By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
On Thursday evening at 7 p.m., the Best of Broadway club kicks off their spring semester performance in the Fuller Arts Center with the production of “Beauty and the Beast.”
Best of Broadway, which is a student run musical theater club on campus, puts together a show each semester. The fall show, which is a “Broadway Review,” is a combination of 21 different numbers from different shows and musicals, with some of the numbers from last semester coming from “Hairspray,” “Newsies,” “The Greatest Showman” and more.
The spring show however, is one full musical from top to bottom. With the club performing “Grease” for their spring show in 2022, co-directors Hannah McGee and Alicia Patenaude decided to go with “Beauty in the Beast” due to a variety of reasons.
“It’s such a big cast,” McGee said. “There’s so many characters, so everyone kind of gets an opportunity to shine on stage. It’s also something that everyone knows. It’s family-friendly, it’s always fun and it’s pretty magical.”
For Patenaude, her road to becoming the co-director was a very linear path – as she realized she wanted to direct after spending more time in the club.
“I’ve been doing BOB since my freshman year, and I knew at the beginning of my junior year that I wanted to direct for my senior year,” Patenaude said. “I was the president for two years before this, so I just felt like I was prepared for this kind of position.”
McGee however, who is also the co-president of BOB, had a different road to the co-director spot, as the other co-director wasn’t able to return. A huge part of McGee stepping into this role was to help out her sister.
“I honestly just did it,” McGee said. “I don’t think I would have if it wasn’t for Alicia.”
Overall, both McGee and Patenaude feel very prepared going into the first show on Thursday, as they have both loved seeing everything come together.
“I feel pretty good,“ McGee said. “We have a set that I feel like we’ve never had before … it’s pretty magical, honestly, to watch it all come together.”
“Especially considering we’ve only had about a month to put this show together, I feel like everyone’s pretty proud of themselves, or they should be proud of themselves, for how much hard work people have put in. We’re definitely ready.”
If you want to watch Best of Broadway perform “Beauty and the Beast,” shows will be taking place in the Fuller Arts Center on Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Photo: Dan Curren/SCTV3