Before the Beauty and the Beast Saturday show, toddlers and elementary aged children got to meet the cast face to face. Boys and girls had the opportunity to come to a tea party with Belle and the characters from the castle such as Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, and Cogsworth. They ate cookies and drank lemonade as Belle sang and read stories to them. The children also drew on coloring sheets and got tiaras and crowns.

Kayli Lightner, junior who played the role of Belle in the musical, interacted with the children. “I was really excited to see all the little kids there and it made me happy seeing them happy,” Lightner said. Lightner got to take pictures with the kids and then she read stories to them and sang. “The best part of the tea party was reading to the kids because they had the best reactions to the stories.”

Jenna Pearman, werewolf and towns person in the musical didn’t play her character in the tea party, but she did get to experience her little sister going. “Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney movie that she watched and when our family went to Disney World she got to have lunch with Belle so the tea party really excited my sister”, Pearman said, junior at Battle and a towns person and werewolf in the musical.

Pearman’s little sister even got ready three hours before the tea party because she couldn’t wait to see Belle.”I was happy to see her excited seeing characters that you don’t normally get to see unless you’re at Disney and it was nice seeing her interact with my friends at school as they played these Beauty and The Beast characters,” Pearman said.

The musical director Tim Hercules thought of having the tea party.  “Having a princess around for little kids to see is a really cool experience,” Hercules said. “Seeing the children happy was great for me and the students in the production at Battle High School.”  Kids with tea party tickets got to sit in a front row seat at the Saturday showing.

The tea party was a great way for young kids to interact with high school students and to experience a once in a lifetime event.