Oakdale High School Drama students under the direction of drama instructor Bryan Mills plan to stage Disney’s Beauty and The Beast. The musical is based on the classic French fairy tale. It tells the story of Belle (played by Darby Schmidt) an intelligent young woman scorned by her townspeople for being a bookworm, weary of fighting off the advances of the arrogant Gaston (Thomas Mason) and dreaming of escape. When her father gets lost in the woods and captured by the forbidding Beast (Devon Doss) a once-handsome prince turned into a monster by a witch, Belle goes off to rescue him. Taken with her, the Beast agrees to release Belle’s father, Maurice (Brandon Layton) if she agrees to stay with him forever. Initially repulsed, Belle soon finds much to appreciate in the Beast’s hidden, tender nature. The Beast’s servants – a clock (Caleb Fife), a teapot (Grace Buzzini), and a candlestick (Steven Elizondo) – see Belle as their salvation: if the Beast and a woman fall in love before his 21st birthday, he will be free from the curse.

The cast also includes 50 students who sing, act, and dance as Enchanted Objects and townspeople. The OHS Drama students will perform in school shows for OHS elementary students on Oct. 18 and 19. Also four public shows will be staged, at the OHS Theater on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are on sale at the high school business office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and at the door if seats are still available The cost for the show $8 per person. Seating is limited.