Jay looks to build with 'Beast'

A year ago, the future of musical theatre at Jay County High School was in doubt.

In an effort to save the shows, the theatre and choir departments teamed up for a production of “Grease” with a goal of simply breaking even. They far surpassed that goal, selling more than 1,500 tickets over a three-show run.

That success, both artistic and financial, has allowed the program to continue. This year, that means taking on one of the longest-running Broadways musicals and most popular animated movies of all time — Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

“We sort of built ourselves a reputation from last year’s production that went fairly well, was well received by the community,” said director Susan Denney. “We were so excited just to see the crowd support us, the community support us. We were just trying to break even, and we made a considerable amount of money.

“So we have a huge project on our shoulders to live up to the expectations that we set for ourselves. And this is a much harder show. Everything is harder. It’s a great situation to be in, but it’s a huge undertaking.”

Denney selected “Beauty and the Beast” — shows are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, with $6 tickets to be sold at the door — in large part because of timing. The live-action version of the movie was released in March, bringing the story back into mainstream pop culture.

The 1991 version already ranked as the fifth-highest grossing animated film of all time. And the stage version is the 10th-longest-running musical in Broadway history.

But Denney admits she didn’t consider some of the challenges, namely the difficulty of filling all of the significant male roles.

While the role of Belle, which will be played by Jenna Blount, may come to mind first, the show is loaded with key roles for guys, including the Beast, Gaston, Maurice (Belle’s father), Cogsworth (the clock), Lumiere (the candlestick), Lefou (Gaston’s bumbling sidekick) and Monsieur D’Arque (head of the local asylum).

The result is that several faces have been thrust into the spotlight in much more significant roles than they’ve been involved in before. That includes junior David Wilhelm, who’ll play Gaston after serving as an extra for “Grease” last year.

“It’s way different,” said Wilhelm, noting that he’s never had a solo in his seven years of choir. “Last year, I was actually kind of bummed I didn’t try out. That’s what made me try out this year, just to see if I could do it.

“It feels good. It’s definitely different. I feel a lot more pressure this year. But I’m doing my best.”

He added that one of the challenges has been simply learning to act after being on stage for just a couple of songs last year.

And as Denney and Blount both point out, the characters this time around are more challenging.

“It’s easier for teenagers to act like teenagers,” said Blount. “It’s hard for a teenager to act like a beast.”

That task belongs to Darien McKibben. Though he has slightly more experience than Wilhelm — he played Sonny, one of Danny Zuko’s buddies, in Grease and has sung choir solos — he is also being pushed out of his comfort zone to take on the titular role.

“I have to sing in front of a bunch of people, which I normally don’t do,” he said. “(In choir), they’ve never been really serious solos. They’ve just been really minor ones, compared to whole songs by myself. It’s a major difference.”

The rest of the group of male leads includes Storm Armstrong, who leads the biggest production number in the show — “Be Our Guest” — as Lumiere, Keith Hartley as Cogsworth, Trevor Alicea as Lafou, Nichol Kunkler as Maurice. Denney said Dave Flowers of Slim Fisher Studios in Dunkirk has been key in helping the guys develop their characters.

Joining Blount in key female roles are Mackenzie Currie as Mrs. Potts, Leah Hummel as Babette (the feather duster) and Matalin Racster as Madame De La Grande Bouche (the wardrobe). The JCHS production is flipping the traditional gender of Chip (the teacup and Mrs. Potts’ son), with Maebry Ninde taking on the role. The cast also includes a large chorus.

As a whole, the cast and staff are seeking to build off of last year’s success.

“It needs to be a better production than last year’s ‘Grease,’ just because it’s another step,” said Denney. “I would like us to be able to have a reputation established here … that excellence is being produced.”