An Interview With Disney's Beast

Shaun Dalton Plays Beast In Hit Musical Beauty And The Beast

Jul 29, 2009

Visitors to the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, England, are being treated to a tale as old as time this week as hit musical Beauty and the Beast takes the spotlight.

Despite his first night jitters, 32-year-old Shaun Dalton, who plays Beast, was especially looking forward to taking to the stage in Shrewsbury. "I'm looking forward to Shrewsbury because it's a new theatre. I've toured before and you go to the same places, but this is a brand spanking new venue, so I'm really looking forward to that," he said before the first night.

First Night Nerves

"I enjoy touring – there's always something fresh because you're trying to impress a new audience. It's great being in the West End but it can become the same all the time. When you're travelling you've always got the first night jitters because people are coming in for the first time at a venue."

Shaun, who is from Coventry and trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama, said he is thoroughly enjoying his role and the reactions of the audience to his character. He said: "The part starts off very mean and scary, then gets the kids laughing, and then wins the kids and the adults over. It's nice to get that reaction from the audience."

A Disney Hero With A Difference

And Shaun added that it was fun to play a character who wasn't quite human. "What I like about the part is that you can start more mean and horrible and see the more human side come out. There are bits in the show where the Beast roars, which are not from me, they're recorded lions, but there are bits where I growl a bit – although someone in the cast, who shall remain nameless, did suggest that I recorded the roaring tracks," he said.

"I trained more or less as a straight actor but I fell into musical theatre because I could sing, and I love it. Beast is definitely up there as one of my favourite roles. I'm old enough to remember seeing the film and I loved it."

All Dressed Up

But the role does have some down sides to it. "Being in a costume in this hot weather is difficult! It takes a while to put on the costume and the make up, but we've got it down to about an hour now," Shaun said. "Everyone else will turn up for a 7.30pm show at 7pm, so it means I just have to be there half an hour earlier, so it's not too bad."

On Tour

Beauty and the Beast is touring the UK until January 2010. For more information on tour dates visit the production website.

The copyright of the article An Interview With Disney's Beast in Musical Theatre is owned by Pam Griffin. Permission to republish An Interview With Disney's Beast in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.