Show on at CFCC tonight after pair of interruptions Monday

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — As the saying goes, the show must go on, and it will tonight at Cape Fear Community College’s new Humanities and Fine Arts Center after some issues during the venue’s second event last night.

CFCC spokesman David Hardin said the building’s fire alarm went off within the first 15 minutes of last night’s performance of Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast.” That led to about a 20-minute delay, he said, as the theater had to be emptied.

“Everyone was extremely understanding and cooperative with the evacuation,” Hardin said.

Later during the musical’s second act, the alarm went off again leading to a much shorter delays, Hardin said.He said the alarms went off as a result of a malfunction with the smoke detectors.

After the second delay, Hardin said the center’s director decided to offer reimbursements or an exchange for tickets to another show. Hardin said ticket holders were notified of the decision last night via an e-mail, in which the school also apologized for the problems.

Hardin said crews worked all night to test equipment to find a solution so that the issues will not happen tonight for the second performance of “Beauty & the Beast” or future shows. The Humanities and Fine Arts Center officially opened Saturday with a gala performance by Liza Minnelli and the North Carolina Symphony.