Once Upon a Time in the City of New York (Beauty and the Beast play)

Convention skit
Title	Once Upon a Time in the City of New York
Fandom(s)	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
Author(s)	Cynthia Mitchell and William Whitfield
Date(s)	early 1995
Type(s)	musical
Location(s)	a reading was given at Lincoln Center, New York on January 9 and 10, 1995
Related articles on Fanlore.

Once Upon a Time in the City of New York was to have been a play based on Beauty and the Beast (TV), a show that at the time, had been off the air about five years.

Two "first readings" were given in early January 1995, and some fans were part of the audience. The play, however, was never produced.

For an interview with its lyricist, see "Once Upon a Time in the City of New York" -- An Interview with Cynthia Mitchell.

For a "review" of this play from a fan who was at one of the first readings, see Once Upon a Time in the City of New York Review.

It is unknown why the play did not see full production, nor is it clear what kind of copyright permissions and agreements its creators had.

In the interview with its lyricist, Mitchell, it was stated that the play was possibly going to be performed at TunnelCon in 1995, and that audio tapes of the songs would also be for sale at that convention.

About

The debut of OUR Beauty and the Beast (not Disney) as a musical, is set for January 9 and 10, 1995 at the Lincoln Center in New York. It will be in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the public library and is free to the public. As this is just a staged reading (not yet a full-scale production) the sets, costumes and choreography will be missing for the most part, but the dialog and music will be there. If all goes well and permission is obtained from Witt-Thomas, the work will emerge as a full-scale production, hopefully on Broadway or in London later on, according to creator Cynthia Mitchell. Casting of Vincent, Catherine, and all the other main characters is currently under way in earnest; a hundred applications a day are rolling in from actors.

The title is "Once Upon a Time in the City of New York." The storyline incorporates primarily the pilot and "A Happy Life" (Nancy Tucker is a fairly major character). Musical numbers include one in which the tunnel people sing about their reasons for coming to the tunnels.

Cynthia Mitchell, who wrote the book (book? what book?) and lyrics, began writing it in July, 1993, quitting her job in LA and moving to NYC solely to realize her dream of a BATB musical.

She says the dialog contains a lot of subtle inside jokes that we hard-core fans will appreciate.

William Whitefield, who did the music for the musical based on Ray Bradbury's "The Day it Rained Forever" did the music for the production and Michael Morris, who arranges for Bonnie Raitt is the Orchestrator.

Beauty and the Beast is known for changing lives. Cynthia Mitchell's love for Beauty and the Beast led her from Los Angeles to New York City to write and direct Once Upon a Time in the City of New York: a Musical Fable, based on the television series. She wrote the book and lyrics, and William Whitefield wrote the music.

A Los Angeles native, Mitchell directed several award-winning West Coast productions, including The Lion in Winter, Into the Woods, Amadeus, Rumors, West Side Story, 100 in the Shade, and A Chorus Line before moving to New York to pursue her dream of putting Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

Although much of the material in Once Upon a Time is taken right from the television episodes (particularly the pilot and "A Happy Life"), some adjustments were made for this adaptation. Mitchell notes that television scenes are shorter than theater scenes, and can be intercut with other action, so she had to "sew scenes together" to tell the story effectively on stage. Mitchell also had to "set together characters" to limit the cast and reduce complexity. For example, Nancy became a blend of Nancy Tucker and Jenny Aronson, and Elliot became the sole rival for Catherine's love, replacing Buddy in the storyline from "A Happy Life." But fans of Beauty and the Beast will find the musical is overall "very faithful" to the series. Mitchell also laced the work with inside jokes that fans will appreciate.

For this professional production, only the best talent was considered. Casting calls were placed in trade papers, and response was good: "We got almost 900 pictures and resumes," Mitchell recalls. After picking through the applications, they saw 100 people with strong experience in nationally and internationally acclaimed productions. They quickly selected Michael Park to play Vincent, Stephanie Douglas to play Catherine, James Eric Anzalone to play Elliot Burch, Martin Epstein to play Father and Allison Clifford to play Nancy.

At the staged reading, the strength of the writing, music, and performing talent will be especially important, for the work will be performed without makeup, costumes, or sets. The hope is that the potential for this show will be seen by possible backers and producers. If so, Mitchell knows they will see "how loved Beauty and the Beast is."

If everything could go exactly the way she wants, "The show would go to London and open on the West End, then go to Broadway." More likely, it would go to "regional theater to be tried, then tour or go to Broadway."