USU freshman stars as Belle

She used to sing in front of the oven door. Standing on her tiptoes, she’d peer into the dark, reflective surface and watch as her tiny lips moved along to “Reflection” from “Mulan.” 

She was too small to see herself in the mirrors in her house. So, she opted for the oven window where she could barely make out her reflection in the structure’s grainy exterior. 

Maya Borrowman, a freshman at USU majoring in theater education, will star as Belle in the Music Theatre West’s rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Ellen Eccles Theatre March 4-12.  

According to director Lindsey Kelstrom, “Belle will bring you to tears.” 

Her singing career may have begun in front of an oven window in a small town just outside of Philadelphia, but it didn’t stop there.  

Although Borrowman never sang in front of her family, she auditioned for her school’s choir in seventh grade and got in. After that, she never looked back. 

She got into theater when she was in middle school. After auditioning for one show, Borrowman was hooked.  

“I’ve been doing it ever since,” she said. 

Currently 18 years old, Borrowman has experience with numerous plays. She’s been in “Children of Eden,” “The Lion King,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Crazy for You,” “Les Misérables,” and “Singin’ in the Rain.” 

Not to mention, she also starred as Belle her senior year of high school. 

“I’ve been able to kind of explore the character more,” Borrowman said of her second time playing Belle. 

Borrowman said she’s enjoyed being able to play Belle again, now that she’s in college. As a theater education major, she has been able to learn more about the principles of acting this year.  

This knowledge has helped her dive deeper into her character. 

“I’ve had some training now,” she said, “so it’s really nice to go into a role that I’ve done before with some of the knowledge to be able to kind of understand some of the more technical sides of it.” 

Borrowman relates to her character in a variety of ways. First, she’s from a little town just like Belle. 

“I loved it there, but I also remember feeling kind of trapped and feeling like I want more,” she said. 

In this way, she relates to the line from the musical, “I want adventure in the great wide somewhere,” in which Belle sings about wanting more than to stay in her small town and marry a townsman. 

“I related really hard to that,” Borrowman said. 

Borrowman says the production team even gave the cast stickers with that line. 

Borrowman admires Belle’s resilience. She loves how Belle stays kind and graceful even amid unthinkable trials. 

“Her grace is what eventually ends up like saving the day,” she said, “which I think is the coolest thing.” 

Stanton Allen, who plays Cogsworth in the musical, couldn’t agree more. 

“The real hero of the story is Belle,” Allen said. “She’s a little quirky, but she’s kind and she’s good.” 

Borrowman immerses herself in her role as Belle. Instead of simply stepping on stage as Belle, disconnected from her character, she acts as though she was in Belle’s shoes. 

“I like to take it and say it’s not what would Belle do but what would Maya as Belle do?” she said. 

She uses her own experiences to relate to her role. 

“I’m fortunate enough to have a very good relationship with my dad,” Borrowman said. “So, if my dad had just been kidnapped, what would I do in that situation?”  

Allen recalled the same tender scene in the beginning of the musical when Belle saves her father.   

“Her kindness and her selflessness — it’s transforming,” Allen said. 

That kindness, Allen said, is what transforms the Beast.  

Borrowman has spent hours at rehearsals, memorized countless lines and sung the show’s songs over and over.  

Throughout all of this, she has been able to understand the show in a new light. She noticed several themes she has been able to apply to her own life. 

For example, she loves how the movie talks about finding good in life even when things don’t go according to plan. 

“I didn’t get my adventure in the great wide somewhere,” Borrowman said of Belle’s journey. “But what I did get, it’s  good and I’m happy where I am now, and I’m happy with who I’ve become because of it.” 

She’s applied it to the coronavirus pandemic and life changes in general. Even amid trials and disrupted ideals for the future she said she “found little pockets of good in it.” 

Since “Beauty and the Beast” is such a renowned play, Borrowman says there’s somewhat of an expectation to uphold. People who come to the show will likely already know all the songs, characters and plot. 

However, she said it’s exciting at the same time because they get to take people past that expectation. 

“There’s new material, there’s new songs,” she said. “The characters are much more rounded and developed.” 

Borrowman is excited about the quality of the play as well. 

“We have professional level sets and costumes,” she said. “We have a super talented cast.” 

The production’s costumes will be the same ones used by the Tuacahn Theatre in St. George. The production will also be set to a live orchestra rather than simply pre-recorded music. 

But behind the live orchestra and professional costumes and polished actors are real people like Borrowman — people from all over the community who have worked countless hours during rehearsals to breathe life into “Beauty and the Beast” and everything the show represents. 

“She does such a good job as Belle. She’s just got this beautiful voice,” Allen said. “The way that she talks and interacts with everything she does a really, really, really good job.”

Photo by Bailey Rigby