Unqualified hit is latest VPA milestone

As Valley residents, we have so much that contributes to our favorable quality of life. The area's natural beauty, and the wealth of recreation opportunities it brings, is perhaps the most obvious.

Recent years' growth has brought quality-of-life enhancing progress of the more manmade kind. Although that growth has diminished a bit of the community's overall small-town feel, enough remains for people to still feel, in large part, that they know and can trust their neighbors.

It is the human threads that make up the better part of any community tapestry. The Valley's burgeoning arts scene is evidence of this. It enhances our general sense of humanity, whether we are arts practitioners or appreciaters.

One of the longest running acts of the Mat-Su arts scene is theater company Valley Performing Arts. A community staple for the last 32 years, VPA has made a name for itself by bringing often high-quality theater to audiences. Along the way, it has marked a number of milestones and celebrated more than a few successes.

There may be no bigger success for VPA than its most recent one - the selling out of the entire run of its current production, the Disney favorite &#8220Beauty and the Beast.” Bolstered by word of mouth from its opening weekend of performances at the end of last month, the production's remaining seats sold out quickly, despite an unprecedented six-week, 24-performance run.

The length of the run is not the only way &#8220Beauty and the Beast” made local theater history. The show also boasts VPA's largest cast and crew ever, the largest stage and the largest budget and royalty payment.

The business of theater is fraught with challenges, and VPA has been no stranger to them over the years. No matter the magnitude of the challenge, though, VPA has survived.

The success of &#8220Beauty and the Beast” shows VPA also has thrived. In many ways, it is the company's most ambitious undertaking to date, and Valley audiences are the beneficiaries.

Congratulations to Valley Performing Arts on this auspicious milestone.