A Beauty Of A Performance
For the audience it was a night (or three), of unforgettable music and magic, for the cast and crew it was the culmination of months of hard work. Beauty and the Beast will definitely go down in the Girton history books. With auditions in early February, and a full rehearsal schedule, it was a very busy semester one for the members of the production. Although there could only be one Belle, there were still a lot of roles to go around. Despite sacrificing holidays, weekends, and after school time, there was always an atmosphere of fun and excitement at rehearsals maintained strongly by the year 12 members. Friendships were forged across the boundaries of year levels as people discovered their full potential.
For the orchestra, rehearsals began in April after school, every Monday, with the goal of learning a difficult score to bring the performance to life. From what I hear, there were many sore fingers, yet smiling faces, after every one of these fun rehearsals. Of course, the practice was not confined to one afternoon a week with much practice being put in by the musicians in their own time.
As the production grew nearer, script books were put away and the excitement, adrenaline and coffee levels were raised as rehearsals began at the magnificent Ulumbarra Theatre. Now was the part the cast had been waiting for two days off school! Although not technically school days, these days were action packed. Tuesday was a 12 hour rehearsal from 9am to 9pm and although tiring and repetitive at times, for the most part it was a rewarding and fun day.
Highlight
The entire cast was fabulous working to produce a show of the same calibre of many performances produced by professional theatre companies.
“For many it was their first time on stage in a Senior School production, and sadly for others, their last.” — Steaphanie Brunner
For many it was their first time on stage in a Senior School production, and sadly for others, their last. For lead Ethan (The Beast) it was the beginning and the end for him in Girton Productions. Hannah (Belle) worked very hard and beautifully portrayed one of Disney’s iconic characters; she hopefully enjoyed her last Girton production as much has her first. Second timer Lucas (Lumiere) wasted no time in completely embodying his character. With his knack for learning accents, he certainly bought mischievous Lumiere to life.
Playing the bad guy can be an exciting and daunting challenge, Harry (Gaston) transformed a detested Disney villain into someone that was worse than the original portrayal and yet thoughtprovoking. Grace (Mrs Potts) sang exquisitely for her rendition of the classic song ‘Beauty and The Beast’ and placed a new spin on the matriarchal character of Mrs Potts. The year 12s were not only amazing actors, but outstanding role models, always happy to help younger cast members to reach their full potential and inspiring a new group of leads in years to come.
The entire cast was fabulous working to produce a show of the same calibre of many performances produced by professional theatre companies.
This could not have been done without the dedication of many students and teachers. Even the backstage and tech crews comprised almost entirely of students, while the VCE 3/4 Theatre Studies class put in hours of work behind the scenes. There is an endless list of teacher support including: Mrs Jackson, Mr Vine, Mrs Grech, Mr McMillan, Mr Beever, Ms Long, Mrs Schatzle, to name but a few. Of course the production could not have been staged without our fantastic director Mr Pease who hardly had a break since the beginning of the year. Mr Pease dedicated all his time into ensuring that Beauty and the Beast was the best that it possibly could be, and gave the cast and crew a fantastic experience to remember forever. The only regret I have, which I believe is shared by the entire cast, is that we never got to see what all those months of hard work actually looked like from the audience and that we were unable to experience the magic ourselves.
