Hurricane Theatrical’s Beauty and the Beast Showcases the Best Production Value in Southern Utah

Hurricane Theatrical continues to show it is the place to go for production value in the Southern Utah community theater scene. On top of the fantastic set design, the performances on display in their production of Beauty and the Beast show no sign of compromise for this Disney classic.

Kyle Myrick has been honing his craft as the head of Hurricane Theatrical for about 15 years, and it’s truly starting to show as Beauty and the Beast is his most beautiful show to date. From lighting to set design and costume implementation, this old school auditorium in Hurricane has truly turned into a theatrical powerhouse.

Leading the charge are some phenomenal performances from the leading roles of the production. This includes the incredibly spunky Haley-Shea Benoit as Belle, Caleb Christensen’s animated performance as Beast, and Andy Young as the lovably hated ball of machismo known as Gaston.

Many kids tend to look forward to the enchanted objects the most, and they won’t be disappointed thanks to some wonderfully endearing portrayals from Eric Humphries as Lumiere, Brad Serage as Cogsworth, Kelsea Burton as Mrs. Potts, Janessa Judkins as Babette, and Karley Garrett as Madame Le Bouche.

Across the stage and lobby are thousands of roses to set the environment for the evening. Almost every piece of the set has hundreds of roses adorned across the surface. Myrick told me after the show they spent more than $3,000 dollars on the artificial roses, and he said there are thousands of the buds across the building.

This shows the level of dedication Myrick and his team give to each of their production, and Myrick said he isn’t sure how he’s going to build even further for their 2025 production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

My favorite part of community theater is the commonfolk aspect. A dentist can be a high-tenor prince, a lawyer can be a comedic powerhouse, and a fireman can play a dastardly villain. In the case of Benoit as belle, it’s a stay-at-home mom with an unwavering passion for the arts.

Benoit said, “I have a really awesome supportive family. My parents are super supportive and my in-laws are always like, ‘do you need a babysitter? We got you.’ So it’s really important to me to keep doing theater. I like doing community theater because I want to still love it. I don’t want to have it be a job.”

Benoit said it wouldn’t feel as good if it was a monotonous job. Being able to get out and be who she wants to be on the stage is something she values greatly.

She also had quite the teacher while preparing for the role. Susan Egan is the original actor who portrayed Belle on Broadway, and she just so happened to be one of Benoit’s mentors.

Benoit said, “My artistic director from where I went to performing arts school in California, my artistic director for a year was Susan Egan, who was the first Belle on Broadway. Being able to sing for her, perform for her, and get her feedback Is just kind of like having this full circle moment.”

As for Christensen as the Beast, he loves community theater so much he will forego sleep to take part in the show. That’s also on top of him participating in local films and working the graveyard shift at Switchpoint, a homeless shelter in St. George.

Christensen said, “ I can work from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. and then usually films are shot throughout the day, so that kind of helps me do what I want to do durin the day. So if professionals can do it without sleep, so can I. It’s a grind, but I think being able to have that job at night in between the show time makes it so that I can do film and make money through commercials and shows, stuff like that.”

Don’t miss out on Hurricane Theatrical’s production of Beauty and the Beast. It plays every Monday, Friday, and twice on Saturday until September 7. The theater is also right in the middle of where Peach Days is happening, so have some fun at Peach Days and end the night with a show you won’t want to miss. You can buy tickets by clicking here.