Full Cast Announced for 104th Annual Mountain Play: Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Casting is complete for the Mountain Play's production of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which will enchant the San Francisco Bay Area this May. Beauty and the Beast will take place every Sunday from May 21 to June 18, 2017. www.MountainPlay.org

With a cast of 37, the production stars Chelsea Holifield (Belle), Daniel Rubio (Beast), Jeff Wiesen (Gaston), Jim Fye (Maurice), Jennifer Boesing (Mrs. Potts), Zachary Isen (Lumière), Buzz Halsing (Cogsworth), Samantha Cooper (Babette), Elijah Cooper (Chip), Jenny Matteucci (Madame de la Grande Bouche), Michael Cabanlit (Lefou), Lorenzo Alviso (Monsier D'Arque), Amy Zanco, Kimberley Cohan & Shannon Alane Harger (Silly Girls). The ensemble includes Erica Lamkin, Fernando Siu, Holly Soreng, Cordell Wesselink, Paul Gusciora, Julianne Bretan, Pauli Amornkul, David Crone, Jon Betts, Katie Wickes, Amy Dietz, Jake Hanson, Victoria Gusciora, Joel Pathman, Lily Allen-Hughes, Amanda Conran, Paul Hogarth, Dee Valerian, Bryan Munar, Laura Millar, Carl Robinett and Zachary Morris.

This beloved tale comes to life through the charming story of Belle, a young woman from a small village, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love another and earn their love in return, the curse will end and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.

Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is filled with spectacular storytelling and an Academy Award-winning score. Toes will tap to the inviting "Be Our Guest" and hearts will warm to the melody and lyrics of the title song "Beauty and the Beast." The Mountain Play's production of this "tale as old as time" is a great opportunity to bring the entire Bay Area community together for family theatre at its best.

Jay Manley is an award-winning director whose musicals and plays throughout the Bay Area have garnered repeated praise and numerous awards from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Dean Goodman "Choice" Awards. He founded Foothill Music Theatre in Los Altos, California, to present classic and new musicals on the campus of Foothill College. He was the recipient of a 2006 special citation from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle "...in recognition of his distinguished career as founder and artistic director of Foothill Music Theatre." At Foothill College where he chaired the Theatre Arts Department, he also established the Foothill Theatre Conservatory, a flourishing pre-professional actor training program. For the last 30 years, Jay has led popular theatre tours to New York, Ashland, London, and other major theatre production centers, through his company, New York Theatre Tour: www.nytheatretour.com. Jay's extensive knowledge of American musical theatre history has made him a sought-after speaker and lecturer. Jay earned a B.A. and M.A. from San Francisco State University and holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. He lives in the East Bay.

David Möschler is an award-winning freelance conductor and musical director based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is thrilled to return for his second show with the Mountain Play after conducting last year's West Side Story. Recent music direction credits include Ray of Light Theatre productions (The Rocky Horror Show, LIZZIE, Into The Woods and Assassins), Lamplighters Music Theatre (Patience, H.M.S. Pinafore), American Conservatory Theater and Guthrie Theater (Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play), San Francisco Playhouse (Promises, Promises), Douglas Morrisson Theatre (Candide), West Edge Opera (Hydrogen Jukebox), San Jose Repertory Theatre (One Night with Janis Joplin), Shotgun Players (Woyzeck, Assassins, The Threepenny Opera), Broadway by the Bay (Evita), and Center REPertory Company (Spring Awakening), among many others. Möschler has won two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical Direction with Ray of Light Theatre as well as a Theater Bay Area Award for Outstanding Music Direction with Lamplighters Music Theatre. He is Resident Musical Director for YMTC Berkeley where he's conducted twenty full productions and has been a member of the music staff for College Light Opera Company since 2005. He serves on the faculty for Academy of Art University and is active as a guest lecturer on musical theater. In 2013 Möschler founded the Awesöme Orchestra Collective, which he conducts every month. More information can be found at davidmoschler.com.

Nicole Helfer is a Bay Area native and a graduate of San Francisco State University. Choreography credits include Lizzie for Ray of Light Theatre; West Side Story and Peter Pan for the Mountain Play; Miss Saigon, Kiss Me Kate, West Side Story and In the Heights for Broadway By The Bay (Theatre Bay Area Award winner); Dogfight for OMG Productions; Tarzan for Contra Costa Musical Theater (Shellie Award nominee); RENT for Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre Company; Into the Woods and Measure For Measure for San Francisco State University and co-choreographer for A Chorus Lin, 8 Track: The Sounds of the 70s, Six Women With Brain Death, and You're A Good Man Charlie Brown for Willows Theatre Company (Shellie Award nominee). She has also choreographed Click Clack Moo and the very successful Pinkalicious for Bay Area Children's Theater. Currently, Nicole teaches dance at The Ballet School in Walnut Creek and is a member of the theatre faculty at Oakland School for the Arts.

Chelsea Holifield graduated Magna Cum Laude from Emerson College in Boston with a B.A. in Acting, Minor in Dance. Favorite regional credits include The Producers (Usherette, Broadway By The Bay), The Addams Family (Wednesday, Berkeley Playhouse) and The Rocky Horror Show (Janet, Ray of Light). Chelsea resides in Oakland, where she enjoys craft beer, kittens and being outdoors.

Daniel Barrington Rubio (Beast) is excited to be making his Mountain Play debut. Recent Credits: Grease (CCMT), Billy Elliot (Berkeley Playhouse), The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical (Lucky Penny), Beauty & the Beast(Broadway by the Bay). Other Credits: Shrek the Musical (Woodminster), The Wild Party (Ray of Light), The Addams Family(Berkeley Playhouse), Ring of Fire (Altarena Playhouse). He received his training from Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts.

Rooted in more than a century of theatrical tradition, the Mountain Play Association provides enriching live performances that stimulate creativity, engage our community and foster a lifelong enjoyment of the arts.

Our signature event is a spectacular outdoor production that celebrates musical theatre and nurtures respect for the unique natural beauty of Mount Tamalpais.

www.MountainPlay.org