As some of you might know I was casted as an ensemble member and played the role of a town villager and a cheese grater. I was included in the numbers Belle, Gaston, Be Our Guest, and Human again, along with the Castle Battle scene towards the end. Being both a human villager and a kitchen specialty item was at times a challenge, more so when you are a drunken village man singing all hail Gaston, and four scenes later you end up a fully dressed in a spandex unitard, silvery vest pieces, full make up, a stark white whig, and to top it all off a dance belt (its better if you don't know what this is)...ready to welcome the girl who could break the spell to dinner.
The week of dress rehearsals started like a kindergarten production of Beauty and the Beast, but with tremendous strides made by the entire cast over 3 days made our show and I quote, "I've have seen lots of Broadway shows before, and this was just as good as Broadway." Granted it probably not as good as a Broadway, but I'm glad that from what it looked like on that Monday to hear that it was just as good as Broadway than that was really really awesome to hear.
Our performances were on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, along with a Sunday matinée, all of which sold out our 900 seat auditorium, and on Sunday afternoon bring folding chairs to put in various places around the theater. My personal feelings over the show is we did good on every one but my opinion to rate the shows from best performances to worse, the order would be Saturday, Thursday, Friday, and than Sunday. I had the most fun on Saturday as well as preforming the best. The audience was amazing on Saturday and they were very alive and active participants. The applause, laughter, and smiles made Saturday my favorite and best performance.
I'm grateful that I had this opportunity to be apart such a great show with great people, and look forward to being in more theatrical productions.
