I just got back from LaComedia Dinner Theater, and it was amazing! If you’ve never been to a dinner theater, you should definitely check it out. A dinner theater is a restaurant with a theater and they typically show plays or musicals. LaComedia is a locally owned dinner theater, so the musicals they produce aren’t anywhere near Broadway, but good enough.

They have just started showing Beauty and the Beast a couple weeks ago and as soon as I found out, I decided to take my parents on a night out. The food was excellent. Especially the peanut butter pie. I even enjoyed the special dressing they used on their salads: papaya chutney. I was afraid I wouldn’t like it since I’m typically a ranch kind of girl, but change is good every now and then, right?

The stage wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t tiny either. I think what made the experience so amazing - even despite the lack of glitter and glammer in Be Our Guest - was the fact that it was an intimate setting. The stage was on the floor, so those lucky people sitting on the first floor were like…there. There really wasn’t a bad seat there, but I was lucky enough to snag a table somewhere near the center.

The woman who played Belle was amazing! She sounded so close to Paige O’ Hara (Belle) and her singing voice was so pretty! I read her biography in the playbill and was surprised to find out that she’s attending college. The very same college my friend is at studying the same major. Hm… Maybe they know each other? But I’m sure the woman who played Belle is two or three years older than my friend. I loved the entire cast (Chip was so adorable!) and they all did great except Mrs. Potts. Her voice cracked in the first song she sang and it was a little off in Human Again. Thank god she got her act together for Beauty and the Beast. I was worried that song would sound iffy with the way her voice was acting. Magic was brought to stage once again when the Beast transformed. It’s so amazing how they transform in front of everyone and he’s floating!! Between that scene and Be Our Guest, I’m not sure which one is my favorite. Perhaps they’re a tie.

On top of all of that, I managed to snag a souvenir glass and a collector’s item. I would have bought the entire Beauty and the Beast collection they had from Lenox, but it was pretty pricey, and the item I went with was the most expensive of all. But it looks nice. And I love it. What can I say? Besides anime, Beauty and the Beast is like my drug. Or maybe all things Disney is like my drug, but more so for Beauty and the Beast. And FYI, I almost came close to crying at the end. But I managed to hold it in. Thank god. The last time I went to see the musical (which was a professional troupe doing it with all the Broadway works) I was bawling by the end of the show out of fear that the Beast would die, despite the millions of times I’ve seen the movie. And then I ended up being so happy and marveled at the Beast’s transformation (if you know how this is done, please keep it a secret from me. I love the mystery of his transformation on stage) that I couldn’t stop crying.