It’s a tale not quite literally as old as time, but one could ask just about anyone about Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and get a reminiscent smile in return.

The traditional fairytale from the pen of French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont may be better known these days for its 1991 cartoon adaptation, but noone could dispute the fact that it’s a story deeply ingrained in the hearts of a generation.

With this in mind, it came as no surprise that Manila instantly began buzzing when news broke that Ovation Productions would be bringing the stage adaptation of the classic to the Cultural Center of the Philippines. On a quiet Tuesday afternoon, Philippine Concerts got to sit down with some of the play’s principal cast for a chat with Hilary Maiberger (Belle), Darick Pead (Beast), James May (Cogsworth), Hassan Nazari-Robati (Lumiere), Adam Dietlein (Gaston), and Jordan Aragon (Lefou).

PHILIPPINE CONCERTS: We’re so excited to have you here in Manila! You must be a long way from home. How are you liking your visit so far?

HILARY:
We’re like a 16 hour flight away from home. It’s crazy but it’s exciting.

DARICK:
We’re basically from the opposite side of the world which is awesome, I love it. We saw the Pope pass by and we -well, I- experienced my first earthquake here!

JORDAN:
My grandfather actually came from the Philippines. He immigrated to the United States, he was from Ilocos and La Union so it’s been awesome experience for me to come back to the Philippines.

Jordan also shared a few Tagalog words he has learned that have come in handy, including Mabuhay and (no doubt necessary in Manila’s notoriously scorching heat,) mainit.

ADAM:
This is the first tour of its kind, we’ve been places that have never seen musicals like this but we’re all excited in the cast to come to Manila because we know that karaoke is big here and so everyone loves to sing!

The cast shared their adventures to other famous spots in the Philippines as well, having visited places like Taal Volcano, Bohol, Cebu, and Palawan.

PHILIPPINE CONCERTS: Speaking of journeys, getting to this moment must have been quite a grueling one. Could you walk us through the process from auditions to being on the international stage?

HILARY:
We joined the show two and a half years ago. He [Darick] flew to New York to audition and I did the same. We got cast and 9-hour days of rehearsals started for about two weeks and then all of a sudden you open and you’re on the road performing every single night. It’s a grueling process but it’s fun at the same time. It doesn’t feel like work because we love doing it.

JAMES:
It’s pretty crazy, I remember I auditioned for this show five years ago in Los Angeles coming from [simultaneously performing and] being a waiter at a burger joint and going from that I can think back on that audition and now here I am sitting in the Philippines having performed this show something like 910 times in 6 different countries. You go in a room, sing a couple of songs, then they asked me to come out to New York for callbacks and 6 months later I was doing another round of callbacks and then rehearsing the show in New York- flying from Virginia to be in the play, and now here I am in the Philippines.

HASSAN:
For me I auditioned at an open call audition for Gaston and Lefou. I sang a couple of songs and they also asked me to come back and read for Lumiere later, and so I got to come back and sing for that. A very stressful week passed and I got the call to come in and start rehearsing for the show. I’ve been doing it for the past two and a half years now and I’m so excited to be doing an international tour because it’s such a new experience I never thought I would’ve gotten the opportunity to do.

PHILIPPINE CONCERTS: Let’s talk about the play. What’s something different in this live version of Beauty and the Beast that we can look forward to?

JORDAN:
You know, each theater that we perform in is a little different. But this stage is beautiful, it’s spacious, the backstage has enough room for all of us to warm up and get what we need to get done before the show and so yeah, I feel like the audiences here get the full experience of the show. It is truly remarkable, it’s really spectacular.

ADAM:
All the bells and whistles, everything. And all of it is new. The head designer, Stan Meyer, he recreated everything. He’s the original stage designer. He spent hours and hours and hours and hours bejeweling everything.

JORDAN:
There’s a heart motif throughout the show, it’s about seeing through to the heart of a person but then you look into the design and there are little hearts everywhere. Little heart shaped rhinestones on the chairs and little hearts in the filigree around the stage, it is extremely detailed and so its kind of a little treat to find like little hidden Mickeys in the design.

PHILIPPINE CONCERTS: Did you feel any pressure coming into this knowing you’d be transforming the 1991 animated classic into a live musical spectacle?

HILARY:
Definitely! I think we ourselves put pressure on us because we don’t want to disappoint. Belle is such an iconic character and it’s an iconic movie so you don’t really want to mess too much with how she is in the movie but she’s a cartoon character so you have to bring yourself into it to make it real and believable. There’s definitely a balance that you have to figure out but i think after 600 shows I’ve figured it out. (laughs)

DARICK:
I think she [Hilary] has the harder job, I mean the Beast is also a really hard job too because people don’t expect the Beast to be funny but you have to do something so people like him and the kids aren’t scared of him.. The Beast onstage is actually portrayed a lot funnier and so yeah I definitely have that pressure because people don’t expect, coming into it for the first time, that he’s supposed to be funny so they already have this version in their minds of the way they’re endeared to him. They want the audience to see that he’s just a kid that grows up to be a man in love.

PHILIPPINE CONCERTS: Beauty and the Beast definitely has it’s deeper themes and lessons. You laugh, you enjoy, you’re entertained but there are also important lessons in the story that you take home with you. What do you feel has made this story so relevant 24 years after the film first came out?

JAMES:
All the characters in the show are so well drawn and different than each other so everyone in the audience has someone to relate to. Everybody’s a little bit misunderstood and I think its that feeling of being misunderstood that speaks to everyone. I don’t think it matters who you are or where you are in your life or where you are socially with other people or whatever, I think everybody feels misunderstood to a degree. It’s a timeless concept that’s never gonna change. People are always gonna feel understood so I think that’s one of the big keys to the longevity of the story and why it stays relevant- because it’s such basic human emotions.

HASSAN:
I think the main message of seeing past someone’s exterior to their inner beauty, their inner heart is a really big thing to take away from it. Also just learning- as he [James] said before- that everybody feels misunderstood. It’s not just you or people that you think might feel misunderstood, it’s everybody. I think at some point you have to learn to see that and understand that in other people.

HILARY:
I think that problem doesn’t really go away. You see it a lot, people are continuously judging and making assumptions and not giving people a chance, and I think that’s why it’s still successful and relatable because it’s still happening.

DARICK:
I think so too, even in this day and age we still look at body image and say “for someone to love me I have to look awesome” instead of being like “well why doesn’t someone just love them for who they are?” We’re always going to be changing and love is loving everything about a person and I think that theme is extremely relevant even today and always will be because people will keep looking at superficial reasons to love when that’s not the case.

ADAM:
There are stories that last the test of time because of what they tell, its a universal principle that everybody and all of us constantly need to be reminded of and that’s realizing that superficial beauty isn’t lasting but if you truly look into the heart of somebody, that’s where you’re gonna find that peace and that true beauty that all of us have and so this is what the show explains i think to such a great extent because you’re laughing and then you’re crying. Even grown men, literally! It’s incredible, they come thinking that they’re gonna come to a kids show but then they leave touched. They’ve laughed, they’ve cried and they’ve had some personal thinking time and this is what the show does.

JORDAN:
It’s especially relevant to anybody who’s felt marginalized or just felt different at any time because both Belle who is beautiful and the Beast who is monstrous relate on this level that I think is very human. Which is ironic that the Beast is a beast but he has these emotions that are completely relatable and so you really sympathize and you fall in love with the Beast just as Belle is and you realize on the converse side, Gaston is like this beautiful man but he he’s a monster inside so it’s just seeing that inner beauty is one of my favorite parts of the show.

Beauty and the Beast has been extended until February 8th. Tickets available onsite at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and via ticketworld.com.ph/beautyandthebeastmanila

Special thanks to Ovation Productions

Read more at Disney Beauty and the Beast Musical Manila 2015

Interview by Carla Barretto
Photos by Ferdie ArQuero

Carla Barretto is a busy bee that eats, sleeps, and breathes concerts. When she’s not shooting shows, she’s planning them herself! Her production and multimedia backgrounds blend into this peculiar mademoiselle with a love for live music.

Follow Carla Barretto on Twitter @heycarlaaa