Alden High School’s Theatre Department put on its production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, with performances on February 9, 10, and 11.  This musical was advertised much more than other years, so the anticipation was higher as well.  There was a full breakfast and activity event, called the “Be Our Guest” brunch, one week prior to the show.  The brunch and the performances were advertised all over social media, as well as in a half page article in the Buffalo News, which informed a much wider group of people about the show.  Also, this is the first high school musical to utilize the new online ticketing system from TicketPeak.  Overall, there was a record number of people who attended the four shows: 1,950.  Almost 25,00 of those tickets were sold prior to the performances. Usually 1,000 to 1,250 people attend the winter musical.

The community gave extremely positive feedback about the show.  The rented costumes, such as the rug, sugar bowl, or Belle’s yellow dress, were highly praised, along with the handmade villager costumes.  Mrs. Froebel, the costume director, spent two months sewing, adjusting, and adding tiny details to her costumes.  With the amount of work she had to do, Mrs. Froebel had to take the help of several moms of students in the cast.  The quality of the dancing, vocal parts, and pit band music were also given high remarks.  Despite any difficulties the cast and crew felt may have occurred with the music or scene changes, the audience didn’t notice anything and said the performance was flawless.

There were thirteen seniors in the musical this year.  These seniors have performed together fore seven years, since there production of Beauty and the Beast Jr. in sixth grade.  The Saturday night performance was extremely emotional for the seniors, but also foe the entire cast.  The seniors have helped the underclassmen grow in their abilities and have formed a second family with the cast.  Despite losing the seniors this year, the Theatre Department is very optimistic about future productions because of the high level of success of this show.