r Springville Playhouse presents Beauty and the Beast at Springville High School, 1205 East 900 South, Springville, Utah. Performances began on July 12 and will run through July 21. The doors open at 6:30 PM and the show starts at 7. Tickets are available online.
Narrators are Valery Ethington, Chelsie Nielson, Brooke Grant and Emma Hoffman. The production is directed by Tannie Hjorth and produced by Dave Chapa. Autumn Redd stars as Belle, Elihu Brown is the Beast, Ianthus Brown is Gaston, Gabriel Shallenberger plays Maurice and Ben Hall is the prince.
Beauty is mocked by the people in her village because she loves to read. Her father, Maurice, supports her in her desire to explore books. He often goes walking in the forest, and Beauty acquires a beautiful orange scarf for him to wear on his walks. One day he goes out, but he doesn’t return. Beauty goes out looking for him, and she wanders onto the property of The Beast. She is attacked by a pack of wolves, one of whom is wearing the orange scarf. As Beauty continues, she finds her father in a jail cell and is accosted by the Beast. She offers to take her father’s place if the Beast will let her father return to his home. The Beast agrees, and he takes Belle to his chateau. She is given free reign of the house but is warned never to go into the west wing. Belle endears herself to the people who live in the house. These others who have wandered onto the property of the Beast, and been turned into household items by the Beast. They all know that to break their spells the Beast must fall in love, but the biggest problem is that the Beast must be loved back. He has a terrible temper that he has never learned to control.
Belle discovers a wonderful library and then discovers that the Beast has never learned to read. She starts reading the story of King Arthur to him, and feelings for the Beast begin to develop. One day the prince discovers she is crying for her father, and presents her a magic mirror which allows her to see him. She realizes he is very lonely, and the Beast allows her to go to him even though he feels she will never return.
Belle does return to the beast and confesses her love for him. The spells are all broken, she and the Beast dance, and the play ends.
It is well-performed, and the spell touches everyone in the audience. We hope you will support the cast and crew and go see Beauty and the Beast.
