Beauty and the Beast

This was my first time at a pantomime presented by Brierley Hill Musical Theatre Company having seen ‘The Full Monty: The Musical’ in October 2023. Thank you to Ann Pollard for her warm welcome on behalf of BHMTC. I was pleased to meet Chris in his role as Chairman during the interval.

We were clearly in France at the opening of the show, symbolised by the title theme of a popular TV programme. The setting was confirmed by some rather stereotypical accents from the characters who needed to demonstrate where we were based.

Many panto traditions were kept to including the good fairy entering stage right and the baddie stage left. The good fairy – Fairy Rose (French) spoke as required in rhyme with a suitably effective costume played by Rebecca Thorne. Rebecca brought out plenty of cheer from the audience. The baddie, Countess Cruella, played with relish by Megan Luckins, received plenty of boos.

Scott Gibson played a likeable Dame Dolly with man hunting daughters Kate Laws as Lambrini and Rachel Gresswell as Chardonnay who worked well together in Barbi style. Stephen Homer played a nice French sounding Papa.

Jemma Hughes played Beauty with confidence and sang well. Jessica Skidmore was charming as Prince Louis along with Zac Psaras who played Jacque well. The self-confident ‘handsome’ villain was well portrayed by Steve Taylor.

James Lawley, as The Beast, had good voice projection as the character battled with their change from Prince Loise.

The obligatory ‘ghost routine’ involved on this occasion a suit of armour within which was Andy Skyrme.  As always finally facing the dame!

Other roles were played by Liam Pinches (the portrait), Matt Hickman and Ben Cooper (GiGi the pantomime horse) and Tom Ruff (Madam).

The large ensemble was good whether involved in dancing or chorus work and whether adult or youngsters. The opening number needed to comprise of two sections to accommodate the large number (counted about 35 at one time) and spilt out into the auditorium.  

A wonderful gauze with the title of the show and red roses was showing on entering the auditorium. This was just an introduction to the quality of the backcloths used throughout the performance. There was effective use of rotating LED lighting and snow machine.

The staging was good, however particular recognition must go to the transformation scenes involving Prince Louis and The Beast as these were seamless.

The show finale was spectacular.

An immensely strong band under the leadership of Musical Director Richard Skilbeck provided an excellent musical sound never overpowering the cast on stage. Each musical number sounded great including ‘Close Every Door’ which was wonderful. The musicians did particularly well in their accompaniment to the cast during the full packed singing of the 12 Days of Christmas.

Thank you for the invite and welcome received. I look forward to seeing all at BHMTC again in the future. Little Shop of Horrors in October 2024 and Jack and the Beanstalk in January 2025.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.