The departure from Studio Tenn of founding artistic director Matt Logan was a jolt to the local arts scene. It also led me to have some reasonable curiosity about the quality of shows going forward for the high-achieving Franklin-based company. Interim artistic director Benji Kern steps into the breach and makes his local directorial debut with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, a crowd-pleasing, family-friendly musical that offers the potential for the kind of color, glitz and energy that might also make it a theatrical destination for holiday crowds. Lipscomb University sophomore Hatty Ryan King seems appropriately cast as the beloved and courageous Belle, and she brings legit, full-throated singing experience in the Disney genre to the task. Patrick Thomas, an accomplished singer-songwriter, Music City recording artist and former contestant on The Voice, is Belle’s Beast. The cast also features Paul Baswell as the villainous Gaston, plus veteran Nashville players Matt Carlton, Shawn Knight and Nan Gurley. MARTIN BRADY
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
