Beauty and the Beast - A Concert on Ice - 1996

Walt Disney's "Beauty and the Beast: A Concert on Ice," starring two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Ekaterina Gordeeva in the role of Belle and Olympic Gold Medalist Victor Petrenko as the Beast, begins production this week at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The hour-long special, marking Gordeeva's first duet performance since the untimely death of her husband and skating partner, Sergei Grinkov.

Inspired by the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and the Academy Award- winning full-length animated feature film, "Beauty and the Beast: A Concert on Ice" will be hosted by James Barbour, who currently stars as the Beast in the Los Angeles stage production. and Susan Egan, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as the original Belle on Broadway.

The magical score from the feature film, written by the Oscar Award- winning team of Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman and the lyrics from the Broadway musical written by Tim Rice, will be performed by Egan and members of the Los Angeles cast including Barbour, Gary Beach ("Lumiere"), Gibby Brand ("Cogsworth"), Mari Jo Catlett ("Wardrobe"), John Dewar ("Monsieur D'Arque"), Heather Lee ("Babette"), Jeanne Lehman ("Mrs. Potts"), Aaron Lipin ("Chip"), Michael Piontek ("Gaston") and Jamie Torcellini ("La Fou").

Joining Gordeeva and Petrenko on ice are world champion figure skaters Scott Hamilton, Lloyd Eisler, JoJo Starbuck and renowned pair skaters, Shae- Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko. The skaters will perform their artistry on ice as the cast from the theatrical production perform the lavish score.

"Beauty and the Beast: A Concert on Ice" will present original ice choreography for a selection of the musical's songs. The special begins with the show's rousing opening production number "Belle," sung by Egan, where Gordeeva makes her exciting entrance as the town's beautiful book worm, yearning for the romantic life that she loves to read about. Later, Egan will take to the ice when she joins Gordeeva and they perform to "Home." Other skating production numbers include "If I Can't Love Her," featuring Petrenko and Gordeeva; "Be Our Guest," featuring Scott Hamilton as the torchy candelabra Lumiere, and the "Beauty and the Beast" title song, in which Petrenko and Gordeeva are joined on the ice by JoJo Starbuck as Mrs. Potts.