This summer presents a couple firsts for Liam Fisher and Angélica Concepción.
Neither one has been in a production of “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast” before, and this is both of their first summers at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts. Fisher plays the Beast with Concepción taking on the role of Belle.
“Disney’s Beauty & The Beast” is at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts June 6-15. Tickets can be purchased online at wagonwheelcenter.org, by phone at 574-267-8041 or at the box office at 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw.

    Angélica Concepción is Belle and Ethan Worsham is Gaston in Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts’ production of “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast.” Photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union
  

Concepción is from Puerto Rico and has lived there most of her life, she said in an interview Monday afternoon, but she has kind of been all over the United States.
“This is my first time at the Wagon Wheel. It’s my first summer doing summer stock, just in general, and it’s been such a wonderful experience,” she stated.
Fisher is from Grand Rapids, Mich.
“This is my first summer, as well. It’s my first summer stock, also, so we’re kind of getting thrown right into the deep end, which is great! I love it,” he said.
As her first experience in a production of “Beauty & The Beast,” Concepción said it’s a lot of fun.

    Liam Fisher is Beast in Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts’ production of “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast” through Saturday, June 15. Photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union.
  

“Because I feel like, with ‘Beauty & The Beast’ specifically, you grow up watching Disney princesses and you always dream that you can be one one day and to be able to portray one has been such a gift, it’s been awesome,” she stated.
Fisher said that everyone knows the story in the musical.
“It’s kind of nerve-wracking to be true to the characters that everybody knows, everybody knew grewing up, but at the same time being able to put our own little twist on it has been fun,” he said.
Fisher said he and Artistic Director Scott Michaels worked together a lot about “making sure that there is a big difference between the Beast as an animal, a creature, as well as making him human because deep down he is a human, just put under an enchanted spell.”
Concepción feels that Belle has a lot of layers to her.
“I feel that with Disney princesses they usually can be seen as just people who need saving or are like shy or whatever, but with Belle I feel like she’s a very strong woman who knows what she wants from her life and she has big dreams. I really relate to that as a person, and I think that’s what I love the most about her character, just the fact that she’s so strong and she has huge dreams for her life and she doesn’t just want to conform to what society has set as a standard for women, and I think that’s a very important story to tell,” Concepción explained.
She said she always loves a good story about a woman who doesn’t need a man to be with her, but also loves that Belle is a soft person on the inside and that’s how she falls in love with the Beast.
“She sees him for who he is on the inside and not just by his looks,” she said.
One thing that Fisher said he’s tried to make poignant in his performance is how Belle affects the Beast as a human being.
“That human aspect totally gets changed once Belle enters his life. So he is literally a creature, and he is scary and nasty and he wants nothing to do with human beings at this point in the story. And then comes along Belle, and all of a sudden he’s kind and gentle and you see more of that human coming out of him, even as the spell gets deeper,” Fisher said.
Broadway’s classic “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” features songs written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, along with new songs by Menken and Tim Rice.
Fisher’s favorite song is “Something There” because it’s a lot of fun for him.
“That’s the first time you get to see that gentle aspect of the Beast, and it’s also the first time you get to see Belle kind of start to see more than just a hideous creature,” he said.
Concepción had a more difficult time picking a favorite song from the show, but she did said she liked the opening number.
“The opening is a lot of fun because you get to see the dynamic that Belle has with the rest of the village, and it’s just fun because you get to meet all these different characters. And it’s fun because in the ensemble - they’re so specific, especially the ensemble that we have is so amazing - and everyone has chosen such a specific trait to represent their character and you can really see that in the opening, which is really awesome. So I guess I’ll say the opening, but ‘Something There’ is also good,” she said.
Concepción said it’s awesome to have “Beauty & The Beast,” with its large cast, being the first show of the 2024 Wagon Wheel summer season.

    (L to R) Abigail Storm is Mrs. Potts, Caleb McArthur is Lumiere, Liam Fisher is Beast and Thomas Squires is Cogsworth in “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast.” Photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union
  

“I think it’s awesome. I think getting to work, especially the cast is mostly students that are in college and studying theater, I think it’s just awesome to get to collaborate with such amazing young artists. It’s just been an incredible experience,” she said.
Fisher agreed it’s really cool to get to work with all the fellow young artists.
“I didn’t know anybody coming into this production, and already the relationships are so strong between everybody in the cast. It’s only going to get better from here. This is the first show of the summer, so a pretty strong start so far,” he stated.
Concepción said Michaels has been an absolute pleasure to work with as the director.
“At least with the direction he’s given me with my character, he’s so specific with what he wants and the vision he has. The direction that he gives you to make your character better is so specific, and that has helped me tremendously in my process because it is such an iconic show and it’s been done so many times,” she said. “... He has helped me, for my character specifically, find the depth and the character arc that Belle kind of goes through, and he’s helped me sort of find that there’s more to these characters than just the basic Disney-esque thing that they have. So he’s been amazing.”
Fisher said Michaels is awesome and one of his favorite human beings, as well as one of his favorite directors.
“This is fifth time, I believe, doing this show, so he’s been around the block. He knows what each actor needs to do to portray this character, but he also knows that each one of us is going to bring something new. So this show is not like the last show, even though it may be the same set and the same director, but it’s something new every time, and that’s why I think working with Scott is great,” Fisher said.
Concepción also applauded the costumes for the show, saying it’s been great to try them on to help her get into her character.
Fisher gets a lot of prosthetics and padding with his Beast costume. “I’m going to be sweating, it’s going to be a hot one, but that’s what you get,” he said.

    Thomas Squires is Cogsworth and Caleb McArthur is Lumiere in “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast.” Photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union
  

Fisher will be here for the entire summer season, while Concepción will be in the next two shows after “Beauty & The Beast.”
“I think this is such a wonderfully diverse cast and there’s so many new aspects of ‘Beauty & The Beast’ that we’re bringing into the light that I think is just wonderful,” Concepcion said. “And with a show like this, I think what’s wonderful about it is that every time you see it, it’s something different because it’s a different cast, different people and I think we all bring such a wonderful twist to our characters and we bring a little bit of ourselves to our characters, which I think is such a wonderful thing. It’s an awesome show.”
Fisher agreed with her completely.
“I think if you want to come have a laugh, if you want to come have a cry, this is a perfect show for it. It’s awesome and it’s a lot of fun. You’ll leave the show thinking about it,” he concluded.