Take your kids to see Beauty and the Beast Jr. and watch the movie come to life
Based on the original Broadway production that ran for over thirteen years
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Yuma Community Theater (YCT) will be performing Beauty and the Beast Jr. Friday the 28 and Saturday the 29 at the Yuma Historic Theater on Main St. at 7 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr. is a wonderful adaptation of the story of transformation and tolerance.
YCT will tell the classic story of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress.
If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed to his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.
Katie Drewek, YCT Board of Director says this show is adapted for younger actors.
"So we have actors ages eight to 13, and so they've adapted the show. It's only 60 minutes. It's easier to memorize all that good stuff for kids and they're very excited, very excited to perform that," says Katie.
This is all part of YCT's S.T.A.G.E. program where they work with the youth and teens of Yuma and teach them about theater art skills, and then put on a production for the community.
"YCT has what we call S.T.A.G.E. it stands for Summer Theater Arts for Growth and Education. And we got two classes for that. It's the youth, which is this show, which is eight to 13 and then the teens, which is 13 to 18," says Katie. "And really the goal of stage is to give kids here and teens the opportunity to experience theater outside of their school or in addition to their school and get some other voices and meet some new people and just experience the stage in a different way."
Cris Drewek, YCT media director, says it's so cool to see the kids and teens come together.
"A lot of times when you're at school with your friends and your own kind of group, you kind of get pigeonholed sometimes into certain characters or certain casting types," says Cris. "You know, and this is like a whole new, new space for them to to act and perform. A lot of times they find new things about themselves and acting that they they wouldn't have in any other opportunity. So that's that's the unique thing about about this program, is these kids are making new friends and meeting new people, working on new shows that they wouldn't otherwise."
YCT will also have a special Broadway performer, Ben Crawford, coming July 9th to do a masterclass for the community of Yuma.
He was the most recent Phantom in Phantom of the Opera before it closed on Broadway.
Another fun performance coming up is Spongebob the Musical on July 26th.
