The velvet curtain closes and the lights flicker on. The roaring applause of audience members dies down until the only person clapping is that awkward man in the corner. Characters are welcomed onto the stage to meet the young girls all dressed as Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Parents with smiles painted across their face gather and meet together. What a few moments ago was a roar of applause is now a soft, steady chit chat.

The cast was chosen in August of 2018, in preparation to spend the many months to follow rehearsing.

“We had to upload a video of us singing, and then we had callbacks,” explains Freshman Julia Wolff. “Then there were outside guests who came to officially cast the show.”

All throughout the school year, the cast had numerous rehearsals, some, in particular, last all day over the weekend. The cast consisted of Julia Wolff and Northie Jackson as Belle, Krishna Poroori and Evan Sowa as Gaston, and Tony Kesserwani as the Beast. There were also numerous ensembles that sang and danced along with the leads.

With the immense hard work and fun, there were also some hard parts to the roles. For the role of the Beast,

“I had to work out in order to withstand the physicality of it all,” says Tony Kesserwani.

The play was taken very seriously. Everything from costumes to sets, to songs, had to be perfect. On top of the preparation going into being the character, dances must be learned and singing lines memorized.

The hardest part, according to Junior Spencer Polk, was, “Probably the dancing because I had to be in shape in order to sing while I was dancing.”

The shows themselves received great applause from viewers young and old. Some had even stated how the show seemed to be at a professional level. Opening night was Schuler night.

“Schuler is a high school musical theater competition where adjudicators from Artsbridge come in and grade our performance based on a rubric” explains Junior Krishna Poroori.

The cast who acted on Schuler night is now able to receive awards for their spectacular work. Some of the recognition includes praise for the lighting and set, best ensemble, and best music direction.

As the curtain closes on the final evening of the production, the tired actors and actresses come together to perform a final, final bow. Months of work and preparation brought the theater students together to perform a show worth it all. Seven months of work and two unique casts created eight different productions of one musical; Beauty and the Beast.