Beauty and the Beast
Central Wyoming College Theater Deparment presents
Beauty and the Beast - March 7, 8 and 9 & March 13, 14, 15
All shows at 7:30 p.m. with exception of March 9 matinee, which is at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets: $12 for adults, $10 for children, CWC students free
email: tickets@cwc.edu or call 855-2002 or 800-865-0190
The Box Office is opened weekdays 3-6 p.m. and is located in the
Robert A. Peck Arts Center
Cast Story | Popular Play | Making of the Mask | Plot | Musical Numbers
Plot
- Act I
One a cold winter night, an old hag comes upon a glorious castle belonging to a French prince. She asks the master if the castle to allow her to stay the night away from the cold; in return she will give him a single rose, but the prince was vain and uncaring and turned her away solely for her appearance. Seeing his horrible heart for what it truly is she turned into a beautiful enchantress and transformed the prince into a hideous Beast and turned his servants into objects. She gives him the rose to use as an hour-glass, the one way he could break the spell was to learn to love another and her love in return by the time the last petal fell…
Ten years later, a beautiful young woman named Belle makes her way into town one morning in order to get a book from the local book keeper. On the way she expresses her wish to live in a world like her books, full of adventure, while the townspeople note her unparalleled beauty but find her love of books odd (“Belle”). Belle has also attracted the attentions of Gaston the local tavern owner and town hero, who admires her only for her beauty.
Belle, however, is not oblivious to her peers’ views of her. She voices her concerns about it to her father, Maurice, an eccentric inventor, assures his daughter that she is anything but strange and he will always love her (“No Matter What”). The two then put the finishing touches on his invention and Maurice heads of to an invention fair donning a scarf knitted for him by Belle (“No Matter What (Reprise)”).
In the woods, Maurice becomes lost when a pack of wolves attacks him; he finds his way to a mysterious castle on the edge of the Crossroads and enters. The servants (Lumiere, a maitre’d turning into a candelabra, Cogsworth, the head of household turning into a clock, and Mrs. Potts the maid turning into a tea pot) welcome him but the castle’s master, a horrid Beast, arrives and orders Maurice to be locked away for trespassing.
Back in town Gaston proposes to Belle, which she politely rejects (“Me”). Appalled by Gaston’s forwardness, Belle once again voices her need for a life outside this provincial one (“Belle (Reprise)”). Gaston’s sidekick, Lefou, returns from the woods in a familiar scarf. Belle realizes her father is in danger and heads into the woods to look for him. She ends up at the castle were she finds her father locked away in a dungeon. She makes a deal with the Beast, Maurice goes free but she remains in his stead. They agree and Maurice is sent back to town without being allowed to say goodbye. Belle is given a guest room and ordered by the Beast to join him for dinner. She mourns her situation (“Home”). But Mrs. Potts attempts to cheer her up (“Home (Reprise)”).
Back in town, Gaston sulks at his loss of a bride. The patrons attempt to cheer him up (“Gaston”), when Maurice rushes in claiming a Beast has Belle locked away, they laugh at him but Gaston formulates a plan (“Gaston (Reprise)”). Back at the castle, the Beast grows impatient as Belle has yet to join him for dinner. Cogsworth informs him she refuses to come, after a shouting match between Belle and the Beast (which ends in a victory for Belle) he tells her if she cannot eat with him then she will not eat at all. In his quarters, he sulks and notes his fate should the spell not break (“How Long Must This Go On?”). Eventually Belle does become hungry and ventures into the kitchen where the servants offer her dinner despite their master’s orders. They treat her to an amazing cabaret show (“Be Our Guest”).
After dinner, Belle gets a tour of the castle courtesy of Cogsworth and Lumiere, her curiosity leads her to enter the West Wing, a place the Beast told her was forbidden. Mesmerized by a mysterious rose floating in a bell jar, she reaches out to touch it but before she can, the Beast stops her and orders her to get out and rips her sleeve in the process. Appalled that he has touched her she flees the castle fearing for her life. Realizing his deadly mistake the Beast knows he will be a monster forever if he cannot learn to love her (“If I Can’t Love Her”).
- Act 2
In the woods, Belle is attacked by wolves and is only rescued when the Beast comes to her aid, but he is injured during the fight and Belle helps him back to the castle. There she cleans his injuries and after a brief argument about whose fault this is, the Beast thanks her for her kindness and thus their friendship is born. Wanting to give her a thank-you gift, the Beast gives Belle his huge library, which excites her. She notes a change in the Beast’s personality as the servants note a change in Belle and the Beast’s relationship (“Something There”). They express their hope of being human once more (“Human Again”) while Belle asks the Beast to accompany her to dinner that night.
Back in the village, Gaston meets with the asylum owner Monsieur D’Arque. They plan to lock Maurice away to blackmail Belle into marrying Gaston (“Maison de Lunes”). In the castle, the Beast and Belle attend a lovely dinner and personal ball, where they dance together in the ballroom (“Beauty and the Beast”). After, the Beast (who plans to tell Belle he loves her) asks her if she is happy here, she responds positively but notes that she misses her father. He offers her his Magic Mirror to view him: he is sick and lost in the woods. The Beast allows Belle to leave in order to save him; she departs after a tearful goodbye (“If I Can’t Love Her (Reprise)”).
Belle finds her father and brings him back to their house in the village. After she is able to nurse him back to health she explains the transformation she seems to have gone through while with the Beast (“A Change in Me”). A mob arrives, lead by Gaston to take Maurice to the asylum. Belle proves her father’s sanity by showing the townspeople the Beast is real using the Magic Mirror but doesn’t realize the error in her gesture. The townspeople immediately fear the Beast, Belle insists he’s gentle and kind, Gaston catches her tone and recognizes the Beast as his rival for Belle’s affections and organizes the mob to kill the Beast (“Mob Song”).
At the castle, the objects are able to keep the lynch mob at bay but Gaston breaks through and finds the Beast in his tower. He engages in a fight with him, mercilessly beating him and taunting him. The Beast has lost the will to live at Belle’s departure and Gaston moves in for the killing blow when Belle arrives, the Beast immediately turns on Gaston but spares his life. The Beast and Belle are reunited just as Gaston plunges his dagger into the Beast’s back but loses his footing and falls to his death.
On the balcony Belle assures the Beast he will live but they both know she is helpless to save him, she begs him not to leave her because she has found home in his company (“Transformation Song”), but despite this, he dies; Belle sobs on his body and says she loves him just before the last petal falls. A transformation takes place and the Beast is alive and human once more, though Belle does not recognize him at first she looks into his eyes and see the Beast within and they kiss. The two sing of how their lives have changed because of love (“End Duet”) and they dance once more as the company gathers in the ballroom (“Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)”).
A large cast of student and community actors playing multiple roles are preparing for the lavish stage adaptation of the animated Walt Disney film "Beauty and the Beast" that opens at Central Wyoming College's Robert A. Peck Arts Center Theatre March 7.
CWC English Professor Wes Connally plays the handsome but conceited prince who mistreats a beggar woman who turns out to be a beautiful enchantress and turns him into a temperamental and terrifying beast. The enchantress/beggar, played by student Darby Thomas, also transforms the prince's staff into objects to do with their profession.
First-year student Amara Fehring, who despite her young age has played multiple lead roles in CWC productions, is Belle, who breaks the spell that turned the prince into the monstrous beast. Sterling Hall is Gaston, the conceited and self-centered villain who is determined to marry Belle. Jonathan Rummel, the show's choreographer, plays Gaston's sidekick Lefou.
Babette, the enchanted feather-duster is played by student Jeno Jones, and she is the object of Lumiere's affections, and he is played by student Coulter Neale.
Student Sara Ervin is the warm-hearted, maternal enchanted teapot Mrs. Potts and Adrienne Hanrahan is her son, Chip. Josiah Sifuentes plays the tightly-wound mantle clock, Cogsworth, who heads the Beast's household.
Dillon Bennett is cast as Maurice, Belle's loving, eccentric inventor father who is imprisoned by the Beast after becoming lost in the woods.
Other characters in the spring musical playing multiple roles are Cedric Bennett, Staci Bird, Elissa Burleson, Cami Coles, Liz Connally, Jeremy Criswell, Reva DeVeny, Karyn Ervin, Adelle Gard, Laura Glidewell, Cassandra Hardester, Eva Harshbarger, Marcia Himes, Cody Hunemuller, Dani Johnson, Sami LeJeune, Wil Linebaugh, Dianna Marble, Maurine Miller, Candyce Peters, Shay Petty, Bart Ringer, Sami Sanders, Dawn Short, Ashley Wilson and Mary Lea Wolfe.
In addition to the March 7 opening, the show is staged March 8, 9, 13, 14, and 15. All shows are 7:30 p.m. with the exception of the Sunday, March 9 matinee which is at 2:30 p.m. Reserved tickets go on sale Feb. 14 at the Arts Center Box Office, which is opened weekdays from 3-6 p.m. The Box Office phone number is 855-2002 or 800-865-0190.
Popular play
After the hugely popular musical Beauty and the Beast closed on Broadway last year, Disney began licensing its performances around the country and it has found its way to the Central Wyoming College Robert A. Peck Arts Center's main stage.
Brilliantly adapted from the Academy Award-winning animated film, this much loved theatrical spectacle has thrilled more than 20 million people worldwide with lavish costumes, magic and special effects and show stopping music.
The show runs at CWC March 7, 8 and 9 and again on March 13, 14 and 15.
"It's the number one show in America right now," said CWC theater director Mike Myers. "People have been waiting for Beauty and the Beast to become available so it's being done a lot."
Rights to a produce a show like Beauty and the Beast are not made available to amateurs until a show closes, which is the case with Beauty and the Beast.
"Nowadays Broadway plays cost so much money," Myers said, noting Beauty and the Beast Broadway production price tag was between $12 million and $15 million. "It takes them at least a couple of years to make a profit."
Translating an animated film directly to the stage poses real challenges for college and community productions. Every costume resembles that in the movie, and many special effects are required.
The costumes, almost 100 of them, are elaborate and beautiful. You have everything in the Beast's household from dancing teapots to wardrobes and forks, spoons and plates to talking candlesticks.
The magic on stage comes when the old beggar woman is transformed into a beautiful enchantress, who in turn changes the handsome prince into the beast. "Somehow you have to find ways to do that," said Myers.
While the dialog is very close to the Disney film, lyricist Tim Rice has added seven new numbers to the stage production to enhance the Oscar-winning score of the 1991 film.
But for Myers, his biggest challenge is getting all the actors, many of who play multiple roles, at rehearsals all at the same time. Many of the students in the production are also involved with organizations, clubs and the CWC Music Department which has conflicting concerts and events.
Many of the specialized costumes are rented, but actors only have a week to rehearse as plates, armoires and candlesticks because of the $3,000 per week rental costs. Myers is realizing that some of his actors, like the ones playing Mrs. Potts and Lumiere, won't have use of at least one of their hands.
Beauty and the Beast is an expensive show to produce, he said. The costumes are costly as are the royalties. Yet, he believes this show is perfect for families and he's expecting large houses each night. He recommends people purchase tickets early.
The show opens each night at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of the Sunday, March 9 show, which is a 2:30 p.m. matinee. Tickets, $12 for adults and $10 for students and children, go on sale Feb. 21. Reserved seats may be purchased from the CWC Box Office in the Arts Center from 3-6 p.m. weekdays.
Musical Numbers
Act I
* Overture † (Orchestra)
* Prologue (Orchestra/(Pre-Recording)
* Belle (Belle, Gaston, Lefou, the Silly Girls and Townspeople, Ensemble)
* No Matter What* (Maurice and Belle)
* No Matter What (Reprise)/Wolf Chase* (Maurice)
* Me* (Gaston and Belle)
* Belle (Reprise) (Belle)
* Home* (Belle)
* Home (Reprise)* (Mrs. Potts)
* Gaston (Lefou, Gaston, the Silly Girls, and Tavern Patrons, Ensemble)
* Gaston (Reprise) (Gaston and Lefou)
* How Long Must This Go On?* (Beast)
* Be Our Guest (Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Chip, Babette and Enchanted Objects, Ensemble)
* If I Can't Love Her* (Beast)
Act II
* Entr'acte/Wolf Chase † (Orchestra)
* Something There (Belle, Beast, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth)
* Human Again§ (Lumiere, Wardrobe, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Babette, Chip and Enchanted Objects, Ensemble)
* Maison Des Lunes* (Gaston, Lefou and Monsieur D'Arque)
* Beauty and the Beast (Mrs. Potts)
* If I Can't Love Her (Reprise)* (Beast)
* A Change in Me ‡ (Belle)
* The Mob Song (Gaston, Lefou, Monsieur D'Arque and Townspeople, Ensemble)
* The Battle † (Orchestra)
* Transformation* (Belle)
* End Duet* (Belle and Prince)
* Beauty and the Beast (Reprise) (Company)
* Curtain Call (Company and Orchestra)