[cptkarrot]

I was Beast in a local production that just closed, and I am very sad. Some shows I can get over very easily, but with this one I am having a hard time. Putting on the costume and make-up every night was a pain, but the results were outstanding. And we really had a fabulous cast that developed tremendously in their roles as the run progressed.

It was a fabulous production to be part of. We set brand new attendance records for this company. Typically they would average about 1200 over 2 weekends (6 shows). With this production we beat that in 4 nights. We ended up with about 2100 seeing the show. As the crowds suggest, I really believed that we introduced a whole new audience to theater, and that makes all the rehearsals worth it.

Anyway, just wanted to share. I will be posting links to photos and video from the show as soon as I get them completed. To all of those still working in the show - keep it up! This one really grabs hold of an audience. I believe you will be amazed. As the flyer from Broadway describing the show says: "There is magic on this stage!"

Keith

[Beagle On Stage]

This one was hard for me to let go of, too - and I couldn't even sit down in my costume! lol. You're right, there's definitely something special about this show.

[wheresmyvoice]

This show is such a fun one to do. I was a Sheherd Boy/Wolf and an Ice Bucket of all things and we sold out almost every night. It's just a great show.

[BroadwayRedHead]

Our show just closed this month as well!

And I know how you feel. With most shows, I'm usually relieved that a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders, but with Beauty and the Beast, I can't let go. Actually, our whole cast can't let go -- we're having another gathering this weekend! That's basically our 3rd gathering since we've closed on the 1st.

And we had great attendance with ours as well -- selling out all 5 performances before we even opened. And I agree with introducing a whole new audience to theater. We had many little kids, as well as teens my age, coming up to us telling us how much they enjoyed it and how they would love to see more shows -- they said they even want to audition for some now!

But i'll be excited to see some photos from your production! I love looking at photos of shows I've been in from other productions! It's a wee little past time of mine. ;o)

[DaddyDiesel]

Yeah i had a terrible time closing with this one. Im glad we had 16 shows!!! Because I did get pretty wore down by the end of the show. But after a week of sleep I did hit a small depression afterwards. Even as the jerk Gaston I had an amazing attachment for the show. I would love to do the show again. I just hope I wouldnt be type cast into Gaston. I loved playing him but I would love to play the other side of the show as the beast. We also had an amazing run with extremely talented cast. The magic of the audience is one thing I cant get over. Still to this day. The faces of the kids as they come meet the cast at the end. Anybody else do the lobby thing after your show. I had to sign about fifty autographs to kids. It made me feel like I was on broadway people actually wantiong to meet the cast. it was cool. Congrats on the show and the sadness does subside.

[Beagle On Stage]

Yes we did the lobby thing too, and it was great. But what we thought was funny was that the kids weren't interested so much in seeing the actors and actresses, they just wanted to meet the characters. Little girls were just swarming around Belle, wanting to sit on her lap and get her autograph ("Love, Belle," of course, who cares what her real name is? lol) and touch that big yellow dress. Gaston and I were more popular with the little boys.

[BroadwayRedHead]

We did the lobby thing too. Except our costumers wouldn't let us out in our costumes as they were afraid we'd rip them. But after our Sunday matinee, they let our Belle & Beast go out in the prince costume and the golden dress, and they had tons of little girls flocking to meet them in their costumes! It was adorable.

But after our last show they let all of us out in costume and tons of the little kids were just coming up to us touching our costumes. I had so many ask me if my plate was made of real china. ) It was cute!

[cptkarrot]

One other thing we did was get light up roses from the company we rented the costumes from (HeartlandCostumes.com). We sold them to the audience and told them that they could interact with the show by lighting them up during the transformation. It was really cool to look out and see all these lit roses. Especially on the last day, it really made it special. Another cool thing is that our Belle got really emotional, (no big surprise), so during her solo just prior to the transformation (Home Reprise), she started crying really, and that set everyone else off, myself included.

I know what you are talking about with the kids - plenty of them wanted to see Belle, and a few came to talk to me as the Beast. It was just amazing.

Thanks for confirming that I am not the only one to go through this will the show!

Keith

[MademoiselleMusicals]

Awwww the signing autographs and the lit up roses are such sweet ideas! I imagine it must be very emotional when a show closes, I always am too. But if I ever got the chance to do B&TB, I would be so sad when it ended....

[DaddyDiesel]