‘Beauty and the Beast’ exceeds expectations
April 22, 2021
The spring musical, “Beauty and the Beast,” was put on by students last weekend. The show hooked viewers right from the beginning when the Beggar Woman, played by junior Alexa Fleegal, turned into an enchantress and then turned the prince into a beast, played by junior Kaden Fritz. Both Fleegal and Fritz, had impressively fast costume changes.
The next scene opened with Belle, played by junior Camdyn Rohde, beautifully singing the famous song “Belle.” Soon the townspeople came onto the stage and joined the song. The scene looked like it was taken straight from the movie the way the streets looked busy and with the perfectly in tune singing. Even though the cast was wearing masks during the whole performance, viewers could still hear them very clearly.
Sophomore Ethan Brunke played the role of narcissistic Gaston extremely well. Gaston’s sidekick LeFou was played by sophomore Jeffrey Manata. Even in crutches Manata was cruising around the stage almost using the crutches as a prop. During the song “Gaston” the ensemble was out on the stage clinking cups together in an extremely put together routine.
Later on in the musical, Belle goes to find her father at the Beast’s castle, where viewers meet the enchanted objects. The costumes of the characters were very elaborate and each cast member played their characters perfectly. Lumierre, played by senior Nick Cheir, had candlestick hands that actually glowed and had a very impressive accent that sounded straight from the movie.
Senior Johann Becker was casted as Cogsworth; he played the role perfectly by being head of the house and scared of the Beast. Mrs. Potts, played by senior Joanna Schmidt, played a motherly role in the show, and Chip, played by senior Josie Bartol, was also played extremely well with her childlike demeanor. Both costumes were very brightly colored and detailed with Chip being on a rolling cart throughout the majority of the musical and Mrs. Potts’ costume looked just like a teapot. The featherduster, Bebette, was played by senior Lidnsey Mularski. Her costume had many feathers and she was a very flirty character which she played very well by using her feather duster prop.
During the song “Be Our Guest” some of the cast was dressed as napkins, forks, spoons, knives, plates, a cheesegrater, measuring spoons, salt and pepper shakers, and many other kitchen items. The costumes in this scene were also very well thought out and crafted.
Throughout the musical the Beast and Belle slowly fall in love. When Gaston and the townspeople go to kill the Beast, the enchanted objects are chasing them around the stage. This added comedy to the show as people were screaming and running. Towards the end of the scene when Gaston finds the Beast in the west wing and tries to kill him is a very intense scene. When Gaston stabs the Beast the lights turn red, making the scene much more dramatic. Then the Beast and Gaston start to fight and it ends with an unexpected twist for the musical.
Soon after the Beast was stabbed, the lights dim and fog came out of the west wing. The prince came out and soon after all the enchanted objects came out of the wings as people. Overall, the musical was amazing, with the incredible singing, acting, costumes and set displays. The music played by a couple people in the band and in the community was perfectly put together and clearly well rehearsed. It added to the drama and made the scenes more interesting.
Rating: 5/5
