{"id":446760,"date":"2025-12-14T16:06:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T16:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/446760\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T16:06:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T16:06:31","slug":"conductor-david-andrews-rogers-returns-home-to-dallas-with-beauty-and-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/446760\/","title":{"rendered":"Conductor David Andrews Rogers returns home to Dallas with ‘Beauty and the Beast’"},"content":{"rendered":"

RICH LOPEZ | Staff Writer<\/strong>
Rich@DallasVoice.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Music Director and Conductor David Andrews Rogers vividly recalls his childhood trips to Dallas from Deep East Texas to experience the magic of theater at the Music Hall at Fair Park. He remembers the box seats he had back in the day \u2014 not for the exclusivity they offered, but for his view of the orchestra pit and the conductor. Next week, Rogers returns to Dallas (again) to perform in that very venue as the music director and conductor for Disney\u2019s Beauty and the Beast.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s come a long way from his professional debut at the Dallas Repertory Theatre as music director for Shenandoah. \u201cLiving in Dallas for 17 years, I did numerous productions at DRT, but I also worked at most every other professional theater in town,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Andrews Rogers \u2014 or professionally known as DAR. (Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

Now living in Palm Springs, he\u2019s fashioned an impressive career in theater that has brought him back to North Texas many times \u2014 and each time is a special one for DAR. His first tour that brought him back to Dallas was for Show Boat. He said he walked up to the venue that time with tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying the Hall that informed so much of my youth; it holds a special place,\u201d he said.
Disney\u2019s Beauty and the Beast runs Dec. 16-Jan. 4 at the Music Hall at Fair Park, presented by Broadway Dallas.<\/p>\n

Rogers describes this show as an absolute delight, and, even considering his already storied career, this gig fulfilled one of his career crowning glory goals: \u201cI have wanted to work for the Disney Theatrical Group for as long as I can remember,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Based on the 1991 animated film of the same name, this production has been retooled, sort of, to still work its own magic but to also speak to today\u2019s audiences. Rogers appreciates the different and new energy the show has given to the original songs by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken and the added songs created for the musical by Ashman and Tim Rice with the book by Linda Woolverton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs feel vibrant and exciting while still looking for the truth of the story,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s apropos that he finds himself working with this show. Beauty and Beast has a deeply personal resonance for the conductor.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelle is such a heroine. She\u2019s absolutely my favorite Disney princess,\u201d he said, praising her \u201cagency and authority and intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also sees her as the ultimate outsider \u2014 a theme that connects with the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many of us don\u2019t feel like that today?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Rogers said that he finds that Belle doesn\u2019t conform to expectations of the people around her or even the hunky, beefy Gaston. Instead, she\u2019s drawn to the humanity of the Beast.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also the \u201cultimate nerd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that he wins her over by showing Belle the library,\u201d he said of the story. \u201cBut what I think relates the show to our community is that she finds herself in this castle and ends up finding a community of people \u2014 or furniture \u2014 who embrace her and she them. That\u2019s the tradition of outsiders everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before all the mainstages, Rogers was part of a special chapter in Dallas\u2019 history, particularly the Gayborhood. The musician was a part of the Dallas cabaret scene with stints at the Hideaway, Michael\u2019s and John L\u2019s \u2014 all part of a different era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a remarkable time in Dallas and in my life,\u201d he said. \u201cSo many great acts and so many clubs to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was there to open Patrick\u2019s, and he witnessed John L\u2019s in its construction phase. And despite these primarily being gay clubs, he found a broad audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, they were wonderfully diverse. Gay people came to see us. Straight people came to see us,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

He is here on tour, and the demands of the job do keep him busy. But Rogers does find the time to venture around and see his old haunts while reconnecting with any theater friends and family still here.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy personal tradition when I get back here is a driving tour. I\u2019ll go see my fraternity house at SMU, my first apartment off Mockingbird and the houses I lived in while in Oak Lawn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In turn, he feels like he\u2019s bringing a gift of his to Dallas. To him, Beauty and the Beast is one of the \u201cmost beautiful shows ever,\u201d and he thinks it\u2019s here just at the right time: \u201cDon\u2019t we need the ultimate happily ever after story at this time and see how love can flourish in the face of adversity?\u201d <\/p>\n

For tickets, visit BroadwayDallas.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RICH LOPEZ | Staff WriterRich@DallasVoice.com Music Director and Conductor David Andrews Rogers vividly recalls his childhood trips to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":446761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,170028,70353,1596,205581,7299,34180,44449,15408,9221,15409,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-446760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-beauty-and-the-beast","10":"tag-broadway-dallas","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-david-andrews-rogers","13":"tag-disney","14":"tag-gay","15":"tag-musical","16":"tag-rich-lopez","17":"tag-stage","18":"tag-stage-notes","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115718782597884363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}