THEATRE REVIEW: "Beauty and the Beast" at the Chicago Theatre (Chicago, IL)
At the end of 1997, either in November or December, I went to see the Alan Menken / Howard Ashman / Tim Rice / Linda Woolverton musical "Beauty and the Beast" when the First National Tour played at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, IL. The production was originally scheduled to performed in Chicago from October 4th, 1997 to March 1st, 1998. At the time, I didn't realize how long Chicagoans had to wait for this tour. The production had been running since November 7th, 1995, when the First National Tour launched at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. The tour then made stops in St. Louis, Detroit, Washington D.C, Atlanta, New Orleans, Tempe, Seattle, Portland (OR), San Diego, Denver, and Dallas. Then, finally, the $12 million touring production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" came to Chicago. Frederick C. Inkley and Kim Huber in "Beauty and the Beast." Besides the National Tour, produc...