Hidden Mickeys are a big one.
For example, in the 21 years you’ve been watching “Beauty and the Beast,” you probably never realized that, when Belle and the Beast are frolicking in the snow, according to one website, “knots in the tree form a Mickey.”
Who knew?
And, really, who watches that closely?
So when “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” comes to Kuss Auditorium on Wednesday, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled during one particular scene.
The designers have a hidden Mickey Mouse somewhere in the backdrop of Gaston’s tavern.
It goes without saying that this is the famed stage adaptation of Disney’s 1991 blockbuster — the first animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
The musical closed on Broadway in 2007 after a 13-year run in which it became the eighth longest-running show in history.
The tour coming here is a slightly reimagined new production by the original Broadway creative team, including costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, whose original work won a Tony.
However, it remains ever the spectacle — it will take five 18-wheelers to transport the show to Springfield.
The first show of its kind when it opened back in 1994, “Beauty and the Beast” also set the stage for Disney to work its beloved magic in the theater world.
Sure, there had always been the Disney-on-ice thing, but full-blown, gorgeous-looking musical versions of the movies?
Arguably, the success of “Beauty and the Beast” made the musical versions of “The Lion King” and “Mary Poppins” possible, not to mention the less successful stage versions of “The Little Mermaid” and even “Tarzan.”
Just this month, “The Lion King” became the sixth longest-running show in Broadway history.
They usually say it all started with a mouse — but in the case of Disney on Broadway, it all started with a beast.
Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.
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