FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT (S) Nicole Saffer, 386-681-2794
or Nicole.Saffer@SeasideMusicTheater.org

August, 2003, Daytona Beach - Seaside Music Theater has received the rights to produce the award-winning Broadway musical, Beauty and the Beast, an opportunity given to only four other regional theaters in the United States.

This timeless Disney musical filled with enchantment, love, humor, and the fairy-tale charm that captivates people of all ages, has thrilled audiences worldwide, with record-breaking runs in New York, London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney and Tokyo. Beauty and the Beast, the seventh longest-running show in Broadway history, accrued nine Tony nominations in 1994, including one for Best Musical.

Lester Malizia, Seaside's General Manager will direct this finale to the 2004 Summer Season with a complete understanding of what this opportunity says about Seaside. "We have been selected as a theater that has the capability and talent to recreate the magic and magnitude of this enormously popular show, and we will give to audiences an eye-popping spectacle that lives up to this show's incredible reputation," says Malizia.

Founded in 1977, Seaside Music Theater is now in its 27th year as a professional theater and has become an integral part of Daytona Beach's cultural heritage. SMT is the largest professional theater within a 100-mile radius and the only major resident musical theater company in the Southeast.

Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast, which originally opened at the Palace Theatre on April 18, 1994, tells the story of Belle, a beautiful young woman who offers herself to the hideous Beast, really a cruel and unfeeling Prince cursed by an enchantress, in exchange for the release of her father, imprisoned when he accidentally stumbled upon the Beast's enchanted castle. All of the Beast's loveable and magical servants, including Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, appear in the musical, to add hilarity and charm to the Beast's otherwise lonely castle. Extravagant costumes, filled with spectacular color, dimension, and illusion, warranted a 1994 Tony Award for Costume Design.

With regards to the productions artistic demands, Malizia says, "With such challenges as having to recreate the scene of the Beast's transformation, this production will raise the bar for our technical and costume divisions, as well as for our acting company. This is what Seaside thrives on - the chance to bring such a stunningly complex show to life."

The show combines the strengths of the much-loved and much-praised movie with live theater's unique capabilities, including added musical numbers, technical wizardry, and special effects, creating a unique, theatrical experience that audiences won't want to miss. Seaside Music Theater takes pride in the chance to bring Disney's first musical, which the Chicago Tribune calls "a tip-top production, lavishly produced, inventively executed," to audiences in Daytona Beach. Beauty and the Beast, running July 29 through August 15, 2004 at Seaside Music Theater's DBCC Theater Center location, will most definitely provide a happy ending for Seaside's Summer 2004 Season.

The Summer 2004 Season also includes Annie, Jesus Christ Superstar, La Perichole, and The Cocoanuts. Subscriptions are now on sale for $115, but will be increased to $130 after December 31, 2003. They are available for purchase weekdays at the box office, 176 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach or by calling (386) 252-6200 or (800) 854-5592.

Subscriptions are also on sale, priced at only $69, for the Winter 2003-2004 Season, which includes: Around the World in 80 Days October, 23 - November 2, 2003; Cole Porter's You Never Know, November 6 - 23, 2003; and Honky Tonk Angels, January 15 - February 8, 2004.