One of the most beloved animated films of all time will come alive on stage in Port Orchard, as the Western Washington Center for the Arts presents “Beauty and the Beast,” opening Nov. 11 for a six-week run.

The official Disney stage version, running on Broadway for more than 10 years, was released this year to community theaters, and Director Jan Ewen jumped at the chance to produce it in Port Orchard.

“It’s a great holiday show,” she said.

The play works well for the theater, which tends to cast young actors, including usually at least one Ewen offspring. For this play, Beka Ewen plays the lead role of Belle, while her sister Rachel plays one of the Silly Girls, and her brother Peter plays Lumiere, the enchanted candelabra.

If your kids have seen the movie, they’ll recognize the plot; it’s virtually identical to the film version, within the technical confines of community theater. And, while the story is based on an old fairy tale, the plot is predictably Disney. There’s a good guy, a bad guy and a beautiful girl, whom they fight over. In the end the good guy wins the girl and they live happily ever after.

There’s the beautiful Belle, considered “different” because she likes to read, her inventor father Maurice, played by Carl Olson; Gaston, played by Andrew Pohl, the village bully who plans to marry Belle; Cogsworth the clock, played by Shane Hall; Mrs. Potts the teapot, played by Amy Whelan, and of course the Beast/Prince, played by Kaelon Horst.

The story begins when the handsome prince is turned into a beast by an enchantress, who thinks he has a bad attitude. She gives him an enchanted rose and tells him if he doesn’t learn to love people for what’s inside by the time the last petal falls, he will stay a beast forever.

The tiniest audience member knows there’s no chance the bad guy will get the girl, but it’s hard not to get swept up in the magical tale, carried along by the catchy tunes, singing and dancing.

The theater often does musicals, but Beka Ewen said this one was challenging.

“There’s a lot to think about,” she said. “(Belle) goes through a lot of different situations and emotions. I had to work really hard.”

“There’s a lot of meat in it,” Jan Ewen concurred. “”There are a lot of changes in each of the characters.”

Playing the Beast was challenging for Horst, he said, but the 16 year old draws from a background as a film actor in Seattle and child model.

Beka said he was her favorite person to work with.

“He has everything memorized,” she said.

Director Ewen wanted to keep Horst’s Beast and Prince costumes under wraps, saving them as a surprise for the audience.

Close to 30 young actors fill out the program, making for a lively production.

Costumer for the production is Karla Crowell; music director is Bruce Ewen; stage manager is K. James Koop and director’s assistant is Deb Armentrout.

“Beauty and the Beast” opens Nov. 11 and plays weekends through Dec. 18 at the WWCA theater, 521 Bay St., Port Orchard. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays.

Tickets are $12 adults, $10 seniors, active military and youth 17 and under. Thursday admission is $10 adults, $8 others. For tickets call (360) 769-7469.

“Beauty and the Beast” is suitable for all audiences. wu