o what do actors do, anyway, during their off-performance hours
when they're out on tour for months at a time, away from the fa-
miliarity and comforts of home?
If you're Donny Osmond, you have a hefty enough paycheck
as a result of being a four-year-plus technicolor Joseph with
recording residuals up the wazoo to fly home to Utah every week-
end to see your wife and four kids.
If you're a 20-something single woman in Beehive, here last
year for a six-month run at the Gem Theatre, you get a health-
club membership at the Omni Hotel downtown, shop for bar-
gains at thrift shops and party 'til the wee morning hours amidst the Detroit
nightlife.
If you're a full-figured Lovely Liebowitz Sister, you're an intrepid tourist, ex-
ploring Windsor, Charlevoix, Belle Isle, the Detroit Zoo and the outlet mall at
Birch Run. Plus, you like to eat out — a lot. Especially at Frankenmuth.
But, if you're a hang-out-kind-of-guy like 24-year-old Dan Sklar, who plays
Lefou in Beauty and the Beast, you take a more low-key approach to what can
be a grueling life out on the road.
Sklar's been on tour with Beauty since November '95, in far from tropical lo-
cales, including Minneapolis, St. Louis and, for a little over two months through
May 26, here in Detroit at the Masonic Temple.
Because the rent was cheaper than many of the corporate apartments tour-
ing companies use in the Southfield area, Sklar rented a two-bedroom, furnished
townhouse on the outskirts of Dearborn with his friend and co-cast member
Chris Monteleone. Monteleone is featured in the ensemble and also understudies
both the Gaston and Beast roles, going from 6-feet to 6-feet 5-inches in his Beast
costume. (For more about Sklar and Monteleone, make sure to read the Profile
story in JN Entertainment.)
"We're a very unmotivated group," Sklar jokes about some of his fellow cast
members who have only Mondays off and an occasional Tuesday, if there's a
scheduled Wednesday matinee instead of a Tuesday night show; the Actors' Eq-
uity union allows performers an eight-show week, with strict guidelines for ex-
tra rehears a ls, publicity appearances and two-show days (Saturdays, Sundays
and sometimes Wednesdays).
So, to get them motivated, we played Sklar's and Monteleone's personal
tour guides — on the only sunny day this year — and headed to Royal Oak for
an afternoon of serious chowing, browsing and shopping. What follows is a semi-
typical day in the life of Dan Sklar and Beauty and the Beast.
12 p.m. — Arrival at Sklar and Mon-
teleone's townhouse. "We'll have to return
the Blockbuster tapes later — (Babe and
Seven)."
1 p.m. — Lunch at Mongolian Barbeque.
2:30 p.m. — Clothes shopping at Cin-
derella's Attic, Incognito, Noir Leather
("Sorry, we won't have brown suede pants
in until fall") and Patti Smith, where Sklar
purchased his one item of the day — a base-
ball hat. "I like the simplicity of it, the fit
of it and the look of it. It's cool." (Why base-
ball hats? See today's Profile story.)
A stroll down memory lane at Deco
Doug's, Decades and Dave's
Comics. "I love The Simpsons'; it's
a brilliant show. The references
are so artsy and obscure. I've got
about 40 episodes on tape," says
Sklar, who also owns all the re-
productions of Weird Fantasy com-
ic books (1953).
Music browsing at Repeat the
Beat. Sklar favors jazz and female
vocalists.
4:30 p.m. — Rest for the weary with a
quick break at Brazil
coffeehouse before tak-
ing Woodward south
to the Masonic Tem-
ple.
How else do Beauty
and the Beast cast
members pass the
time on tour? See
page 92.
A dual major in voice and
electronic music from
Oberlin College, Sklar
plays some quiet jazz at
Brazil coffeehouse during
our Royal Oak expedition.
Above: 7 p.m. — Immediately
following Kim Huber's (Belle) wig
appointment, Sklar is in the hands of
tour hairstylist Dale Isaacs, one of
eight hairdressers on the show.
Before the 7:30 p.m. curtain, Isaacs
will have coifed 14 people.
Left: At 6:30 p.m. during weekday show
nights, Sklar arrives to his second
home-away-from home: Dressing
Room No. 12 at the Masonic Temple,
which he shares with Grant Cowan
(Maurice, Belle's father). Each actor
applies his own make-up, except Fred
Inkley (the Beast), who has three
people helping him into make-up,
prosthetics, hair and costume during a
1 1/2-hour session; and Evan Jay
Newman and local child actor Nathan
Keen, who both play Chip the Teacup.