Midwest Regional Ballet presents original version of 'Beauty and the Beast'
Apr. 16—PITTSBURG, Kan. — Midwest Regional Ballet is finishing it's 2023-24 season with a presentation of the non-Disney original version of the classic tale "Beauty and the Beast," written in 1740 by the French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.
Kaye Lewis, owner/director of the Midwest Regional Ballet, called this version "a little darker" than Walt Disney's more famous version of the same story.
"Beauty has two sisters, and she has two fairies, an evil or a good one," Lewis said. "The evil fairy falls in love with the prince. She's a royal fairy, but he denies her, so she transforms him into a beast. The story line is the same; he still has to find true love, even though he's hideously ugly, before his rose dies. All of our roses are aerialists up in fabric. They represent roses on the vines in the beast's garden."
This presentation runs from April 18-21, with shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday taking place at 7:30 p.m. at Pittsburg's Memorial Auditorium, 503 N. Pine St. The Sunday showing will be at 2 p.m.
It's directed and choreographed by Lewis, who said this play years ago convinced her to expand into aerialist performers in some of her plays.
She also said this play will feature 43 performers from Carthage, Carl Junction, Neosho and Joplin in Southwest Missouri; Miami, Oklahoma; and Pittsburg.
Reserved seating for adults on the floor is $15 with seating for children ages 6-13 costing $12. Balcony general admission seating is $10 for everyone ages 6 and older.
Children ages 5 and under are $5 for all seating.
People can buy tickets by calling 620-231-7827 or going to memorialauditorium.org or www.pittks.org/ memorial.
