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A tale as old as time

 

The talented young performers at Sonoma Valley High School will tackle a “tale as old as time” with their production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” The classic musical can be seen at the Little Theater on the school’s campus on March 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10.

  With music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, “Beauty and the Beast” was the only animated move to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, where it took the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

  Here in Sonoma, the student cast is under the direction of Jane Martin, musical director Emily Moore and choreographer Meredith Regan. Based on the classic French fairytale, it tells the story of Belle (played by Ella Krikorian and Maya Smoot), an intelligent young woman scorned by her townspeople for being a bookworm, weary of fighting off the advances of the arrogant Gaston (Sean Hall and Adelid Hernandez) and dreaming of escape. When her father (Joe Wilson) gets lost in the woods and captured by the forbidding Beast (Gerald de Lara, Eugene LaHaye, Buster LaHaye), a once-handsome prince turned into a monster by an Enchantress, Belle goes off to rescue him.

  Taken with her, the Beast agrees to release Belle’s father if she agrees to stay with him forever. Initially repulsed, Belle soon finds much to appreciate in the Beast’s hidden, tender nature. The Beast’s servants – a clock (Daniel Dwyer and Skylar Trigstad), a teapot (Reagan Headley and Jacqueline Regan), and a candlestick (Sonia Krikorian, Maddie Rafinni and Laura Amador) – see Belle as their salvation: if the Beast and a woman fall in love before his 21st birthday, he will be free from the curse.

  The Beauty and the Beast creative team includes Janine Crowe (assistant director); Maya Smoot (set designer); Tracy Krikorian, Barbara Ciaponi, Janet Hanson and Kaylin Riebli (costume design); Jacquelyn Peterson (stage manager); Laura Tackett (production manager) and Tim Callan (prop master).

  Performances will be on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., and matinee performances will be on Sundays at 2 p.m.

  Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased in advance at Readers’ Books, Pharmaca and the Student Activities Office.

  Tickets may also be purchased at the Little Theater Box Office 30 minutes prior to curtain.

  The drama department receives support from the Boosters Club and the Teachers’ Support Network.