Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" opens at Music Circus next week.

Sacramento native James Snyder stars as the cursed creature who eventually wins the affection of Belle, played by Jessica Grové. Both performers join us in studio for a preview of what to expect.

Evening performances begin June 20-24 at 7:30 p.m. with matinee shows June 22 and 24 at 3 p.m. Find more information here.

Interview Highlights

On what makes the story so captivating

Grové: [Beauty and the Beast] came out when I was a little girl, and for me, being a girl growing up in this world, Belle was the first female written character (the screenplay was written by a woman) in a Disney movie, and she's a strong princess. She is a strong Disney princess. She’s not out there looking for a man. She's out there wanting adventure and life. It has more of a female perspective as opposed to a male perspective. Belle is off to save her father and she wants adventure and she happens to fall in love with a beast.

On the lesson in the story  

Snyder:  At the end of the day [Beast] started out unkind, selfish, and his challenge is to find within himself the goodness and kindness and realize that what's inside is really what matters at the end of the day. Its interesting in that this musical is a little different from the movie in that you see the  perspective from the servants as well, and their role in raising this, sort of, brat. Everyone takes responsibility for the role they played in this huge spell that affects the entire castle.

On being back home 

Snyder: I grew up in Rancho Murieta. In fact, I am staying in the same house that I grew up in and it's just great. I think my mom said that she had already brokered about seventy tickets before I even got here.

On getting to know each other

Grové: Yesterday, we've known each other for one whole week. We've already staged the whole show so we've gone through our journey. The very first day of rehearsal we did the Beauty and the Beast waltz, and I think that was a very smart idea for Glenn Casale to get us together and start that.