Encore!

Once upon a time, a group of high schoolers

just outside of Fort Worth, Texas,

found themselves living a fairy tale when they performed the musical

Beauty and the Beast.

(SINGING) Be our guest

Be our guest

Now, as adults,

they have the chance to make magic once again.

Because the 2007 cast

of Saginaw High School's Beauty and the Beast is reuniting

for one more encore performance.

This is Encore!

I've always had a big personality. Always had a big personality.

As a kid, I would develop characters out of my shampoo and conditioner.

Theater just seemed like the obvious choice.

In high school, I thought I was a gift to theater.

It's a lot to do without breathing.

In high school, uh, I dated around a little bit.

I didn't think I was a lady's man.

I didn't really try to be that way.

I just kind of was that way.

Uh, which one of these would you like me to use?

You can pass them around if you'd want.

I actually am a mentalist. And mentalism is basically mental magic.

It can be stuff from hypnosis to even moving objects with your mind.

It's harder if you...

don't even touch it. It's actually kind of difficult.

Who cares if you can, um, make a rope come back together, right?

I mean, it's cool.

But being able to read someone's mind, that's where it's at.

That's really, really powerful.

What was the name that you were thinking of?

Stephen.

- (INHALES DEEPLY) - (MAN EXCLAIMING)

I started playing football in middle school.

And I played it all the way through high school.

Uh, it got me running around,

so I didn't end up being just a giant, fat kid.

I got to hit people without getting in trouble,

but theater is where it was at for me.

Nobody expected me to do it.

As soon as I got into theater, I knew that it was my people

because most the people there were the outcasts.

Theater's really the only thing I occasionally think back on,

just the people and the family unit that we were.

It was where I felt at home.

I was...

goofy...

awkward. I guess you could say,

I guess it's most high school kids, technically.

But at the same time, I had this arrogance about me

that I thought that I was...

really awesome.

More often, I was a hopeless romantic.

I asked out probably at least a girl or two a day

when I was in high school, trying to find the love of my life.

People were constantly like, "Ben is just too much."

I would either be too much or in a corner sulking

and being the emo kid, uh, whatever it was.

- It's Brad Baker! (LAUGHING) - (CHUCKLES) Hey.

- (BRITTANY SCREAMS) - Hey. Hey.

Oh, it's good to see you.

- When did you get in here? - This is nice. Last night.

- Wow. Wow, that... Wow. - Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. - Cool.

How do you have 20,000 followers...

- Oh. Oh, yeah. - ...on your Instagram?

- So... - I have 1,000. Is it like cat...

I'm just gonna walk up here.

- Oh my God! - I'm sorry to interrupt, guys.

- Zane. - How's it going, Brad?

How's it going, Brittany? Good to see you.

- Oh, hi, Zane. Oh.

- (BRITTANY SNIFFLES) - How are y'all?

Are you crying?

- A little bit? - (SNIFFLES) No.

- What are you doing? - Uh, I'm a machinist up in Colorado.

- You're in Colorado? - Yeah.

There you go. There you go. - What are you all up to?

- What do you do now? - Um...

- Magic. Show him. - I do some... I do some magic.

Uh, I do some magic still.

Oh!

Uh, let's see. - So, what do you do for a living?

I do magic. I try... I try to do magic for a living, um.

I also do, um, I do murder mystery theater, um, in...

Stop it! Stop everything. I'm sorry, Brad.

No, that's okay. - You're less important right now.

Hey. Hi. Oh, my gosh.

Look at your hair.

In high school, I was very nerdy.

That hasn't changed too much.

Very motherly too.

Other people probably would describe me a little bit overbearing,

a tomboy, a feminist,

and they probably would've called me an overachiever as well.

God, that is a nice beard, man. Oh!

- I'm really jealous. This is su...

He's acting all mysterious over there.

Ben, you look like you're about to, like, just pull out a French press.

Dude, I love this theater. - (BEN LAUGHS)

- I'm super happy to see you. - Oh. Yeah. (LAUGHS)

- What's up, buddy? Is that Jordan?

- Oh, my God. - What? What?

- Jordan. - What's going on, guys?

- We need like a procession song. - What's going on, man?

Seeing everyone again in this after so long, uh,

I hadn't really kept in touch with anybody, uh, since graduating,

but everyone is the exact same. Nobody has changed in the slightest.

- What are you doing now? - I work

for the Chickasaw Nation Indian tribe.

It's helping citizens with barriers, with, uh, addiction and stuff like that.

- Oh. Hey.

Hey!

Hey, guys.

In high school, I was very high strung.

I think I was just trying to find where I belonged, I guess.

I know that I did struggle.

- Hey, guys. Your hair looks awesome.

While I did date Kathy in high school,

I don't see that interfering with us at all.

Will it be awkward? Sure.

We haven't seen each other in ten years. But it'd be awkward

just with everybody that's there.

Hi. - Hello.

- Oh, my goodness. Is that Desiree?

- Yeah. Yes.

- I was so stoked. Here's the star of the show.

- (CHEERING, LAUGHTER) - Oh, my goodness.

So, in high school, I was known as the girl with the voice.

No sir, not me, I guarantee it!

When I graduated high school, I was trying to do the right thing.

I was going to college when I found out I was pregnant with my son.

And after that, I didn't wanna go back.

Elijah is the best thing that will ever happen to me.

I still am learning every day what I'm doing, and how to do it.

Why wear jelly shoes?

No! I changed mine.

Hi, guys. I had some.

- Hi. - Hello.

My name's Eric Tucker. I'm gonna be your director for the week.

Awesome. - Just a little bit about myself,

I'm mostly an Off-Broadway director. And I'm happy to be in Texas.

Yeah. - Let's meet the rest of the team.

Oh, boots. Yeah. - We're in Texas. I had to wear my boots.

- So this is Ameenah. - I'm your choreographer.

I'm Ameenah Kaplan. Currently, I'm the resident director

- for the Lion King North American tour. - I'm Adam. I'm the music director.

And I'm Christopher Eclipse. I'm gonna be your dance captain.

I'm here to make you guys look good.

- Thank you. - (INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER)

This feels like getting to live in your imagination.

I'm really happy. Like, who gets to do this?

Like, no one, you know?

What did you play in the, um, in 2007?

- I was the Beast. You were the Beast?

I was the Beast. Yeah, cool. And who did you play?

You were... LeFou, right. LeFou. Yes, sir.

You played Belle? Yeah.

- I was the wardrobe. La Grande Bouche.

Yes. Ben, you were?

Lumière. You were Lumière.

Gaston. I played Gaston.

- And Shelby, who did you play? - Cogsworth.

That's fun, right? 'Cause it's normally played by a guy.

Yeah. - What was the biggest challenge for you

- when you did it that time? - The singing.

Really? - Yeah.

That night, I messed up my big song. The biggest song that I have.

Yeah. - I messed it up.

And if you go back and watch it now, you can see it.

Who knows, but you might redeem yourself. Brittany, what did you play?

- Ms. Potts. - Mrs. Potts.

- She's the teapot. Yeah? Yes.

Can you just tell me a couple of things you would use to describe Mrs. Potts?

- Old. - Oh, no.

My senior year, they announced Beauty and the Beast.

And I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna be Belle? Like...

"...weird choice, but okay." And was not. (LAUGHS)

Desiree came out of nowhere,

auditioned for Belle and got it.

Jealous, me?

No.

So, in 2007...

Oh, no. - ...when you performed

Beauty and the Beast,

one of the biggest hits of the year was "Bleeding Love"

- by Leona Lewis. - Are you the one who chose that song?

- Maybe. - Oh, my gosh!

Ah! - I love this song.

- It's too high, man. It's too high.

- We can do it in different keys. Yeah.

We wanna see you bring your quality to this.

Just so, like, we, as a creative team, can get to know you. Let's try it.

Crap!

- Oh, I missed it. - (ADAM SINGING)

Oh, god.

- And that's as much as we'll do. - (ALL LAUGHING)

Oh, that's pretty good.