On April 11th, the Waimea community had the privilege of gathering to witness the all magical Parker School's annual spring musical opening night and again that Friday and twice on Saturday! Personally, I only got to attend the Thursday and Friday night show but both nights were absolutely spectacular. It was clear that everyone had put in so much love and work into the production. I was beyond excited for this rendition of “Beauty and the Beast,” as both the story holds a special place in my heart as well as the Parker School Musical Production cast and crew. There is so much to say so I will be breaking this down into a couple different categories:
Characters
COSTUMES
Discovering my peers’ talents
Characters
Ok first, the characters. I absolutely loved to see how everyone played their parts and how they elevated their characters. As someone who has watched “Beauty and the Beast” more times than I can count, I was particularly excited to see the castle characters come to life. I was blown away, to say the least. I could tell everyone had put a ton of energy into developing their character. This energy really pulled the performance together and made the night incredible. If you want to see the characters come to life, here is a “Shake my hand in character” video made by one of the cast members, Sophia Russo: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLaStaKs/. Great job to all the actors!!!
Costumes
I think we can all agree that the costumes were stunning. This year, Broadway costume designer Lee Jason Friend generously volunteered his time to design and make all of the costumes for this year's production. Because of the incredible feat, the cast sported, in my opinion, the most gorgeous costumes in all of Parker school's history. The costumes are made with all thrifted material Lee. Not only were the costumes custom made for this cast with insane construction and beauty, but with an incredible attention to detail and thoughtfulness. All the costumes have a rose somewhere on them (except for Cogsworth who doesn't believe in the curse), the rose petals are made of various red textures to create movement and motion when they spin, and he worked closely with the sewing class to sew the skirts for the napkin costumes. My personal favorite costume was Mrs. Potts. I thought the hat really brought the look together
Talent
I think part of the reason I enjoy watching Parker School musicals over regular musicals is because I get to see a side of my peers that I don't normally get to experience. This production was no exception. Whether it was dancing, acting or singing, I learned about my peers' hidden talents. Here were some of my favorite talent discoveries that I made watching this show: Josiah Delgato (Lefou), Ava Aragon (Madame), Molly Skehan (Belle), Isabel Camp (Rose Petal) and Malia Pettit (Mrs. Potts). I could go on and on, but ultimately I loved learning how cool and talented my peers are! A good example of this culmination of talents lies in my favorite scene, the Gaston bar scene. The energy was high, the singing was fantastic. I loved the set and the choreography. It was super fun to watch!
Ultimately, the show was fantastic. Congratulations to everyone who was a part of this production, I hope you are all super proud of yourselves! As a graduating senior this year, I am seriously going to miss these performances!
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