‘La Belle et la Bête’ @ Fort Worth Opera (w/ Chamber Music Soc. of Fort Worth)

Photos courtesy of Fort Worth Opera

—Wayne Lee Gay

Fort Worth Opera drew on a superb ensemble of singers and a fine instrumental ensemble last weekend for a unique operatic experience at the historic Ridglea Movie Theatre on Camp Bowie Boulevard.

American composer Philip Glass ranks as one of the major musical innovators and creative forces of the late twentieth century. In 1994, in one of his many wide-ranging artistic adventures, he composed a vocal-orchestral score to be performed as an accompaniment to one of French filmmaker Jean Cocteau's cinematic masterpieces, 1946’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast). Glass's score sets the words of the original screenplay as an opera, carefully timed to match the motions onscreen—including the movements of the actors' lips. 

Cocteau's film version of the traditional fairy tale is a stunning achievement in itself. To that end, Glass did not intend to supplant the original, but instead presented a musical enhancement—a sort of poetic-musical rumination on Cocteau's vision. Part of the magic of Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête lies in its childlike innocence—no need for warnings of "adult" themes here—coupled with a profound insight into the meaning of love. It's not insignificant that Cocteau cast his lover Jean Marais as the Beast, the Prince, and also as Belle's mortal suitor.

Whether or not an audience member is attuned to Glass's static minimalist music, that style beautifully enhances Cocteau's use of massive statuary and dark Renaissance scenery. And incidentally, many visual elements of Cocteau's film, including the enlivening of inanimate objects such as serving utensils and candelabras, reoccur in the Disney animated Beauty and the Beast of 1991. 

For the premiere production of the film+live opera in 1994, Glass required only four singers, three of them taking on multiple parts. Fort Worth Opera wisely distributed the roles more generously among seven singers. Soprano Veronique Filloux provided a gorgeously clear vocal quality as Belle; bass-baritone André Courville matched her with a solid voice well-textured to transform from Beast to Prince. Locally-based baritone David Grogan held his own with these guest artists in the prominent role of Belle's father. Baritone José Olivares, soprano Melissa Martinez,  mezzo-soprano Madeline Coffey, and baritone Cole Dziedzic sang the remaining roles with appropriate musical command. The singers stood discreetly to the side of the screen, as there was no stage action required on their part.

Conductor David Bloom readily fulfilled the musical demands of Glass’s complex non-traditional score, and the singers showed extraordinary skill. What’s more, conductor and vocalists met the considerable challenge of remaining exactly in sync with the motion picture. The accompanying chamber orchestra, organized under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, responded beautifully in a production that will be remembered as a credit to the innovative, eclectic approach of the Fort Worth Opera. 

WHEN: November 21 & 22, 2025
WHERE: The Ridglea Theater, 6025 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth
WEB: fwopera.org