LCN Puts Final Touches on 'Beauty and the Beast' Musical

Many of the sets are still under construction and the costumes in need of a final fitting, but as far as the cast and crew of 's production of Beauty and the Beast are concerned, it’s showtime.

With the first public show on Friday night, there are fewer than 20 hours of rehearsal time standing between the cast and their opening night performance. 

“It’s an intense process,” said director Michael Kaufman, describing the week before a show. “It’s amazing to see where our show comes from between Monday and Friday–the difference. (The cast) grows in intensity and practice. It’s a rough process.”

Performances are Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the John R. Armstrong Performing Arts Center.

“The one thing people don’t understand is it’s not a show in high school until opening night and it takes these next few days to really pull the show together,” Kaufman said. “There are so many components never rehearsed and put together until the end. We just started to rehearse with the pit (orchestra). At the first dress rehearsal, all the kids are putting on costumes and makeup and using all of the props and the stage with the scenery in place for the first time.”

More than 100 L’Anse Creuse North actors, singers, dancers and musicians will participate in the show.  

Freshman Katy Nelson, whom audiences will know as the housekeeping teapot Mrs. Potts, is one of them.

“I love Mrs. Potts because she is such a loving, homey character and she is the mother of the show,” Nelson said. “It’s going to be fun to bring the show to life and to show other people that a cartoon can become real.”

Nelson’s character will be made even more real by her “bigger than life” costume.

“My costume is very interesting,” Nelson said. “It’s very big. I can’t even fit through an average-sized door, so it’s interesting. I have to fold it up everywhere I go.”

As most of the characters are “enchanted objects” in the show, their costumes must be equally enchanting in appearance.

None of these more so than that of Lumiere, the debonair candelabra played by sophomore Jacob Relph.

Relph’s joy in playing what he describes as a “really big and ridiculous role you can have a lot of fun with” is heightened by being able to use his costume’s candlesticks.

“They are so cool,” Relph said. “They actually legit light up. It’s not actual fire, it’s like Halloween torches with the orange flap that blows, and lights in them. It looks like actual fire.”

Kaufman said between the show’s costumes, many of which came from New York, and its sets, the audience won’t be disappointed.

“I told the kids for 10 bucks, we could turn the sound track on, have then walk across the stage and people would applaud and think they got their money’s worth,” he said. “Luckily though, the show is really good, too.” 

Freshman Noah Mattocks, who plays The Beast, and senior Anna Relph, who will play Belle in the Friday and Saturday evening performances, said they are both eager to perform in front of a live audience. 

“You get out on stage and there are bright lights and you can see the audience and people smiling when you’re acting and it's just how alive the audience is,” Mattocks said. “You do something funny–they laugh. Something bad happens–they aww. It’s great getting feedback from the audience.”

The show will run roughly two-and-a-half hours.

Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults at the JAPAC box office at 24600 F.V. Pankow Blvd. on school days from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and on show days one-half hour before the show or by reserving at 586-873-6520.