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View Winners → A Timeless Tale: Inland Pacific Ballet’s “Beauty and the Beast” Coming to Arcadia
Arcadia Weekly Apr 09, 2015
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-Photo Courtesy Inland Pacific Ballet
Southern California’s premiere professional ballet company, Inland Pacific Ballet (IPB), celebrating its 20th season, presents Beauty and the Beast, a breathtaking full-length ballet based on the time honored fairy tale with 10 performances taking place from April 25 through May 16, 2015 in theaters within the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. A creative interpretation of this universal story of inner beauty, IPB’s encore presentation promises a visual feast full of romance and drama. Stunning sets, brilliant dancing, gorgeous costumes and a stirring musical score that will transport audiences to an enchanted fairy tale world filled with fanciful characters, a charming village, an enchanted forest and the Beast’s magnificent castle, all vividly illustrating the drama and romance of this beloved story and the transformative power of love.
IPB’s version of Beauty and the Beast has Beauty, a young girl pure of heart, living at the edge of a mystical forest, when her father is accosted by a mysterious Beast after picking a single white rose from the Beast’s beloved garden. Imbued with magical powers, the rose is passed between Beauty, her father and the Beast, as Beauty offers herself in exchange for her father’s freedom, beginning a journey of love and transformation for both herself and the Beast. For choreographer Clinton Rothwell, the white rose represents both Beauty’s pure heart and the transformation that takes place in the story.
“Prompted by the tremendous response Beauty and the Beast received last season, we are thrilled to once again be bringing this beautiful ballet to southern California audiences, and for the first time, to the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside,” states Victoria Koenig, Artistic Director. “Nothing quite compares with the magic and grandeur of a big, fully produced ballet, especially one with such a captivating story. With rehearsals already underway and our dancers in top form, we are seeing Beauty and the Beast come back to life. We are especially excited to be presenting our exquisite ballerina, Meilu Zhai, in her debut as Beauty. Meilu’s special qualities of delicacy, inner strength, impeccable technique and utter charm make her irresistible in this role.”
-Photo Courtesy Inland Pacific Ballet
The cast features brilliant young talent from southern California. IPB is delighted to have principal dancers Cameron Schwanz again dancing the role of the Beast, and Meilu Zhai, formerly with the National Ballet of China as Beauty. Jonathan Sharp also returns in the role of Beauty’s Father.
The musical score for Beauty and the Beast was created by company choreographer Rothwell as a “sound collage” featuring compositions from many of the great classical composers such as Dimitri Shostakovich, Antonin Dvorak, Felix Mendelssohn, Jules Massenet, Sergei Prokofiev, Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky, and Alexandor Glazounov. “Ballet is an extension of sound to me, it’s moving sculpture, but it has to go with the music. Everything has to fit together,” says choreographer Rothwell.
Award-winning set designer and scenic artist Daniel C. Nyiri designed the village, forest, garden and castle scenes that serve as backdrops for the jewel-toned costumes by designer Jeanne Nolden. Special masks for the Beast and a pack of menacing wolves were created by Bonnie Sinclair, who worked for many years with Maurice Sendak on projects including Where the Wild Things Are.
Tickets, starting at $34 with senior/child/group discounts are available online at ipballet.org. Saturday, April 25 at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m. at Bridges Auditorium, Pomona College, Claremont; Saturday, May 2 at 1:00 & 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m. at Lewis Family Playhouse, Victoria Gardens Cultural Center, Rancho Cucamonga; Saturday, May 9 at 2:00 p.m. & Sunday, May 10 at 2:00 p.m. at Arcadia Performing Arts Center; and Saturday, May 16 at 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. at Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside.
-Photo Courtesy Inland Pacific Ballet
