"Beauty & The Beast": The Ordway produces its first musical since 2019

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Ordway in St. Paul is back with the first musical it has produced since 2019. The tale as old as time, "Beauty & The Beast" just opened.

It's a chance to experience some Disney magic during the holiday season. You'll also see the work of some local performers and designers.

Max Wojtanowicz plays Lumiere. His journey to the stage started In Benton County.

"I grew up in Rice, Minnesota which is a little north of St. Cloud on Highway 10 on a potato farm," said Wojtanowicz.

The theatre bug bit early and never left.

"I made all my friends you know, do Peter Pan with me in the basement. I played the crocodile and Captain Hook and ran the fly rail. Just to be clear," explained Wojtanowicz.

In this musical, Wojtanowicz has one focus--bringing the famous French candlestick to life.

"Lumiere is the heart, part of the heart of this movie, right? A movie so many people love, and I grew up with," said Wojtanowicz.

The show's costume designer Ryan Moller also had early Broadway dreams growing up in Anoka.

"I acted in community theatre all through middle school and worked in high school and young my mom taught me to sew. I think second grade she put fabric in my hand and got me in front of a machine," said Moller.

He was sketching too.

Moller chose design for college and has been creating professional costumes ever since.

For "Beauty & The Beast," he conceptualized, sketched, and chose all the fabrics for about 170 costumes in four weeks.

Every detail in huge binders, including a new idea for Lumiere.

"In most productions, the candelabra we think of the arms go up, but the show is almost three hours long. This is a hard position to create for that long," explained Moller.

"Right, so the great part is, the costume is sort of designed as you can see is these you don't really want them to go up too far so they really want me here more because I can handle this all day," added Wojtanowicz.

After a quick lesson in song and dance, it's time for rehearsal. These two Minnesota kids are seeing their dreams come true on a stage that means so much to them.

"My parents brought us, all six of us kids down here when we were little, little kids to the Ordway. I remember seeing my first show and it was a tour of 'Annie' that I came and saw. It gets me really emotional actually. The fact that I'm here 25 years later playing this part in this incredible, beautiful production for Broadway at the Ordway is a dream come true," said Wojtanowicz.

"Disney's Beauty & The Beast" is playing as part of Broadway at the Ordway through Saturday, December 31st.