WHS presents 'Beauty and The Beast'

The classic story "Beauty and The Beast" will come alive in Washington High School's spring play at the Washington Community Theater this weekend.

Thursday afternoon, elementary students in the Washington Community School District were able to view the play. There were several rounds of applause and "oohs and ahs" from the students as they recognized the characters before them.

The play starts out like the Disney movie does with Belle, played by Zoe Wagner, wanting more than the life she has in her little town and the townsfolk singing about how odd she is.

After an encounter with Gaston, played by Riordan Lujano, Belle heads home and speaks to her father Maurice, played by Cody Chalupa, about how people call her odd. They speak for a little bit and work on his invention. After they get the invention to work Maurice leaves for the fair.

Maurice gets lost in the woods and ends up in the enchanted castle. The whole time Cogsworth, played by Michael Dillon, warns Lumiere, played by Kyle Schindler, that their master The Beast would not want any visitors. It doesn't take long for The Beast, played by Cale Rausch, to realize a visitor is there and he comes and locks Maurice up.

Belle eventually realizes her father is missing and goes to find him. She arrives at the castle and switches places with her father.

Throughout the play there are songs from the movie sung by the cast accompanied by a live orchestra. The vocals are spot-on, possibly even better than the Disney movie itself.

When "Beauty and The Beast" started, Belle came out in her yellow dress and the students cheered. They were all very excited to see Belle and The Beast finally getting along.

Will Belle break the spell at the enchanted castle? Go see the play and find out. Beauty and The Beast will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Students are free, but there is an admission fee for adults.