Ah, the Beast.

No, not the one that is a certain world leader’s preferred mode of ground transportation.

This Beast is one of a flesh-and-blood variety with plenty of gnarled hair and messy emotions to prove it. He is the once-and-future prince trapped in an outsize, lurching form, raging around a castle chock full of staffers trapped in inanimate objects like teapots and timepieces.

And he is half of the oddball duo that is Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s animated-film-turned-Broadway musical that is heading soon toward North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Part of the Best of Broadway series, the production is set for eight shows there from Sept.16 through Sept. 21.

Ahead of the run, Charleston City Paper talked to the Beast himself, Fergie L. Philippe, who shared just how meanin

See Full Page