“Be our guest! Be our guest!” The Nixa Theater Department welcomed audiences to their performance of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Aetos on Nov. 7, 8 and 10. Their performance included notable songs like “Be Our Guest”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Something There” while adding their own flair to the soundtrack with additional songs like “Me” and “Home”.
Junior Morgan Upton-Rowley played Belle in the musical. Rowley said that there was a lot of behind-the-scenes work that audiences may not have seen.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into rehearsals,” Rowley said. “[They’re] many days a week, but also trying to get into the character, and trying to get a feel for how they act, or how they are.”
Rowley said she has learned more about the complexities of theater acting at the high school level.
“I’ve never had a lot of background in acting at this high of a level before, and so just trying to get a feel for it and to figure out how I stand and all these different aspects I didn’t think about before, have been difficult,” Rowley said. “… All these things that when you’re watching [a] performance, you don’t really think about, but it makes such a huge impact when you’re actually there.”
Through hours of rehearsal and preparation for the musical, the theater team had to spend large amounts of time with each creating an environment that Rowley said was positive in terms of benefitting her performance.
“The atmosphere of theater is so fun and inclusive, and just being able to watch other people that are in their element,” Rowley said. “I feel their energy, and kind of use it in my own role, and conveying it in my own acting.”
Junior Olivia Carlin was an assistant stage manager for “Beauty and the Beast.” Carlin said the team found a couple of ways to communicate their stress with each other despite continued preparations leading toward opening night.
“We tell each other, ‘OK, this is stressful,’” Carlin said. “‘This is a point where maybe I’ll need some help,’ or we just communicate with each other, and if it’s some random, like, ‘I’m gonna lose it [moment],’ … we give each other space.”
Reactions from the crowd, whether laughing, cheering or clapping, Carlin said, can affect the mood of the show.
“We get a lot of our energy from the crowd,” Carlin said. “Just knowing that they’re there and they’ll be cheering, that gives us the motivation to keep going.”
Rowley said that she hopes people can take the message of the show and apply it to other parts of their lives like she has been able to do in theater.
“The show’s message itself [is] trying to get to know people on a deeper level, and to really get to know the real heart inside of each person,” Rowley said. “[It] relays outside of the show too. Especially for theater, like, getting to know everyone, and to be able to connect with them in your own different ways.”
