The State Street Ballet will take Emmy Award-winning choreographer Robert Sund’s full-length ballet Beauty and the Beast on a three-city California tour in March, including performances March 9-10 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.
The full-length ballet has been in the company’s repertory since 1999 and has been performed to sold-out houses throughout the United States, and during an international tour of Taiwan and China.
To the immortal music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with stunning costume designs by Mary Etta Lang, and lighting and scenic design by Stephen Bennett and Rolf Freeman, audiences will be transported to a magical world of enchanted forests, dazzling palaces and transformative love.
Synopsis
Beauty lives with her father and two sisters in a hut on the edge of a dark and forbidding forest. One day her father picks some beautiful roses for Beauty, mistakenly taking them from the garden of the Beast, whose solitary life in the gloomy and mysterious forest is gladdened only by his prized flowers.
In his anger and bitterness, the Beast imprisons Beauty’s father. Beauty attempts to rescue her father, but is also captured. She secures her father’s freedom in exchange for the horrible ransom of spending the rest of her life with the grotesque Beast.
Slowly Beast’s heart softens, and he allows Beauty to return to her family. Because he has fallen in love with Beauty, Beast can only hope that she will come back to him someday. Although Beauty is overjoyed to be reunited with her father, she has left part of her heart behind in the forest, for she has fallen in love with Beast.
A Fairy takes pity on Beauty, and returns her to the castle to see her beloved Beast. Beauty tells the Beast of her love for him, and as they kiss, he is magically transformed into a handsome prince. The Beast is finally free, for Beauty has taught him to love himself, as well as to love her. The tale ends happily ever after.
The Saturday evening March 9 performance will be at 7:30 p.m., and the Sunday afternoon performance March 10 will be at 2 p.m. Call the Lobero Theatre box office, at 33 E. Canon Perdido St., for tickets at 805.963.0761 or click here.
Tickets are priced at $21, $31 and $41 (plus facility fee), with discounts for students and seniors. Children age 12 or younger are $21. For group sales, contact the ballet office at 805.563.3262 x105. Click here for more information.
— Barbara Burger is marketing director for the State Street Ballet.
Comments
