What does an artistic director do when he creates a cash cow that boasts packed houses night after night?
He finagles it into the next season, and that’s exactly what the Citadel Theatre’s Bob Baker did with Beauty and the Beast.
This enduring musical fable of two outsiders who look beyond the external and fall in love is the classic story every child knows, and it reopens tomorrow night for a month long run.
This Alan Menken/Howard Ashman/Tim Rice extravaganza is a full-scale production with 24 actors and singers, and 12 live musicians including St. Albert Children's Theatre's Janice Flower (keyboard) and former musical director Ryan Sigurdson (keyboard).
Returning in the lead role as the Beast/Prince is Réjean Cournoyer (Sweeney Todd), and Josée Boudreau as Belle makes her Citadel debut.
But it's those magical numbers such as the show stopping Be Our Guest and the more tender If I Can't Love Her that have found a special place in people's hearts.
Evening show times are Tuesday to Sunday at 7:30 p.m. with a mix of Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $65 to $90. Pay what you can on Sunday, May 9. Call 780-425-1820 or go online at www.citadeltheatre.com.
Pianist Andrew Glover is one of Edmonton's finest jazz players and when he pulls a gig together, musicians jump at the chance to share the spotlight.
This coming Friday, the Andrew Glover Sextet hits the Yardbird Suite for a memorable night of original compositions. Joining Glover is Bob Tildesley (trumpet), Kent Sangster (sax), Greg Smith (guitar), St. Albert resident John Taylor (bass) and former St. Albert resident Sandro Dominelli (drums).
Show time is 9 p.m. and the Yardbird is located at 11 Tommy Banks Way. Tickets are $21.50. They are available at the door and by calling 780-451-8000 or go online to: www.ticketmaster.ca
The Global Visions Film Fest and Hot Docs Canadian Documentary Film Festival finishes the season with Soundtrack for a Revolution, a film about the role music played in the American Civil Rights Movement.
The powerful music combines freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, mass meetings, paddy wagons and jail cells with archival footage and new songs by John Legend, Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean and The Roots.
Lula Hoe Williams, a civil rights activist will lead a discussion after the screening. She attended a mass rally in Montgomery, Ala. during the Freedom Rides movement and worked under Martin Luther King Jr.
Soundtrack for a Revolution screens tomorrow at 7 p.m., at the Metro Cinema in the Citadel Theatre, 9828 – 101A St. Tickets are $10 at door or by calling 780-420-1757 or purchase online at www.tixonthesquare.ca
