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Beauty and the Beast comes to Barrhead

The Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast’s run may have ended in 2007, but that doesn’t mean people cannot still see a live stage production of the popular play.

The Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast’s run may have ended in 2007, but that doesn’t mean people cannot still see a live stage production of the popular play.

Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) drama students will be putting on a scaled-down version of the production at the school’s drama theatre Jan. 18 to 21.

For those who are familiar with the play, Beauty and Beast is a musical, romantic fantasy story about a prince and his court who are magically transformed into a monster, Beast, as well as regular household objects by an enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman as punishment for being turning away from the castle during a storm.

To reverse the curse, Beast must learn to love another, and earn their love in return before the last petal of a rose the enchantress left at the castle falls off.

“Our version really follows the animated version, in that it’s big, cartoony, and just over the top.” said BCHS drama teacher Peter Bonnema. In 1991, Walt Disney released an animated movie the story and it’s this version that Broadway used to create its version, three years later. In 2017, the media company also released a live action movie based on the animated version.

However, he added, that for those people who are familiar with the films, the BCHS version would still hold a number of surprises. “It is not just the movie verbatim, there are some other scenes and interesting parts that work especially well for high school drama students.”

To be ready for the production, Grade 10-12 drama students started to prepare in early October, not only to learn how to perform their parts, but everything else needed to put on a production.

“There are a lot of grandiose costumes and sets. For example we have a tea cart that took 12 hours to build,” he said, noting the cart is where two of the major characters, Chip and Mrs. Potts spend a good portion of their time.

For the most part, the students did the majority of the set and costume work themselves, under Bonnema’s supervision, He also receives assistance from Warren Warehime’s woodworking class.

Because of how many students there are in this semester’s drama programs depending on what night people attend, they will see a different cast.

“It worked out really well,” he said, adding this year he had a number of exceptionally talented students, who were perfect for a certain role. “I am glad that the two individuals that we had vying for Belle were able to get the part. Plus we had a number of other female students who were exceptionally strong singers that we were able to cast either gender. For example one of our Lumieres is played by a female who is a strong singer and I think it works just as well.”

As for how Bonnema made the decision to put on the Beauty and the Beast, he said he tries to put on a Disney production every three years

“The students love Disney pieces and feel very connected to them. I think a large part of that is because they grew up watching the movies,” he said.

Tickets are $10 and are available at BCHS. Performances start at 7 p.m. nightly and due to the limited amount of tickets, Bonnema suggests people reserve seats as soon as possible.


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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