Beast

CARSON, Wash. -- Go ahead. Make a monkey out of Sasquatch, say folks in this tiny town in the heart of Bigfoot country. That won't stop them from throwing their annual bash for the big galoot.Or from believing -- or at least wanting to believe -- that Sasquatch, the man-beast also known as Bigfoot, still exists somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. True believers haven't missed a beat since two of their flock broke ranks last month to debunk the most famous home movie since the Zapruder film.

There's a lot of magic in the musical "Beauty and the Beast" at the Mechanic Theatre.There's magic in the form of tricks and illusions -- a fireball thrown across the stage or the chatty, disembodied head of a little boy who has been turned into a teacup. There's magic in Natasha Katz's lighting design, which contributes to the split-second effects of a withered old beggar woman transformed into a beautiful enchantress and a handsome young prince transformed into a monstrous beast.And there's magic in the eyes of the children in the audience, watching all of this with awe.But for this critic, the two most magical elements have to do with interpolations in the story.

IT'S NAPOLEON Bonaparte. No, it's Kaiser Wilhelm. No, Benito Mussolini. Or is it Saddam Hussein? .....Who will the Antichrist character prove to be? .....The Book of Revelation, that feverish final vision of the New Testament, depicts his epic origins: Out of the sea will rise a beast with 10 horns and seven heads, diadems on its horns, "blasphemous names" on its heads.From this fearsome beast will emerge the Antichrist incarnate, archvillain of the apocalypse and a dark emblem of Christian millennial theology.

When Ann Hould-Ward took on the task of making an actor look like a candlestick, she faced challenges most costume designers would never imagine.Turning Lumiere, the character of the valet in "Beauty and the Beast," into a candelabrum wasn't just a matter of making him resemble the object -- although that in itself involved a series of about 30 sketches. There was, for example, the issue of making actual flames shoot out of his hands.Speaking from her New York studio, Hould-Ward ticks off the escalating difficulties: "So here is a tool that makes Lumiere's hands light up. Then we have to route the cord for it. He actually has to wear the [tank of]

It was fortuitous that Ballet Theatre of Annapolis scheduled its "Family Ballet" program, the last of its season, last weekend. It provided an uplifting diversion from the news of the massacre in Littleton, Colo.The program included "Beauty and the Beast" and Act II of "Swan Lake," classical ballets with themes of the redemptive power of love. "Beauty and the Beast" was choreographed by BTA's artistic director Edward Stewart, whose work shows his artistic vision, strong sense of dance dynamics and ability to showcase the talents of each dancer.

"More and longer" is the keynote of the Mechanic Theatre's 1999-2000 season. For the first time in almost a decade, the season will include seven shows instead of six. And, after two seasons of mostly one-week engagements, more than half the shows in the new series will run two weeks or more."It's been kind of a slow process. It seems like there's a lot more confidence in the shows again. We're getting the sizzle back in our season," said Michael J. Brand, executive director of Jujamcyn Productions, which books and manages the Mechanic.

Before Disney put "Beauty and the Beast" on the musical theater stage, the prolific British playwright Alan Ayckbourn had a go at it in an odd little musical called "Dreams From a Summer House," which is receiving its area premiere at Columbia's Rep Stage.Ayckbourn's approach, with serviceable music by John Pattison, is part British sitcom, part fairy tale, part romantic comedy and part musical. Because it tries to be so many things at once, it's probably not surprising that it doesn't excel at any of them.

A Family Simcha'The Maryland Historical Society presents "A Family Simcha: A Celebration of Jewish Life," a daylong program in celebration of its "Facing the New World: Jewish Portraits and Decorative Arts in Colonial and Federal America" exhibition. Featured arecooking demonstrations, singing with Cantor Sharon Wallach, Israeli folk dance and a living history theater with "Rebecca Novitsky," a 19th century Polish emigre. Visitors can also view the exhibition's collection of 18th and 19th century paintings.

Leave it to the Disney happy police to transform a medieval icon as ugly as sin into a comedic chorus line of wisecracking, lovable stone-phonies.When the animated version of Victor Hugo's epic "Hunchback of Notre Dame" premieres tomorrow, audiences will meet one gargoyle and two "gar-boys" who strut and quip their way through eternity while offering misguided advice to Quasimodo, a deformed bell ringer by profession.The trio, named Victor, Hugo and Laverne, are respectively characterized in a Disney press kit as "hedonistic," "stodgy" and "crotchety -- but caring."

During the second act, Graeme Browning tried in vain to wake her 7-year-old daughter. Anna and the King of Siam were about to launch into their signature "Shall We Dance" number, and Browning had paid dearly -- $140 for a pair of tickets -- for the privilege of introducing her child to the wonders of the Broadway stage.But Lowry slept on, exhausted by her first trip to New York and blissfully unaware of the first-rate performance unfolding before her as well as her mother's chagrin.Some nights, the youngest of the 17 children in the production have trouble staying awake too, confessed John Curless, who plays the captain of the ship that brings Anna and her young son to Siam, where she becomes governess to the king's children.

The Beast is a new drama series starring Patrick Swayze as a maverick FBI veteran who gets teamed with a rookie (Travis Fimmel). But with that rather conventional premise, can it ever be a beast in the ratings? It's pretty much impossible to describe The Beast - which debuts tonight - without getting tangled in the underbrush of potboiler cliche. Hard, unorthodox veteran who breaches the bureau's code of ethics to get the job done. Clear-eyed kid who worships the grizzled vet. And so on. But do you honestly think anyone will pan Swayze's performance - especially after the five-hankie interview with Barbara Walters about his battle with pancreatic cancer?

Children's Theatre of Annapolis offers life lessons to young people through such classic tales as Beauty and the Beast that teach children to think of others ahead of themselves. It is when the Beast learns to put Belle's happiness above his own that he feels love and begins his transformation from Beast to Prince, and Belle learns that goodness can exist beneath a fearsome exterior. Other hallmarks that distinguish CTA productions are evident in this Beauty and the Beast, which continues through the weekend at Anne Arundel Community College's Pascal Center for the Performing Arts.

The current production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast by Children's Theatre of Annapolis follows the New Year's tradition of looking back and forward. This will be CTA's second-to-last show at Anne Arundel Community College's Pascal Center and the last featuring older children, ages 12 to 18. This year, said CTA spokeswoman Cathy Hollerbach, "we're looking forward to auditioning kids for our first show in our very own theater in September." The long-held dream of Children's Theatre folks to have a theater will be realized with the completion in the spring of the company's new theater at Bay Head Park in Arnold.

The Maryland State House is similar to a marble mausoleum: Not much changes over time but the residents. Politics and the creaking advancement of democracy are the session norm. This process involves piles of paper and a lot of pontification, both stuffed with procedural formality. What little evolves does so lazily, trickling along like a withdrawing glacier. From this photographs are to be made. Better yet, photographs with visual interest. The difficult part arises in trying to create stimulating pictures of people who, for the most part, do one or more of the following: Stand with microphone, sit listening, stare at laptop screens, read papers or quietly converse in person or by phone.

WASHINGTON -- The Internet recently has introduced the world to two memorable individuals - mostly recognizable by their mouths - who vividly illustrate the striking cultural difference between East and West. One is best known as "Rage Boy," featured on several blogs and popularized by Christopher Hitchens in a recent column. Rage Boy is a Kashmiri protester - one of those perennials who show up for marches, funeral processions, wherever there's a crowd and, more important, a camera. In every captured image, he is, well, enraged.

Announcer Chip Ridgely bellowed to the packed house at a Saturday night Battle of the Beast bull-riding competition, prompting screams of support from the packed house of rodeo fans. The ensuing ride, one of many that evening, was a spectacle to behold. The rider stayed on through the eight-second buzzer indicating that he had scored points, and the crowd erupted again as he was bucked off. Battle of the Beast contests, which are sponsored by the J Bar W Ranch, take place from June through September on the first and third Saturdays of the month, with the final summer event held on the first Saturday in September at the Carroll County Agriculture Center in Westminster.

Twirling forks and platters, bright confetti, serenading candlesticks - this is certainly not your everyday dinner scene. Yet, this was what the audience was served during Wilde Lake High School's production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. In the theater adaptation of the 1991 Disney movie, the life of a spoiled prince is changed forever when an enchantress turns him into a beast as punishment for his heartlessness. With only an enchanted rose and servants-turned-household-objects for company, the new Beast must gain the love of the beautiful Belle before the last petal of the rose falls.

The Hickory Ridge Community Association will sponsor a family-night bingo from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at Hawthorn Center, 6175 Sunny Spring. Paper cards will be six for $1. Drinks will be 50 cents, and snacks will be free. Cash and prizes will be offered for each game. A class in "Preparing Your Garden for Spring" will be offered from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. March 22. Steven Marks of the River Hill Garden Center will explain what is necessary to prepare a garden to bloom all year, and he will describe new spring plantings.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON -- Paramount Home Entertainment / $49.99 This daring CBS series lasted only three seasons (1987-1990), but it stands as one of the medium's finest hours of romantic drama. If any network series deserves a Valentine's week release, it is this cleverly re-imagined fairy tale for television. Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman star in the title roles. She plays Catherine Chandler, a young corporate attorney working for her industrialist father at his Manhattan headquarters.

On the Ravens' Jamal Lewis Anyone who thinks that Jamal isn't getting it done needs to pay attention and watch [Sunday's] game again. He was gouging that defense. Not great, but he has been effective enough to keep the hounds off McNair and to sustain some clock-eating drives when we needed them. He is adequate. He is no longer dominant or a beast or shredding or any superlative that you would like to use to describe him.