Disney brought to IU Auditorium

Amidst a full house of both families and avid fans, one of Broadway’s most beloved performances came to the auditorium stage.

“Beauty and the Beast,” the Tony Award-winning adaptation of the Disney film, began its three-day run to an enthusiastic crowd. The audience included children eager to see the well-known story come to life onstage.

“This has been one of the most requested shows, and with good reason,” Maria Talbert, events coordinator for the auditorium, told the audience before the curtain rose. “It’s a magnificent show. You’re in for a treat.”

Not only for the young but the young at heart, “Beauty and the Beast” appeals both to families with children and to students thrilled to recapture the magic of the story.

Junior Dan Dicker expected the show to be directed more toward the younger audience and was pleasantly surprised at the show’s quality.

“I expected it to be a really kiddie show,” Dicker said, “which it is. It’s really kid friendly. But, it’s actually entertaining to someone that’s not five years old.”

Senior Quinn Tew, who saw the original Broadway show as a child, came with faint memories of the production, but was impressed by the show — a reaction she said is typical of her auditorium visits.

“IU Auditorium has pretty high standards when it comes to shows and performances,” she said. “‘Beauty and the Beast’ was my favorite musical and Disney movie when I was little, so I’ve always enjoyed the story.”

To cater to the venue and usual audience, the show was ripe with humor just PG enough to refresh the performance in the minds of the older audience. Yet the story, about Belle’s imprisonment and eventual infatuation with the Beast, is what brought the audience through the auditorium doors.

“‘Beauty and the Beast’ is my favorite Disney movie,” sophomore Kieran Spaulding said. “This is like a dream come true. This is like a little-kid-at-heart kind of thing.”