GENESIUS THEATRE PRESENTS
THE TONY-WINNING MUSICAL — DISNEY’S
BEAUTY and the
BEAST ALL THE SONGS! ALL THE HUMOR!
ALL THE ROMANCE!
Cecilia Cooper lights up the stage as “Belle.”
LIVE ON STAGE! OPENS DEC. 5th and runs thru Dec. 16th
Order tickets online at genesiusdifference.org 153 North 10th Street, Reading, PA
SPOTLIGHT on . . . “This show . . . evokes a pre-‘Hunger Games’ era when fantasies about teenage revenge could be smaller and didn’t have to involve apocalyptic maneuvers. In a way, this latest incarnation of ‘Heathers’ is to the 1980s what Kevin as the sexist boss, Mr. Hart, with his workers (left to right, Jennifer Parker Scott, Cathy Miller ‘Grease’ was to the 1950s and Emily Rhinehart) in the Dolly (when it was first staged Parton musical, 9 to 5. in the 1970s).” —Ben Brantley, The New York Times
Music Director KEVIN COOPER
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IKE THE FAMOUS BARRYMORES of Hollywood, Kevin Cooper is part of a Reading community theatre dynasty. His father, Robert J. Cooper, was the head of the music department at Governor Mifflin, and was a dramatic and music director for Reading Civic Theatre (then known as the Reading Civic Opera Society). His brother, Robert A. Cooper, was a longtime president of RCT, and a director of many of their “Mr. McQueen” productions. His niece, Jennifer, in Urinetown and sister, Holly, (Jen’s mom) are also heavily involved in musical theatre. Kevin earned a BS in music education and an MM in vocal performance, and has a private voice lesson studio. He has a long career music directing shows at Reading High, RCT and Genesius. Kevin played “Don Quixote” in 2
Kevin with L.J. Fecho, Chris Sperat and Joey Moray in the Genesius production of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM.
Man of La Mancha, “El Gallo” in The Fantasticks, and “C.C. Baxter” in Promises, Promises. This is his second time music directing Beauty, and he couldn’t be more excited!
Cast members of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST listen intently as Music Director Kevin Cooper goes over their parts in the rousing show-stopper “Be Our Guest.”
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T DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR THE CAST of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to come together in harmony. The wonderful music of Alan Menken rang out in the Genesius rehearsal room as everyone followed the lead of Music Director Kevin Cooper. Cooper’s daughter, Cecilia, cast as the bookloving Belle, beautifully captured the yearning and wistfulness of her character in the opening number. Alex Krick oozed all the French savoir faire of Maurice Chevalier and Pepé Le Pew in his role as the debonair candlestick Lumiere, and gave a dashing rendition of “Be Our Guest.” Ryan Cunningham as the braggart Gaston and Josh Mitchell as his dumb lackey, Le Fou, made a hilarious comedy team in their big production number, “Gaston.” It brought down the house! And the entire cast nearly moved Kevin to tears with their soulful rendition of “Human Again,” a song originally written for, but deleted from, the 1991 animated feature. The song was brought back for the 1994 stage musical of Beauty, and a newly produced sequence featuring “Human Again” was added to the Beauty and the Beast animated film for its 2002 IMAX Special Edition and later DVD, VHS, and Blu-Ray home releases.
Hazel Sensenig was cast as the mischievous Chip.
Genesius’ new PREMIUM LIFETIME PASS (if purchased before mid-November) will allow you to buy tickets for our production of BEAUTY and all the shows in the 2019 Season . . . and beyond! FOR MORE INFO, GO TO: genesiusdifference.org
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