"Home" from Beauty and the Beast on Broadway

Did you really think I'd end this month without a song from "Beauty & the Beast?" Oh, foolishness! That was never going to happen. I meant to write this yesterday but I took a nap with the baby instead....so I'm going to do two songs today. Gotta finish strong, ya know?

Unless you've seen the Broadway play, you're probably unfamiliar with "Home." I discovered it when Vee was going through her Disney phase and she was buying all the Disney song compilation CDs. I fell in love with it. Coincidentally, this was also around the time my parents forced me to move from El Paso to Arizona right before my senior year of high school. I was overly dramatic. I begged them to let me live with my best friend in El Paso so I could finish high school (which is what they did for M....they let her stay in ABQ all four years of high school). When they refused, I screamed "fine, well let me start packing" and then, in a tearful rage, I pulled all the books off my bookshelf. Once I got there, it wasn't so terrible. I made a few friends in drama class and made it through the year relatively unscathed. And, it's actually easier to graduate in Arizona, because there's less mandatory classes. I had enough free time to take two electives my senior year, so I didn't have to choose between taking Theatre or Choir (I would've chosen Theatre, hands down, but I would've missed having an excuse to sing every day). Still, I missed my El Paso friends - especially Rae and Sunshine - and I was so happy whenever they visited, which they did for every play I was in.

Is this home?

Am I here for a day or forever?

Shut away

From the world until who knows when

Oh, but then

As my life has been altered once

It can change again

Build higher walls around me

Change every lock and key

Nothing lasts

Nothing holds all of me

"Beauty & the Beast" is my favorite Disney film, mostly because of Belle. I always thought I was a lot like Belle. Always reading, always dreaming of being somewhere better than where I was stuck. "And for once it might be grand to have someone understand I want so much more than they have planned." A great lyric and so true. I still want so much more, but it's not always as easy. But I learned a long time ago....I'm like water, I make my own path (like Sayuri in "Memoirs of a Geisha"). If I want something, I'm going to get it, no matter how long it takes. Like Belle says in the above lyrics, nothing holds all of me. Alright, that's enough ranting about me today, let's talk about the fairy tale.

"Beauty and the Beast" by French novelist, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villaneuve, but the version we're familiar with was shortened by Andrew Lang. It's based on various similar stories that were told across Europe. In the original, Belle was the youngest of three daughters, and was the most beautiful, well-read, and uncommonly kind, whereas the others were wicked and cruel. Their father goes on a sales trip and asks what presents to bring back. His sons and eldest daughters ask for riches and fine clothing, but Belle simply asks for him to stay safe and, if he must get her gift, bring her a rose because they don't grow in their part of the country. On the father's way back from his trip, he gets lost and seeks shelter in a palace. The Master graciously provides him shelter for one night. But, on his way out, the father sees a rose garden and picks a rose for Belle. The Beast, angered that the man would do such a thing after being given hospitality. The man begs for his life, pleading that it was just a gift for his daughter, and the Beast says he may go but he has to send back one of his daughters in return. The father agrees. He tries to hide his deal from his children, but Belle discovers it and choose to go.

When she arrives, the Beast informs her that she is now the Mistress of the castle and he is her servant. He gives her riches and beautiful clothes and entertains her at length. Every night, he asks Belle to marry him, but she refuses. At night, she dreams of a handsome prince, who pleads for her to tell him why she will not marry the Beast. She says that it is because she only loves him as a friend, not realizing that the handsome prince and the Beast are the same. She becomes convinced that the Beast is holding the prince captive and searches the palace but never finds him. Belle lives in the palace for several months but eventually begins to miss her family and requests to visit them. The Beast agrees but she must return within a week. He sends her with a magic mirror that allows her to see the Beast and a ring that will return her back to the castle within an instant. At the end of a week, she is preparing to return. Belle's sisters plot to make Belle break her promise and, using an onion to create tears, beg Belle to stay just one more day. Moved by their false love, she agrees but she feels guilty about breaking her promise to the Beast. Belle uses the mirror to view the Beast and sees him half-dead from heartbreak in the rose garden. She uses the ring to return to him. Belle weeps over him and declares that she loves him, and her tears transform him back into a handsome prince. He tells her of the curse a fairy placed on him, to remain a Beast until he found True Love. They marry and live happily ever after.

"Home" Video