‘Beauty and the Beast’ at GRMS

From left, Clifton Wilkins, as the Beast, with Michael Preston who plays Gaston, in ‘Beauty and the Beast’

The Glen Ridge Middle School Drama Club will present a teen edition of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” tomorrow, Friday, March 13, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m, at Ridgewood Avenue School.

The cast is made up of seventh- and eighth-grade students under the direction of Heather Ballantyne who said, after considering last year’s seventh-grade performers and having a boy who could play the beast, this particular musical would be a good fit.

“I wanted something cute and family friendly, but a different kind of family friendly,” she said. “And I had enough kids. In fact, so many that I had to double-cast some of the parts. It’s a show for all ages and a lot of three- and four-year-olds know the story.”

The story is based on a French fairy tale.

Disguised as a beggar, a witch offers a rose to a prince for shelter in his castle. He turns her away and is transformed into the Beast and his servants into household objects, a curse the Beast can escape only by finding true love.

In the village is a lovely girl, Belle, whose father, Maurice, becomes lost in the forest. Coming upon the castle, he is imprisoned by the Beast. Belle learns this and takes her father’s place. She finds the enchanted rose, angering the beast who chases her from the castle. Outside, she is attacked by savage animals and rescued by the Beast.

Meanwhile, Maurice has alerted a disbelieving village to what has happened. Gaston, Belle’s oft-rejected suitor, conspires to have Maurice tossed into an insane asylum, promising his release to blackmail Belle into marriage. Belle is apprised of her father’s situation with a magic mirror and uses this device to prove her father’s sanity, but it does this by also proving the Beast really does exist. The villagers attack the castle and Gaston mortally stabs the Beast who is restored to his true self when Belle professes her love for the dying creature. Gaston falls to his death.

Ballantyne said this year’s show differs from last year’s “High School Rock” because children are more familiar with the score from “Beauty and the Beast” which was adapted from an animated musical movie.

The cast will preview a part of the show this week at Forest and Ridgewood avenue schools, and Central School.

“It’s a bit to do,” Ballantyne admitted. “But we used to do this all the time. It shows the little kids what you can do. After Covid, we just kind of stopped the previews.”

Ballantyne said there is an eighth-grader in her cast that remembers seeing a preview of “Guy’s and Dolls” when she was a kindergartener at Forest Avenue School.

“We did that in 2019,” the director added.

Ballantyne has been at the middle school helm for eight years. She also directs the shows for grades three to six. She said the biggest challenge with this show was costuming.

“We rented some of them and it’s expensive,” she said. “We have three costumes for each kid. You can’t cheap-out with the costumes for this show. They bring the story to life.”

The children enter as villagers and become household objects and servants under the witch’s spell.

“We’ll find out if the kids can change fast enough,” Ballantyne said. “It’s nice that students are on stage pretty much continually.

“And I was lucky,” she continued. “There’s a woman in town, Stephanie Martignetti, who is in ‘Beaches.’ It’s opening soon on Broadway. She comes in and does the choreography.”

The running time for “Beauty and the Beast” is 70 minutes without intermission. The music is by Alan Menkin, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Time Rice, book by Linda Woolverton.

The Broadway musical premiered April 18, 1994, and ran for 5,461 performances. Fifty-six children are involved with the show. Tickets will be sold at the door.

“My hope is that you see not only the magic on stage, but also the heart behind it and that we all leave reminded to look beyond the surface and lead with empathy,” Ballantyne said.