Garden Theatre’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ postponed; TSP’s ‘Anne Frank’ returns
Production of popular Disney hit will be replaced with ‘Godspell’ during pandemic
The magic of “Beauty and the Beast” is on hold: Garden Theatre will announce today that it has postponed its production of the big Disney musical until the 202122 season because of the COVID19 pandemic.
The Winter Garden theater will replace the show this spring with Stephen Schwartz’s “Godspell,” a musical with a much smaller cast that makes it easier to maintain coronavirus precautions.
During the pandemic, the Garden has been staging shows with strict protocols for actors and audience members. It was the first major Central Florida theater to host an in-person audience, for the musical “Hello, Dolly!” in August, after entertainment venues closed nationwide in the spring.
Postponing “Beauty and the Beast” also potentially will give more people the chance to see the highly popular show, assuming vaccinations will end the pandemic by next year and theaters will be able to fill more seats. For “Godspell,” patrons will be kept physically distanced, with seating capped at 150 seats in the 300-seat theater.
“Godspell,” which uses a pop-rock score to explore the teachings of Jesus and his last days, complements the Garden’s season-long theme of finding home, said artistic director Joseph C. Walsh.
“What reflects more fully our feelings of home than our individual spiritual beliefs and collective connection to the human race?” he wrote in the announcement of the schedule change. “The beauty of ‘Godspell’ is the way it humanizes the story of Jesus, offering a universal message of peace, hope and love for all people.”
Theater staff will contact “Beauty and the Beast” ticket holders. Tickets for “Godspell,” $30-$40, go on sale Feb. 9. Discounts are available for seniors, youths and military members. The show runs April 22-May 23; get more information
at gardentheatre.org or 407-8774736.
‘Anne Frank’
Theatre South Playhouse will bring back its reading of Wendy Kesselman’s theatrical adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day this month.
Anne, the Jewish teenager who hid from the Nazis in an attic with family and friends, died in February 1945 after being discovered and captured.
Among the cast members are Melanie Whipple, Hannah Laird, Paul Padilla, Lisa Sleeper and Forrest Stringfellow. Maddie Lane plays Anne. Because of requirements by the Actors’ Equity Association union, the reading will debut online at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23, with the performances streamed from individual actors’ homes. Subsequently, a recording will be available to view for the next four days. Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed Jan. 27.
Tickets for “The Diary of Anne Frank” are $25, with proceeds benefiting the theater, in southwest Orlando, and the actors, many of whom are out-of-work theme-park performers. For more information, go to theatresouthplayhouse.org. Tickets are available at Teachtix.com/tsplayhouse.