Belle of the ball: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts
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Kyra Belle Johnson is the belle of the ball. The 29-year-old actress has spent the last year playing the role of Belle in Disney’s North American Tour of “Beauty and the Beast,” which comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa for a limited three-week engagement, Sept. 22 through Oct. 11.
It’s a role Johnson has a strong personal connection to, as a Los Angeles native who grew up watching Disney movies.
“That whole iconic Disney animation renaissance era, ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Pocahontas,’ ‘Tarzan,’ ‘Mulan,’ all those films were so present in my childhood,” said Johnson. “Those films were playing all the time in my house. We were renting them from Blockbuster over and over again, if we didn’t already own them.”
Based on Disney’s 1991 animated feature film, “Beauty and the Beast,” the stage musical premiered on Broadway in 1994 and remains one of the longest-running shows in the industry’s history. Previous Disney-produced North American Tours of “Beauty and the Beast” played for almost eight years. The show is directed and choreographed by Matt West and features Alan Menken’s score.
“We really love this story, we really love these songs and we love the fact that we get to be stewards of it,” Johnson said of the cast’s enthusiasm for the musical. “It’s such precious cannon to Disney and we hope that audiences appreciate the things that are new about our production and also appreciate the staples that we have left in place, because the blueprint is so magical.”
“Beauty and the Beast” tells the story of Belle, a book-loving girl from a provincial French town, forced to live in an enchanted castle with Beast in order to save her father’s life. The castle’s servants, who were all turned into household objects by a magic spell, believe Belle may be the one to break the spell and turn them all back to their true human forms.
Johnson herself began building her musical theater career at a young age, inspired by the kids she saw on stage in a performance of “Oliver!” After appearing in a few school productions, she booked the role of Sophie in the the 2015 Broadway National Tour of “Mamma Mia!” while she was still in high school.
She continued to hone her craft at Texas State University, earning a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre. It was a connection at Texas State that put her in the running for the role of Belle.
“Casting for the tour reached out to Kaitlin Hopkins, who was the head of Texas State University musical theatre, saying ‘We are still looking for Belle, do you have anybody?’” Johnson said.
Hopkins sent a list of names that included Johnson and after a few rounds of auditions, she landed the role.
In order to prepare for the part, Johnson began tap training and voice lessons, to improve her stamina.
“Belle is on stage about 80% of this show, whether it is talking or singing or yelling or reacting,” said Johnson. “I wanted to show up and be able to add as much as I could and be as flexible of a vehicle for this character as they would want me to be.”
Inspired by the character Belle’s love of of reading, Segerstrom will be hosting Belle’s Book Drive in partnership with CHOC Children’s Hospital, as part of the Feel Good, Do Good Broadway Donation Drive. During the run of the show, the Center will be collecting new children’s books for young patients at CHOC at designated bins on plaza and orchestra levels.
The company just wrapped a four-week stint at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angles. Johnson said that as a Southern California native, she is looking forward to the show dates in Orange County.
“I am excited to bring the show to O.C. and get that side of my hometown a little bit of love,” said Johnson. “We as a cast are excited to be there and to get to be so close to Disneyland, so very close to the magic.”
“Beauty and the Beast” is on stage Sept. 22 through Oct. 11 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets, which start at $44, are available at scfta.org.
