This past weekend the Little Red Hen Theatre wrapped its production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast concluding a run of 7 sold out shows over two weeks starting on June 19th and ending on June 28th. Though this wasn’t the first time productions went over multiple weekends this is still one of the biggest shows at the theatre to date.
“7 sold out shows! Certainly our biggest audience in the most recent years. Over 1,000 people came to see the show from all over northeast Nebraska!” said the Little Red Hen Theatres director T. Adam Goos. “It’s always a learning experience, but because we keep each house size small (149) it makes it manageable. We definitely went through lots of popcorn!”
Disney's Beauty and the Beast is an international sensation that has been produced in 37 countries worldwide and is based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature. The stage version includes all the wonderful songs from the film along with fantastic new ones.
“This cast worked hard - and they approached the work as professionals would, working at each rehearsal to move the show forward, working late, and raising to the many challenges this production called for, lots of difficult costumes, songs, and choreography!” said Goos. “Not to mention our “beast” having to sing with prosthetics.”
The cast, one features both Little Red Hen Theatre regulars and those making their Little Red Hen debut. Featured performers include Brooklyn Bierbower as Belle, RJ Liska as The Beast, Katelyn Pommer as Lumiere, Mike Pommer as Coggsworth, Natalie Markworth as Mrs. Potts, Meg Engel as Babette, Beau Fleming as Gaston, Sawyer Brudigam as LeFou, Brian Johnson as Maurice, and Kennedy Fischer and Myka Metzler as Chip. The show is directed by T. Adam Goos with assistance from Scott Mead, Musical Direction by Daniel Oldenkamp, Choreography by Lexie Kapanka, Stage Management be Abby Weiss, and specialist design and costume construction by Eve Gilmore.
Beyond the cast and crew of the production the theatre had a great deal of help to make the show a reality: “The dedication of our volunteers never ceases to amaze me. We also had lots of creative help with this show to get us to a higher level. Overall, our cast worked far beyond a community production and created something very special. ” Said Goos. “Lexi Kapanka pushed us to dance more than we ever have, our Music Director Daniel Oldenkamp along with Sara Schlickbernd had us singing more beautifully than we ever have, and our creative specialist Eve Gilmore helped create some of the most beautiful props/costume pieces we’ve had on our stage.”
Goos also pointed out that even more than the work of cast, crew, and volunteers in the show is the support the community gives to the Little Red Hen Theatre. “We are incredibly grateful to the community and our audiences for their support of the show. This was by far the biggest production the Little Red Hen has done in quite a while in terms of cast size and technical production.” said Goos.
“We are overjoyed at the amount of people who decided to be involved in this show, whether as performers, part of the creative team, or as backstage and front of house volunteers. They were awesome and each one played a part in the success of the show!”
More pictures of the show can be found on the back page of this edition of the Republican.