I (Roy) played Lumière, the very-French candlestick in this production. Joe White played Cogsworth, the stuffy British clock. This has been my favorite role so far. It was hard to imagine how I could step-up from playing Harold Hill, but the answer is by playing a cartoon character with gadget hands and a French accent.
Here's my account of the show.
A little clip on YouTube.
Amber (Belle) blogs about it (and shares some of my photos) here and here and here.
Julio (Beast) blogs about it (and also shares some of my photos) here and here.
Well, yeah. Holding up those candle-hands gets tiresome. Not to mention that they were always blocking someone's face. Moving them around helped alleviate the strain on the shoulders.
The candles consist of two light bulbs, a small fan, and some fabric. The light on the blowing fabric looks like flame. There are switches in the handles, and wires run down my sleeves to a battery pack under my arm.
I've always done accents. It's a gift, I guess. Having an accent to do helps me a lot in getting into character. Lumière was pretty much fully formed in my head as soon as I started reading lines with the accent.
I probably picked up my French accent from Pepe LePew and the cartoon version of Lumière. Maybe a little Inspector Clousseau.
These are mostly castle scene pictures. Lots of things just didn't get shot. Sorry.