Barnstable High School Drama Club to stage "Beauty and the Beast" in March

Show first staged by the club in 2005

American Idol contestant Siobhan Magnus was a double-cast Belle

The Barnstable High School Drama Club will be presenting Disney’s Beauty and the Beast March 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 at the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center located at Barnstable High School, 744 West Main Street, Hyannis.

Barnstable High’s Drama Club was the first group on Cape Cod to stage the award-winning hit musical when the rights became available back in 2005. John Sullivan, director of the Drama Club, said, “I’m not sure too many people would have dared to try such an elaborate and expensive (the rights alone cost $10,000) musical.  But I thought we had the creative staff to pull it off.”

And he was right – Beauty and the Beast became one of the biggest hits ever for the Drama Club, nearly rivaling The Wizard of OZ for attendance.

The costumes that were painstakingly created for the 2005 production have been lent out to other theaters that were putting on the show for free.

“I always knew big things were meant for Siobhan, but the same can be said of many students who participate in the club’s activities. I suggest you don’t miss a show the club produces, because then you can say, ‘I knew them when!’” - John Sullivan, drama club director

“I figured it’s hard enough to get the money for the rights. If the Drama Club can help other theaters by lending them outfits, why not?” said Sullivan, whose Wizard of OZ outfits have also been loaned out all over the country to help high schools struggling with budgets.

“They pay the freight, we send them the costumes. Right now there are four theatres asking to borrow the OZ costumes and we are trying to accommodate them as best we can.“

Since the costumes for Beast have been lent out so much, there has been a certain “wear and tear” on them over the last five years.

“The good thing is we have the base for a majority of the costumes still intact, as well as a great crew of seamstresses, including some of those who created the 2005 originals. So what I hope to do for this show is step it up and make them even more beautiful than the last time,” Sullivan said.

Having done the show before also helps in other ways, Sullivan explained. “For instance, we know how big the clock body has to be in order for Cogsworth to walk up and down stairs. The first time we created three different-sized clock bodies until we found the one we are using for this show. That’s two weeks’ work we don’t have to do over again.”

Scene from the 2005 Beauty and the Beast performance courtesy of BHSDC.

The set for Beauty and the Beast will resemble the set that was created the last time, but Sullivan promises it will be bigger and better with a few new twists: “Again, we found out what worked and what didn’t the last time.”

Sullivan likes to tell a story about a visitor’s random comment that changed the whole look of the set of the 2005 production.

“This dad comes in and was looking at the jail cell where Maurice is imprisoned and says, ‘I see you’ve got yourself a big fireplace.’ I nodded and said wearily, ‘Yeah, it’s a big fireplace.’

“Then the wheels started turning in my head and I thought of a large fake fire effect I’d seen in a catalogue over a year before. I called them right away and ordered it. The results of that were oohs and ahhs from the audience when the castle was revealed and that giant fireplace was center-stage.

“The sets are always changing to accommodate the actors and if someone comes up with a better idea, I won’t turn it away!

“Of course we had to build another jail cell for Maurice,” Sullivan noted wryly.

Seats will again go for only $10 each.

“These big musicals always cost a lot,” said Sullivan, ”but they make great memories for our students and audience members. We’re in the memory business, I like to say. If we break even while keeping tickets prices lower than most theaters on Cape Cod, that’s all I ask for.”

Sullivan noted that American Idol contestant Siobhan Magnus was one of the double-cast Belles the last time the club presented Beauty and the Beast. “I always knew big things were meant for Siobhan,” Sullivan said, “but the same can be said of many students who participate in the club’s activities. I suggest you don’t miss a show the club produces, because then you can say, ‘I knew them when!’”

Beauty and the Beast will be presented March 19 20, 26, 27 at 7pm and March 21and 28 at 2pm. All seats are $10. Reservation (definitely suggested!) can be made by calling  (508) 771-6246.

Courtesy of the Barnstable High School Drama Club.