WILLMAR — It is a tale as old as time, and the students at Community Christian School of Willmar hope you will be their guest as they present Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" as this year's spring theater production.
"We have a lot of seniors in this show," said Sarah Crowe, musical co-director and teacher at CCS. "This is the show they wanted to do."
The cast is made up of students from seventh to 12th grade, along with those helping backstage with lights, sounds, sets and costumes. Drama is a class at the school, so the students have been working on the show since September and are ready to share their hard work with the public.
"They want to do it right," Crowe said. "They have been working really hard."
There will be three chances to take in the show — 6:30 p.m. March 17, and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. March 18 at the school. Tickets can be purchased online. There may also be overflow tickets available at the door prior to the performances. Tickets are $12 per person.
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"Come and enjoy the show," Crowe said.
The show is based off the Broadway version of the story about a young woman named Belle who befriends a prince under a magical curse that transformed him into a beast and all his servants into talking objects. The curse will be broken only if the Beast can learn to love and be loved in returned before the last petal falls from an enchanted rose.
The show is famous for its large cast of memorable characters and a soundtrack full of fan favorite songs such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "Be Our Guest." The Broadway show also added several new songs that were not part of the original 1991 movie. This meant that even if the students were familiar with the movie, they still had a lot to learn.
"They had their fair share of music to learn," Crowe said.
There are 51 cast members.
Playing the title characters are Renae Levesque as Belle and Will Chapin as the Beast. Jonny Reid is playing Gaston with Max Arnold as Lefou, and Maurice, Belle's father, is being played by Isaac Larson. Bringing to life the characters of the Beast's servants are Mark Arnold as Cogsworth, Elijah Keller as Chip, Ethan Livingod as Lumiere, Azalea May as Madame de la Grand Bouche, Kylee Tollesfsrud as Babette and Mackenzie Tuttle as Mrs. Potts.
Other cast members are Carl Benson, Sophia Buetow, Timmy Buetow, Athlee Chapin, Sierra Crowe, Ellie DeLeeuw, Katie DeLeeuw, Mathias Elmhorst, Olivia Erickson, Emma Hainlin, Aubrey Heiling, Griffen Heiling, Cassie Holter, Annabelle Johnson, Brett Johnson, Mitchell Johnson, Madelyn Kannas, Addison Kveene, Aiden Kveene, Selah Larson, Cade Levesque, Anna Lindgren, Naomi May, Sage Mulder, Levi Nelson, Lola Nelson, Micah Nelson, Taya Nelson, Vienna Norling, Greta Olsen, Ivar Olsen, Christian Rekieta, Alyssa Schwantes, William Strommer, Jillian Twedt, Reagan Twedt and Faith Westin.
Assisting backstage are Luke Boline, Kayden Cavaness as the student art director and prop manager, and Emma Kallevig as the student director.
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Another important piece of the puzzle is the costumes. "Beauty and the Beast" includes some of the most iconic Disney costumes. Stephanie Tollefsrud is the costume director, with help from costume seamstress Dianna Chapin. Costumes for the play have been made, bought and borrowed.
"We believe we have over 200 costumes," Crowe said.
The show wouldn't be possible without all the help on the production side. Many students, staff and parent volunteers are helping with everything from set design and construction, lights and sound, decoration, prop construction and even providing cupcakes.
"Lots of parent volunteers are working beside us," Crowe said. "It is a community."
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