The Niles North Theatre Department invites you to “be their guest” March 14-16 as they present the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast.
Though this is a tale as old as time, “The characters in our production have depth and really feel human– even the ones that are clocks and teapots,” junior Noah Zeidman, who plays Gaston, said. “It’s hard not to be influenced by the movie,” he said of making his character more three dimensional (both literally and figuratively). “But we worked with our physicality, voices and motivation from the script to give our characters unique dimension and flair.”
The cast includes: Teresa Franks as Belle; Eugene Hyun as Maurice; Noah Zeidman as Gaston; Zac Luna as Lefou; Sebastijan Torgus as Monsieur D’Arque; Emma Decker, Nina Roy and Jaquelyn Shannon as Silly Girls; Christopher Khoshaba as Beast; Martin Wiviott as Cogsworth; Ryan Loach as Lumiere; Natalie Aleman as Babette; Rachel Sepiashvili as Mrs. Potts; Russell Reyes as Chip; and Lauryn Schmelzer as Madame Grande Bouche. Humza Abbasi, Colin Austria, Nelson Chen, Max Dolinko, Glenwin Ebreo, Eugene Edmond, Sean Loach, Sam Rosenfeld, Glenn Weissman, Sarah Alkyer, Sally Alvarado, Katie Bean, Hannah Brown, Nina Codell, Callie Folke, Athanasia Giannetos, Amy Hagedorn, Emi Kanda, Camille Paskind, Nina Rickett-Green, Erin Rourke, Julia Thummel, Robin Wallace and Carissa Yau are all townspeople/ensemble members/servants.
The play is directed by Timothy Ortmann with Daniel Gregerman as the Choral Director and Pamela Hendrix as the Orchestra Director. The rest of the technical staff includes: Cheryl Filipek, Music Assistant; Tim Veach, Choreographer; Annaliisa Ahlman, Technical Director; Barbara Reeder, Assistant Technical Director; Michael Rourke, Lighting Designer; Teresa Ripley, Costume Designer; Linda Room, Costume Assistant; Anita Scanlon, Costume Assistant; Brian Fallon, Hair/Wig Designer; Hannah Sahyouni and Maddie Martin, Prop Mistresses; Adam Rosenthal, Sound Designer; Stephanie Persaud and Anne Zavell, Production Assistants.
This Disney classic musical will be staged in the Niles North Auditorium. There is a 10 a.m. community performance on Thursday, March 14 and the show will go on at 7 p.m. on both Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16. There is one matinee performance at 2 p.m. on March 16. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for any children under the age of 12. Get your tickets early because they’re going fast! Tickets will NOT be sold during lunch periods but they will be on sale every day during the week of the show after school in the Niles North box office in the front lobby.
