I get a surprising number of the same questions over and over again, not that I mind answering them in the slightest, but since inquiring minds seem to want to know I thought it might be more assessable for me to post answers to some of the common questions here. Please feel more than free to e-mail me about anything. I love talking Beauty and the Beast, so if you have a question that is not here--e-mail me! I love the mail! One comment on e-mail, I'm not ignoring mails, I just don't check my webpage address more than twice a week since I get so much junk mail there. I will respond! I promise! Enough--on to the FAQ!
Q: 1. What is the Beast's name?
A: I get this question an awful lot. The answer is he doesn't have one, there is no mention of it in either the movie or the musical. None of the original versions of the fairy tale I have come across have named the beast, nor have any of the previous live-action movies. Why not? Well, I can't answer for the fairy tale versions nor the previous movies, though as far as Disney is concerned, they explain it on the Special Edition commentary. They got to the end scene where Belle calls out to the Beast while he is fighting on the tower with Gaston and realized that they had forgotten to give him a name. They jokingly suggested "Tyrone, Bob, Steve," but really as you can see there is no name that would work. People always dislike the way they drew the prince, since they already had a clear idea of who the Beast was and what he looked like--so I imagine that they chose to leave him nameless since it doesn't really matter in the end what his name is, the point is Belle loves him. Though there are a lot of people out there who feel they could have addressed this in the musical. So... here is my suggestion, let's give it a try and name the Beast! I'll code a poll and accept nominations for a possible name. I'll take the most popular choices and code a second poll and post the results. This is just for a bit of fun, because really I think it is much more poetic to have the Beast remain nameless. But this page is for entertainment purposes, so let's have a go! :-) Poll will be up shortly.
Q: 2. Where do I find such and such piece of merchandise?
A: Um, try e-bay? I don't collect Beauty and the Beast merchandise, I own the CDs, DVD, and a Coffee Mug, and that is it. I'm not trying to be rude and I feel bad that I can't be of more help, but I just don't know. I usually suggest Disney Online or Beauty and the Beast Online or Ebay. The only thing I collect is cast recordings. There are five of those: Australia, Broadway, London, Austrian, and Japanese. I can tell you how I got those. The Broadway cast is simple Amazon.com. The London Cast is also fairly easy, though you are going to have to pay in pounds. Again, Amazon.uk.co. Now here is where it gets tricky. You just can not get the Australian cast recording anywhere except Australia. It is worth it, Hugh Jackman sings Gaston, but I have not found a way. Lucky me, I lived there for a year. The Austrian Cast recording requires some linguistics skills or a lot of familiarity with the amazon ordering system since it is the same but in German. So for the adventurous (or those that speak German), venture to amazon.de. Finally the elusive Japanese Cast Recording. Short of having a translator program for your computer and an ability to read Japanese, you're going to have to take a trip to Japan. Lucky me, one of my good friends lives there and is coming back to the US in 2 months which is when I get my final recording! (What will I do with my spare time now?) I hope this helps.
Q: 3. You have seen the musical how many times? Aren't you slightly unhinged? (This is my favourite question)
A: No, I am not slightly unhinged. I am a lot unhinged. :-) The total is now 6 and counting....
Q: 4. Why don't you ever update?
A: Because I am a horrible, horrible webmistress. My excuse is I
was working on my degree for the last four years and I was out of the
country for one of those years. My degree is now done so I am out of
excuses and I promise I will take it out of stagnation land. See, see,
a whole new look, that is promising, right? On similar lines I moved
the page because I kept exceeding my bandwith. Because of that even if
I have to disapear again I will never take down this page, since people
obviously like seeing it even if it is stagnant. But no worries, I
should be able to update at the very least every few months until I go
to graduate school which should be a few years off.
Q: 5. Can I borrow such and such picture from your webpage
gallery?
A: This is one of the most popular questions. Answer is--have
fun, that is what they are there for. Disney owns the copyright to all
this stuff anyway-- I have no more claim to it than anyone else. :-)
Q: 6. What is the book that Belle is reading at the beginning of
the song "Belle?"
A: Okay--Lots of devate on this one. Again, nothing official from
either the movie or the musical. I get a lot of e-mails from people
thinking it is Cinderella. One person did e-mail me to suggest that it
was Sleeping Beauty. I am inclined to agree. Honestly, I don't think it
is really supposed to be a specific fairy tale, but if you have to pick
one it best fits the Disney Version of Sleeping Beauty where Aurora
meets the prince in the woods, not realising that he is a prince in
disguise until later. And well, let's face it, it does have "far-off
places, magic spells, daring sword fights, and a prince in disguise!"
And now a request.... I am looking for a copy of a special that aired on ABC in 1996. Like I said, I collect recordings. I am looking for the Beauty and the Beast: A Concert on Ice which featured Susan Egan. I am quite willing to pay someone for a genuine copy. I know it will be taped off TV if one exists, so I am not too stressed about the quality of such a recording. I just really, really, really want a copy! If anyone has one and is willing to talk about selling--please e-mail me, this is like my holy grail.