyrics! You need to listen to this song!

                    

If I Can't Love Her is another ballad sung by the Beast on the hopelessness he feels, and where he declares that if he can't love Belle then all is lost. This ones the big finale of act 1 and a very powerful one at that. I feel it's a song that gives you a bit more insight on the Beast's character and it's another one of my absolute favourites.

Human Again is the song you probably all know because it's included on the special edition of the movie. It's basically all the enchanted objects singing about their longing to be human again. But the highlight of this song is actually a sweet little scene between Belle and the Beast that takes place in an interlude. You may think you've seen that one in the movie too, but it's way different in the musical and so much sweeter!

                                    

Maison Des Lunes is the song where Gaston unveils his dastardly plan to get Belle to marry him. This is the true villain's song that you never knew the movie needed. It's slow and dramatic but building to a climax and I can't help but loving it too:)

A Change In Me is the song Belle sings when she returns to her father and explains how her stay with the Beast has changed her. It was added to the musical years after the initial premiere and it's style is different than the other songs, but it's still very enjoyable.

That covered the songs:)


                        

The new songs are definitely the biggest change made from the movie to the musical and therefore the main focus of this post, but there are other changes as well. There are for instance added lots of little scenes and bits of dialogues to help fleshing out the characters a bit more, which I really enjoyed.

And did I mention the cosumes? In the production I watched all the cosumes were embellished with extra little details that made them look more french in a way. And they were so pretty!!! (All the pictures in this post is from the Danish production by the way)

But it is hard for me to describe the brilliance in words for the real difference between the musical and the movie is the experience of being in the theatre and watching the story unfold right in front of you. That is an experience that cannot be surpassed:)

What are you thoughts on the musical?
Have any of you watched it?

If not, then go on and listen to the soundtrack and then tell me what you think of the new songs!

                      

On Past And Future Reading Projects

I'm always trying to get more reading done and nothing motivates like a reading challenge, right?

At least, that's what I'm telling myself year after year when I sign up to yet another reading challenge that I fully intend to complete, but deep down know I wont.

Last year's project was The 12 Months Classics Challenge.
The mission: read 12 classics in a year. A quite simple and easy goal to accomplish.

So did I finish it?

Need you even ask? Of course I didn't!

Then was it a failure? Not at all!

Though I didn't get through all 12 books I read 6 of them - books I wouldn't have read if not for the challenge. And I discovered 2 new instant favourites, so last year was by no means wasted on the literary front.

Let me briefly tell you my thoughts on the books I read:

January- A classic you've always wanted to read
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 
I fell completely in love with this book right from the start. I'd wanted to read it for more than 10 years but the timing never seemed right (and because I knew I would love it, I needed to be in the right mood before starting it).
It was brilliantly written. And just the vocabulary used impressed me (I had to look so many words up in the dictionary). And off course Jane!! I loved Jane. She is such a wonderful character.
Mr Rochester on the other hand, I wasn't very impressed with. It wasn't until the end of the book I started liking him. But what an ending! And What a book.
In case you haven't guessed it, this was an instant new favourite.

                                                 

February- A classic you've always dreaded reading
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

I thought I would have to drag myself through this play with sheer will power, but I must say I liked it a great deal more than expected. Rationally the plot makes little sense and I generally dislike mushy romances and love at first sight, but the plot just sucked me in and all the speeches were so sweet that I just bought it all for a little while. And that ending was so tragic, even though I knew it was coming. So all in all, I actually liked it and wouldn't mind reading it again someday in the far future.

                                         

March- A classic you've been recommended
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Everyone in the blogging world was gushing about this book so I decided to read it, and boy am I glad I did. Never have I felt so instantly drawn to a character as I did to Valancey and her sad life. And it's been a long time since I enjoyed a book more than this one. I may even like it better than the Anne-books, because it's just so thoroughly sweet and delightful and it makes you all happy and gooey inside. Another instant favourite!

                                    

April- A classic you've seen the movie/miniseries/TV show of
The Code Of The Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The one word to describe this book is hilarious! Wodehouse's books have the ability to make me shriek with laughter all the way through and this was no exception. If you' enjoyed the TV show, I can promise you taht you will enjoy the book even more!

                                        
May- An American classic
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stove
To tell you the truth, I never really got into this book. The characters were good the plot was good but the narrator was really obnoxious. And when I had to return the book to the library I realised that with only 70 pages left of the book I didn't really care what happened to everyone. So I technically never finished it, but I am still counting it as read.

                                     

June- A British classic
The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
A truly classic Sherlock Holmes story that I had somehow never read or watched so it was with bated breath I read this book. I love Sherlock Holmes so naturally I loved this book as well, and can now say that I've read all 3 Sherlock Holmes novellas.


There! That's brief reviews on all the classics I read last year.

I actually promised myself to not start any new reading projects this year and instead focus on rereading my favourite books. That soon turned into dubbing this the year of non-fiction, but let's see which of the projects I stick with;)

And as fate will have it, I had no sooner given myself the above mentioned promise before I stumbled upon Heidi's Adventure of Reading Challenge 2017. And as I cannot resist a good challenge I just have to be a part of it. This year I will be wise and do like Heidi herself: start at the Explorer level that is 3-5 books, and then take it from there.

                                      

I do not yet know what I will be reading, but I will make a page dedicated to this project and add books as I think of them (in case anyone is interested in my progress)

Do you have any reading projects for 2017?