Stephanie Craven was 9 years old when she discovered “Beauty and the Beast.” As a child, she would cry to her mother about not being blonde-haired and blue-eyed to fit the princess standard. After seeing that Belle was a brown-haired book-loving girl like her, Craven was immediately captivated.

“Belle was almost like a new breed of princess where it wasn’t like she fell in love at first sight. She found someone’s soul and fell in love with that,” Craven said.

Now, as a senior in Syracuse University’s Department of Drama, Craven is living her childhood dream. In the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama co-production of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” Craven plays Belle, an ordinary girl-turned-princess, alongside fellow SU students and professional actors.

The show opened on Friday, Nov. 22 and will run until Jan 5, 2020. A production for all ages, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” tells the classic story of a prince transformed into a beast after a curse is cast on his entire castle. The other members of the castle are turned into inanimate objects, symbolizing a loss of humanity. In order to break the spell, Beast must learn how to love and be loved.

Donna Drake, director of the production, said she is staying true to the story by telling it exactly as it is written.

Stephanie Craven, who plays Belle, is a senior musical theatre major at SU. Rey Villegas | Contributing photographer

“I don’t sugarcoat anything. When it’s a frightening moment, I make it a frightening moment, and when it’s a moment of love, I make it as loving as I can,” Drake said.

However, she has embraced many technical elements. There’s fog, elaborate costumes and flying effects, which involve characters being suspended in air using harnesses. A 12-piece orchestra accompanies the actors for classic showtunes including “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Anthony Salatino, choreographer of the show, said “Be Our Guest” is his favorite dance number because there are a variety of dance styles within the piece. This is the moment on stage when Belle is introduced to all of the characters. The dance incorporates classical dance, contemporary movements and acrobatics.

“The carpet comes out and does backflips and handsprings and all kinds of acrobatic tricks,” Salatino said.

Each character, including the fireplace, doormat, vanity and clock, has entire structured pieces built around them. The designers had to build extra-large doorways on set just so the characters could fit through them, Drake said.

Stephanie Craven, right, Belle, pleads Ezekiel Andrew, pleads Beast to let her father go in a scene from Syracuse Stage’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Rey Villegas | Contributing Photographer

For Mrs. Potts, the designers created a costume that resembles a fully functioning teapot that can steam and pour water into a teacup.

Belle’s costume design was inspired by the blue dress Emma Watson wore in the 2017 live action film version of “Beauty and the Beast.” When Craven put on the blue dress for the first time, she was so overwhelmed that she started to cry.

“Adding those final costume elements really helped me drop into the character, how she holds herself, how she walks,” she said.

After living in her character’s shoes for the past month and a half, Craven said she admires Belle’s ability to see love in the world despite being surrounded by acts of hatred and greed.

Craven added that in light of recent hate crimes that occurred on SU’s campus, it’s important now more than ever to spread love.

“When you work on a character, the character also works on you,” Craven said.

Published on December 1, 2019 at 11:24 pm