NETworks presents Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the award-winning worldwide smash hit Broadway musical, is coming to Bowling Green as part of the SKyPAC Broadway series. Produced by NETworks Presentations, this elaborate theatrical production will come to life on stage for three performances on February 28 and March 1, 2015. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 5, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. For additional information on performance times and tickets, visit www.theSKyPAC.com.

Get tickets in advance! Become a SKyPAC Member Today! By becoming a SKyPAC Member today you will receive the opportunity to purchase tickets and get the best seats available before they go on sale to the public for this performance and future performances. Contact Deborah Stein at 270-904-5002 for more details.

Group tickets for Disney’s Beauty and The Beast Grab a group of your friends and family to SAVE 15% on Sunday, February 28, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 1, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. when you bring a group of 15 or more. SAVE 20% on the first two price levels and 15% in the third and fourth price levels at the 6:30 p.m. performance on Sunday, March 1, 2015 for groups of 15 or more. Contact our Group Ticket Coordinator, Erin Biggers, at 270-904-7010 to reserve your seats today.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast features the Academy Award®-winning score with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman, with additional songs composed by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. The book is written by Linda Woolverton.

The original creators of the Broadway production have reunited for this new touring production. The play is directed by Rob Roth and choreographed by Matt West, with Costume Design by Ann Hould-Ward (Tony Award® winner for her work on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), Lighting Design by Natasha Katz (three-time Tony Award® winner), Scenic Design by Stanley A. Meyer, Sound Design by John Petrafesa Jr. and Music Supervision by Michael Kosarin.  For more information about this production visit http://www.disneysbeautyandthebeast.com

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the classic story of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped in a spell placed by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed to his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.

Based on the 1991 Academy Award®-winning animated feature film and celebrating 20 years since its Broadway premiere in 1994, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has become an international sensation that has been seen by over 35 million people worldwide in 22 countries, and has been translated into 9 different languages. This production launched in February 2010 and has been seen by 2.5 million people while playing more than 1,000 performances in all 50 United States and 6 Canadian Provinces. Currently, there are four other productions playing around the world including Paris, tours in Japan and Germany, and a new international tour that currently will visit more than 12 countries in two years.

NETworks Presentations LLC (Producer) from its inception nearly 20 years ago has been an industry-leading producer of touring musical theatre productions and remains committed to delivering quality entertainment to its audiences. Having toured over 60 productions extensively throughout North America, NETworks is now expanding its tours into many international markets including South America, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and South East Asia. Its current touring season includes Cameron Mackintosh’s The Phantom of the Opera, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Dirty Dancing, Blue Man Group, Flashdance, Anything Goes and Elf the Musical.

Show Time!

Before the theater lights dim. Before the hush of anticipation falls over the audience. Before the orchestra strikes the first notes of the overture. Before the curtain rises and the first actor appears on stage. 

Before all of that—a pre-performance air of ambience falls over SKyPAC’s immense lobby with its soaring three-story ceiling. The doors open and the first audience members drift in. As the lobby fills, a conversational hum rises, punctuated by the greetings of friends meeting up. 

It’s opening night of “Anything Goes.” The show has drawn an audience of all ages, from animated grade school children to their parents and grandparents–all here with the expectation of being thoroughly entertained. Waiting to serve them is a small army of volunteers (aka “Ambassadors”) and SKyPAC staff, with smiles all around and an eagerness to make everyone feel welcome.  

Half an hour before show time, I stand by the second floor railing, taking in the scene below, swept up by the excitement surrounding the opening night of this Tony award-winning, highly acclaimed Broadway revival.

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Opening Night “Delight”

Originally produced in 1934, Cole Porter’s vibrant song and dance extravaganza was an enormous hit. One of the longest running musicals of the 1930s, it starred the legendary Ethel Merman and marked the peak of Cole Porter’s celebrated career as composer and lyricist.

Fortunately, we in Bowling Green don’t need to travel to New York City—or back in time—to attend a Broadway musical of such renown. As a prominent home for the arts, distinguished by a far-reaching reputation for excellence, SKyPAC is capable of booking shows the caliber of—and as “delightful” as– Anything Goes.

Enthusiastic Reviews

Everywhere it travels, from New York to San Francisco, Anything Goes elicits enthusiastic reviews.

•  “Musical Comedy Joy!” says The New York Times.
• “So delightful, so delicious, so de-lovely!” marvels the Associated Press.
• “A TOP-NOTCH Cole Porter musical comedy!” enthuses the San Francisco Chronicle.

After 80 years, Porter’s songs—including “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “It’s De-lovely,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” and, of course, the show-stopping “Anything Goes”—still resonate with today’s audiences.

As for the musical performances, the singing is superb, the dancing is dazzling and the tapping is near mind-boggling. In particular, Emma Stratton, playing Reno Sweeney, and Brian Krinsky, playing Billy Crocker, claim the stage and wow the audience.

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 Fifteen minutes before the opening act, I make my way to my seat. In the pit, the orchestra tunes up, creating a cacophony of sounds. To the peal of a horn, the thump of a drum, the high-pitched reverberation of violins, the audience streams in. Green-jacketed ushers hand out programs and help people find their seats.

 The house lights dim. An expectant hush falls over the room. SKyPAC Executive Director Jan Zarr walks on stage to welcome the audience, noting, to general applause, that his son, Bradley, is among the cast. (Congratulations!)

 The overture commences, the curtain rises, the first actors take the stage.

 Finally. . . It’s show time!

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 Anything Goes is the first show in SKyPAC’s 2014-2015 Broadway musical series. Coming up are Sister Act, Flashdance-The Musical and Beauty and the Beast. Join in the excitement! Purchase your tickets now for the best seats.