It’s exhausting to consider that it has been 30 years for the reason that world was first launched to the basic animated Disney film Beauty and the Beast. Last night time, ABC aired Beauty and the Beast: A thirtieth Celebration — a two-hour animated and live-action blended particular that paid tribute to the unique movie.
While the dwell particular primarily stayed true to the unique film’s storyline, numerous surprises had been added, like never-before-seen musical performances and a extra numerous forged, which included H.E.R. as Belle, Josh Groban because the Beast, Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts, and Joshua Henry as Gaston — to call a number of.
During the thirtieth celebration particular, it was exhausting to overlook the beautiful costumes that every forged member wore. Many of the seems to be had been recognizable from the unique movie, however it was additionally very noticeable how modernized they had been because of award-winning costume designer Marina Toybina and her group.
We spoke to Marina about all issues Beauty and the Beast and what went on behind the scenes with creating the particular’s costumes — together with how H.E.R. (Gabi Wilson) paid homage to her heritage in one of many costumes, how the Beast’s costume was delivered to life, and extra.
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One of the challenges Marina and her group confronted was holding with the basic fairy-tale seems to be of the unique film whereas including a contemporary twist to them.
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Marina and her group needed to design the costumes in a means that will enable the actors to maneuver simply throughout the dwell manufacturing.
“It couldn’t be your typical kind of Disney approach to it that you see in parades. I just wanted this to have such a cinematic feel that people felt like they were watching a movie while also allowing the actors to sing and dance comfortably,” Marina added.
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The costumes had been one of many first issues to be created on this manufacturing — even earlier than the choreography, which made issues difficult.
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A number of thought was put into every costume however particularly the opening “provincial life” scene with Belle.
“At the same time, I did a lot of research as to where the fabrics were coming from back then. I decided to go with denim and linen for the whole opening scene just to have that kind of vintage-y color tone and get very close to the pan tones of the original film. I didn’t go too bright with the colors either.”
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The Beast’s dwell costume was impressed by the costumes seen in The Lion King and War Horse.
“His take to me was always ‘I don’t want this cheesy. I don’t want this [to be] like a birthday character coming to life.’ Since we were all inspired by this kind of bigger-in-life approach without covering our cast members — the idea came about of using puppetry for the Beast,” Marina stated.
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Josh Groban was educated on the best way to self-puppeteer the 10-foot Beast costume that Marina and her group constructed for him.
“No mechanics were used. We were going back and forth about building animatronics into it and having this robotic touch to it. After many conversations, we decided to make it as simple, as stunning, and unique as possible. I told Josh, ‘The way I’m going to build it, you’re gonna have to self-puppeteer, you’re going to have to become this character,'” Marina added.
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Gabi — whose mom is Filipina-American and her father is African American — paid homage to her heritage in one of many Belle costumes she wore.
“I hired an artist that was of Filipino descent as well. I wanted it to be hand-painted. I wanted her to have something very special and that was so forward. So that was probably one of the most special parts for both of us to be able to bring this forward, and then the production stood behind me on that decision. I think it’s so important that we were able to include that and not just hide it as a little detail,” Marina stated.
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It was vital for the actors to not be hidden behind the costumes.
“I told the cast that I’m not going to create something where you’re stuck in a costume. I think when you’re dealing with such an iconic cast, the last thing I wanted to do was hide them. All the costumes are so strategically designed to have our cast shine and be able to act.”
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Paying shut consideration to each element was vital for Marina and her group.
“There are so many times we chose Pantones (colors) out of the animated [movie] and then kept correcting it and printing until it was the right lavender, the right pink. I can’t even begin to describe to you what a madhouse it was trying to not miss a single detail,” she stated.
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It was vital for Gabi so as to add her personal originality to Belle, so Marina didn’t wish to copy precisely what the character’s costumes seemed like within the Broadway and film variations.
“When it came down to the final rendering of Belle’s dress, I wanted the layers to feel like rose petals — the new beginning of a new life. You’ll see that transformation in the gown so it’s very similar to what the original is but it was also such a different take on it,” Marina stated.
What did you consider the thirtieth anniversary particular? Tell me your ideas within the feedback beneath!