Beauty and the Beast

David Swan’s version of Beauty and the Beast is very different from the Disney one.  No Belle, no Gaston and no fading rose.  A nasty King who works a spell on his brother by turning him into a beast.  Two annoying traffic wardens work for King Jasper and interfere with the lives of the villagers of Cabaret.  The BonBon kids are trying to find a new dad for their mum Widow BonBon and the love interest Dr Tootle arrives on scene with his daughter Bonnie who is enticed by the King but falls for the Beast. 

I appreciate the obvious effort from the whole cast who all clearly worked hard.  With such a large cast I cannot mention everyone by name but I must mention the excellent performances from Fiona Smith (King Jasper) and Nicole Drury (Bonnie).  Some good work too from Fairy Rose, Beast, Widow BonBon and the BonBon Kids, who were all well supported by the Traffic Wardens, Dr Tootle and, of course, the young and enthusiastic Chorus.    

As always it was lovely to see a mixture of ages on the stage.  I was very impressed with the way the young members performed the songs and choreography.  They all knew the lyrics and dance moves and all exuded an aura of enjoyment which was good to see.  It is a pleasure to see the emergence of the young talent coming through the ranks of the society. 

Gemma Pollitt made her directorial debut with this show and also handled the choreography.  Pantomime is very difficult to direct as there are so many strands which have to be pulled together.   So many hours of time and effort go into getting the production to performance level.  The costumes were lovely and colourful and the scenery and props were excellent. There were though times when the production struggled technically particularly in the second half when the pace dropped noticeably.  In order to get and keep the audience involved panto needs energy, pace and attack. 

Well done on your first foray into directing Gemma Pollitt, I hope you enjoyed the process.

Thank you WTG for inviting me along once again.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.