he technology alone of Columbus East High School’s latest musical production is something of a beast.
Tweaks include the pit orchestra moving to the band room across the hall from Clarence E. Robbins’ Auditorium and watching the actors and taking musical intro cues via TV monitor. Costumes imitating everything from teacups to candlesticks that move easily and light up when needed.
So it will be April 27 to 29 with a tale as old as time driven by technology as seemingly new as yesterday for the classic, “Beauty and the Beast.”
Columbus resident Cindy Patchett, who designed and produced the costumes over the past year, mentioned that the apparel is all about highlighting cast members, who include her son Ethan as Luminere the candelabra.
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“This is really all about the students,” said Patchett, a onetime fashion designer wanna-be who also made costumes for a similar production in Parker, Colorado, several years ago where she lived. “I love these kids. And I just want to be a tool to bring out the very best of what they can really do.”
The 18th-century story of the musical that has been a 1991 megahit animated movie, a 1994 Broadway success, and a live-action film last year revolves around a budding love between young girl Belle and a cold-blooded prince transformed into an unsightly Beast. All feature the tender-and-soaring title song as an unmistakable stamp on the seeing-with-the-heart romance-to-be.
The music, coordinated by David Rodgers, East’s director of bands, will for the first time for any local production be played outside the theater and miked into the auditorium for a more-balanced mix with actors’ voices, according to Kevin Welsh, the show’s director who has mapped out production plans for some 16 months. The idea is that the live music can be turned down, if need be, from the band room more easily than if it were playing just in front of the stage as has been the tradition.
Some Broadway shows and other major productions use the same setup to assure a better audio balance. Jim Roeder, television production instructor at East, arranged the technology for such an effort, and Welsh said he salutes Roeder’s and Rodgers’ extra focus.
“It will be more work for us,” Welsh said, “but a more pleasant experience for the audience.”
The director also pointed out that working out such challenges has given his drama students a front-row seat for a prime aspect of theater that he teaches.
“This is allowing the students seeing someone thinking outside the box to solve a problem,” Welsh said. “A lot of theater is just that — simply problem-solving. And putting on every play and production is essentially about solving problems.”
And organizers say they especially understand that the show and its characters represent far more than entertainment to youngsters.
Consequently, one East student organized an activity at the Bartholomew County Public Library during which three of the in-costume characters read a story, completed a craft with children and then took photos with the young ones.
Moreover, the school has arranged a special invitation-only rehearsal/performance for children with autism on Tuesday. This will be a lights-up, sound-down adapted showing. The children of all ages and their families will be able to enjoy the musical numbers from the show in a relaxed environment just right for their special needs, interact with the characters, and have their picture taken with a character after the show.
“The students wanted to reach out to our community,” said producer and production designer Chanda Welsh.
To bring life to an old story. In a bit of a new way.
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What: Columbus East High School’s production of the classic musical “Beauty and the Beast.”
When: 7:30 p.m. April 27-28 and 2:30 p.m. April 29.
Where: Clarence E. Robbins Auditorium, Columbus East High School, 230 S. Marr Road.
Tickets: $8 at the door or online at https://search.seatyourself.biz/webstore/accounts/columbuseasths/buy-tix?d=0
Information: The Facebook page at Columbus East Theatre.
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