Grace theater performs Beauty and the Beast
For two consecutive nights, our theater department put on a performance like none other.
May 7th and 8th, 96 GPA students in grades K-12 transformed themselves into characters from the musical “Beauty and the Beast”.
Behind the scenes, many volunteer parents and students worked hard in order to bring out the magnificence of the stage. For the actors, many hours of memorization and rehearsing were put in, while also achieving academic success.
“Singing and preparing was really fun because Belle is one of my favorite characters and the script was like the movie, so I had most of it already memorized honestly,” said Actress Emily Watson, who played Belle.
Watson worked countless hours rehearsing in 14 scenes and singing 5 songs like “Home”. Her co-star, Freshman Kyle Lehew played The Beast, rehearsing much time on a casted foot, getting the cast off right before curtain time.
Acting was made a little difficult for some due to their elaborate costumes.
“I was not used to being in a 3-foot box,” said Junior Carson Pinon, who played Cogsworth (a clock). “It felt like a 25 pound weight on my shoulders at all times.”
Parent Barbara Hill, and her daughters Sophomore Audrey Hill, and 8th Grader Olivia Hill made most of the villager and dishes costumes, no small task. The “inhuman” costumes were rented.
The cast and crew’s hard work did not go unnoticed. Director Marsha Bryan asked for votes for actor and crew “bests”. Watson and Lehew won for Best Lead Actress and Actor. Junior Isaiah Cavenaugh won for Best Cameo Appearance as Maurice. Juniors Kay Lee Sedwick as Mrs. Potts, and Pinon won for Best Supporting Actors.
“I was surprised and honored and a little bit giddy,” said Pinon about his win.
Through the diligence of set volunteers and actors alike, we were able to create an amazing work like we had never done before.
Many of the records set by last year’s spring musical, “The Wizard of Oz”, were quickly surpassed this year. GPA sold 1300 tickets to see the 96 cast members. By far this is the largest performance ever put on by our school to-date.
