Talented fifteen-year-old Lauren Menzer stars as book-loving beauty Belle. She has a beautiful voice, large expressive eyes that light up when she reads her beloved books (she’s so excited that she mouths the words), and she does well as both the sweet and adoring daughter of her inventor father (Erik Scheele) and in her relationship with the Beast. Kevin Wright is said Beast, and he combines with Belle for some great scenes as he begins falling for her, doing so with such clumsy enthusiasm that he picks up a bemused Belle to put her in her chair and splashes her with his drink when he attempts to clink glasses. They work great together on such first-date scenes as Something There and the title song.

The two of them are surrounded by several enchanting enchanted objects. Samuel Stalker makes for an especially humorous Cogsworth, the stuffy clock with excellent comic timing and personality. Alex Hallberg is a charismatic Lumiere, and works well with his ever-flirting girlfriend feather duster Babette (Katelyn Almeida). Becky Weise is a riot as the operatic Wardrobe. Rachael Caise sings a nice rendition of Beauty and the Beast. Lydia Stalker is the sensitive mirror who doesn’t like it when the Beast expresses displeasure at her “stupid” handiwork on his hair, angrily throwing one of the hair rollers to the floor.

Elsewhere, DJ Ulbert is an amusingly cocky, self-infatuated egomaniac Gaston who won’t stop until Belle is his. Mike Egler is a hit as Gaston’s pathetic, scaredy-cat sidekick LeFou who is not afraid to slam his face into the floor for laughs and unsuccessfully trying to impress an amusing quartet of ditzy Silly Girls. He’ll also be remembered for congratulating Belle on a nice song, trying to give her a high-five, and making himself laugh so hard that he passes gas, discreetly trying to wave it away with the scarf once owned by Belle’s father (Belle handles all of this as politely as she could be expected to). Despite his song being cut, Eric Bender is humorously diabolical as the unscrupulous owner of the local insane asylum.

Performed March 7 - 9, 2008.

Rob Hopper
Executive Director
National Youth Theatre