Creek Speak asked, said “Les does a really good job, so does Angela... and it’s just a really good atmosphere to be around.” Hochhauser agreed, saying “It’s a good time!” As mentioned above, the relationship between Gaston and LeFou is complicated, and hard to recreate, but Wood and Hochhauser have no issue. They agreed that it was easy to do, Hochhauser saying “we [Wood and Hochhauser] have a good relationship offstage, so being able to have that comedic thing going on onstage is just a blast.” Wood had a similar answer, saying that it was “fun to work with Rubin ‘cause [to Hochhauser] you make it so natural.”
If you have ever talked to G and/or Rubin, you would know that they could not be more different than their characters. Wood believes himself to be a nice guy who is not sexist towards women (to which we wholeheartedly agree). “Gaston’s kind of a tool, so I like to think I’m not like him.” Hochhauser simply said that he likes to think he’s not an idiot like LeFou. Interestingly enough, when we asked them what their favorite parts about acting the part, they both responded that they liked the difference between their characters and themselves; Wood being able to act like a tool, and Hochhauser being able to act like an idiot.
act like an idiot.
Being first year actors, we decided to delve deeper into their desires to act. We found it interesting that Wood had not acted before this year, especially with how well he blends into the community. His freshman year he didn’t want to do theatre, and wasn’t a big singer. It didn’t help that he wasn’t familiar with the past two musicals, Drowsy Chaperone and Cabaret, or with the shows Twelfth Night, Waiting in the Wings and Almost Maine. Hochhauser has three years before him to grow as an actor, and that’s exactly what he intends to do. He wants to “...just keep doing it. Keep doing theatre, do as much as I can.” Both of these first year actors have so much promise, and we know their scenes will be magical.