Beauty and the Beast

In true pantomime style, once again RATC are on to a winner this year, playing to a sell out house every night. The company delivered Christmas spirit and enthusiastic audience participation, by cramming the evening full of excellent chorus numbers, trios, duets and solos. The standard as usual was dazzling, including a star studded cast and excited youth members to make any parent proud. The “behind you” sequence,  to the ghostbusters theme, had the kids in the audience screaming out in excitement.The scene changes were slick and the band was a flawless accompaniment. The prologue introduced the good and evil characters Flora (Rachel Falconer) and Belladonna (Amy Welsh). I’ll leave you to guess who was good and who was evil. Both held the audience in their spell and they accomplished everything that their role required. The awakening village of Franglais-sur-Mer was the perfect bright and colourful scene to introduce Belle (Aimee Richardson) the heroine of the story. She gave a lovely, engaging  performance throughout proving how worthy she was to take such a large demanding role.  Her pairing with Prince Danton (Sam Johnston) worked really well, and also with The Beast (Steve Hartley-Oliver). Both men, very different in stature, which was appropriate, were perfectly cast and produced excellent solos, ‘I’m on my Way’ and ‘Someone You Loved’. Comedy came in numerous forms in this show. An excellent duo as sisters to Belle, Whitney (Tracey Borthwick) with I think yorkshire? accent and Britney (Emma Wilson), in a more squeaky tone, in their quest for a man contributed greatly to the show’s overall success. Marcel and Monique (Stewart Mitchell and Amanda Blacklock), both stalwarts with exceptional singing, acting, dancing talent, including ‘reading the news’, proved to be a tour de force, by never missing an opportunity to take the frontline in OTT psychedelic colour. Their salon shenanigans, while ‘Putting on the Ritz’ were a colourful highlight as they endeavoured to give Madame Fifi (Jodie Miller) a new pantomime hairdo. Fifi was the epitome of a comic pantomime dame. Taking charge; running the show; engaging the audience; mistress of quick changes; scaring the ghost and even arranging the Beast’s hairdo and dancing lessons! What more could we ask for. Superb!  The popular and bouncy Jacques  (Billy Rooney), was a reliable, constant character from start to finish, as was the father figure Alphonse, perfectly suited to Scott Robertson.  In a RATC debut performance as Gustave  Craig Douglas was perfect for the role. In professing, “I’m Your Man”, he strutted his stuff as the arrogant womaniser, desperate to woo Belle. Amongst the many highlights in Act 1, RATC’s excellent group of youngsters performed ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’ in the guise of bees, ladybirds, butterflies and spiders. In Act 2 the youngsters stepped back in time where there was even an Oor Wullie look-a-like as part of an homage to the old games and songs which included Coulter’s Candy. As the pace stepped up towards the finale, with a well choreographed fight between Gustave and The Beast, the effective transformation of the Prince gave the whole cast a reason to celebrate with ‘I’m Still Standing’.  A wow! for Fifi’s Christmas tree dress. Thank you for a fabulous night’s entertainment. Congratulations everyone!

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