Broadway’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to play in Jakarta
Jakarta will soon witness one of Disney’s enchanting love stories, Beauty and the Beast, come to life on stage.
In an unprecedented step, the Broadway musical featuring Disney’s classic Beauty and the Beast will be staged in Jakarta in May and June, making the capital a new outlet for international arts.
The show will take place in Ciputra Artpreneur Theater, the newest theater building in Indonesia that has claimed to be the first venue in the country that meets international standards. The theater can host large productions from around the world, including ballets, symphonies and operas. The play will coincide with the opening of the theater building, which can seat 1,200 people.
The theater management also acts as the promoter in the first ever Broadway show in Indonesia.
“We indeed do not have experience in this area but we believe with 35 years of business experience in the Ciputra group we can do it,” Ciputra Artpreneur president director Rina Ciputra Sastrawinata told a press gathering on Feb. 26.
For the show, they will fly 60 Broadway performers and around 60 tons of equipment to Jakarta to deliver a high quality show. The stage set will be designed similar to that of other Broadway shows.
Rina said it was not easy to convince Broadway to come to Indonesia. Her team, led by Ciputra Artpreneur general management and marketing advisor Bernard Grover, had to spend nine months trying to convince Broadway to come to Indonesia before they said yes.
“We managed to convince them because we are able to show them our building meets international standards,” Grover said.
Grover hopes that after Beauty and the Beast, Jakarta will gain trust from Broadway and other international performing groups as a venue for art and cultural performances. “I hope Jakarta can be a regular stop for Broadway,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Grover said Ciputra was still talking with Broadway about the possibility of staging other shows. However, he refused to say what the next play in line since it is still in an early stage.
“If we succeed with this [Beauty and the Beast], everything will be easy peasy,” Rina said confidently.
Beauty and the Beast will premier in Jakarta on May 26 and the last show will be on June 27. Ticket prices range from Rp 650,000 (US$50.65) to Rp 2.5 million. People can start buying tickets on March 6 online via www.kiostix.com.
Jakarta’s show is part of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’s international tour. A similar show has been staged in Manila and is currently running in Bangkok. It will pass through Singapore before premiering in Jakarta.
Currently there are five productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast playing around the world, including in France, Japan and Germany.
The play is directed by Rob Roth and choreographed by Matt West. Meanwhile, while custom design is handled by Ann Hould-War, who won a Tony Award for her design for a similar production.
Based on the 1991 Academy-Award winning animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway in 1994. It was nominated for nine Tony awards and ran for 13 years. It still ranks as one of the longest-running and highest-grossing Broadway shows of all time.
It has been produced in 22 countries and seen by more than 35 million people with over 28,000 performances, generating over US$1.7 billion in revenue.
In celebrating its 20th anniversary, Broadway is holding an international tour for the show, playing in new markets like Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Asian countries.
Read also:
