BE THEIR GUEST DISNEY ON ICE RETURNS WITH A 'BEAUTY'.

Byline: Janet Zimmerman Staff Writer

SUCCESS IS IN the details, and no one knows that better than the folks who produce Disney on Ice.

When ``Beauty and the Beast'' opened in Winnipeg a few weeks ago - the 144th staging of the show this season - the production was still being fine-tuned.

Disney on Ice has cornered the market on costumed ice shows, drawing more than 120 million people since its inception 21 years ago.

It skates into L.A. Thursday with the ``Beauty and the Beast,'' show. Produced by Feld Entertainment, ``Beauty'' tours six or seven shows a year simultaneously in the United States and abroad. Feld is a Disney licensee, which allows the company to use Disney songs, storylines and the Disney name.

``To the consumer, we are Disney ... and that's part of the appeal,'' said Heather Lockhart, director of brand marketing for Feld Entertainment's ice shows.

Home video hasn't hurt any either.

An ice show based on a movie that is not yet out on video won't do as well as one that is, Lockhart said. A show that also has a television tie-in does even better.

``There's something about having that repetition that generates more interest and more appeal,'' she said.

After ``Toy Story 2'' was released to the home market, interest in seeing a Disney on Ice version shot up 10 percent, Lockhart said.

That makes it a natural for children, who long to see their favorite characters up close, sing the songs and watch the story unfold for the umpteenth time.

Disney on Ice has succeeded in a tough business, said Peter Martell, executive director of the Ice Skating Institute, a Dallas-based trade association for ice arena owners and operators.

A night at the ice show can be expensive and inconvenient, since many of the venues are located in downtown areas away from the suburbs, he said.

``The ice skating show business has gotten tougher,'' said Martell, who worked for a division of the now-defunct Ice Capades. ``There are so many other forms of entertainment competing for the entertainment dollar.''

Disney on Ice sees its main competition not as other ice shows, but children's musical theatrical productions taken from television such as ``Blue's Clues Live'' and ``Sesame Street Live.''

Disney shows aren't so much about ice skating as they are about bringing the magic of the stories to life.

Before the Disney shows, Feld Entertainment staged Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice, which were figure skating exhibitions by top skating talent.

But when television began airing skating competitions regularly, that formula lost its appeal, said Jerry Bilik, the musical and theatrical director of Disney on Ice.

Those exhibitions were similar to the shows featuring Olympic medalists such as Stars on Ice and Champions on Ice, which draw large crowds interested in watching the world's top skaters.

``It's a totally different audience,'' said Lynn Plage, director of media relations for Champions on Ice, which will feature the Utah Olympic competitors in July shows in Long Beach and Anaheim. ``This is a show that's more adult driven and appeals to those who are interested in the athletics and entertainment.''

With the Disney production, the skating is used to emphasize the emotion, Bilik said.

``The physical movements of the skaters, if you put them in the right order, act like a close-up in a film. If it comes at the right point in the music and story, it has a dramatic effect,'' he said.

It's nine months from planning to premiere of a Disney on Ice show, which can cost upward of $8 million to produce.

Other shows now touring are ``Toy Story,'' ``Toy Story 2,`` ``Disney on Ice Classics,'' ``100 Years of Disney Magic'' and ``Jungle Adventures,'' which made its Southland run in December and January.

Bilik said ``Beauty and the Beast'' was an easy show to coordinate because it was a musical to begin with, scored by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.

The classic tale, which was released as a movie by Disney in 1991, is about enchantment and love between a beautiful young girl and a hideous beast. The movie is the only animated film to be nominated for a best- picture Academy Award.

The challenge for Bilik came not in choreography, but in animating tea cups, chandeliers and other objects.

``To (get the audience to) believe that Cogsworth and Lumiere are essentially humans, it's very, very complicated,'' he said.

Bilik even donned the 50-plus-pound Beast costume to figure out how to change the Beast into a prince in real time, ``on the ice in front of 10,000 people.''

It was done, but Bilik refuses to say how. He doesn't want to ruin the surprise for the audience.

Bilik and producer Kenneth Feld, who also produces Siegfried and Roy and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, are hypersensitive to the audience's reactions.

``If we see a rustling on the other side of the arena, we start sweating. It's very consciously designed to keep people enthralled,'' Bilik said.

``That's the secret weapon, the time control, the pacing. There's something near the end of two hours that's a surprise. It's the same with the circus: You don't know what's coming next.''

DISNEY ON ICE PRODUCTION OF 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST'

Where and when: Great Western Forum, Inglewood, Thursday through March 17; Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, March 20-24.

Tickets: Forum: $10 to $20 general admission, $32 for VIP seats; Arrowhead Pond: $10 to $21 general admission, $35 VIP, $50 front row seats.

Information: Ticketmaster, [phone] or [phone]; www.disneyonice.com.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) MICE CAPADES

Disney on Ice brings kids' favorite characters out of cold storage

(2 -- cover -- color) ``Beauty and the Beast''

(3 -- cover -- color) Tarzan in ``Jungle Adventures''

(4 -- color) Belle and the Beast (in his human incarnation) enjoy a happy ending in the Disney on Ice production of ``Beauty and the Beast,'' which comes to the Southland this month.

(5 -- 6 -- color) A Tavern Barrel Jumper, left, gives the ice show a dose of acrobatics. Disney on Ice has five other productions running across the country, including ``Jungle Adventures,'' above, featuring Kaa the snake.