Beauty and the Beast

Back to the Welfare I went for the end of my Panto season and what was to be my second version of Beauty and the Beast. I do love this story and was really pleased to see The Welfare so busy for the Saturday matinee, which in fairness always does well for Glantawe. I must start with the technical aspect of the panto. The Welfare doesn’t give you much space on stage but the set, hired from Rainbow Valley Productions was perfect in size, not overwhelming and gave a “Disney” feel but still staying within the remit of Panto. The show opened with a very cleaver use of gauze, which when used well can be effective. The story, known to millions (so I won’t go into a lot of detail there), begins with “how the beast became the beast” and this as stated was very well done. Adaptations on this story line were great and I was pleased that there were twists all over the place. It made for a very enjoyable afternoon in Panto land.

Usually, I would start with cast, but I will start with Creatives this time. I was delighted to see Danni Gravell’s name as MD for this Panto. Danni brings a wealth of experience, energy and precision that is required. Despite being a Panto, it is important to get your principals and ensemble singing well and Danni got the best out of them. Direction from Rhodri Evans was clear, precise, yet allowed for the silliness of Panto that is of course needed. Choreography was on point and gave everyone in the Panto enough to do, but without making it overly complicated. It is very easy to go too far with Panto and all creatives balanced it really well.

The cast were led by Megan Nottingham (Isabelle) and Randy Smartnick (Beast). They played these roles very well indeed and had enough classic “Beauty & The Beast” in them but retained the requirement for Panto as well. It very easy to dip into the Disney brand but they delivered perfectly. Some of the version I have seen stay quite close to the original characters, but I was relieved to see Glantawe hadn’t done that. Desibelle played by Erin Maggs and Baby-Belle played by Dana Kerswell were really funny. Gav-scon played by Malcolm Lee Bentley, what can I say? Perfectly cast, very well delivered and I did laugh out loud quite a few times at the terrible one liners, which incidentally were perfect for the Character. Rennie is side kick was played by the ever-reliable Lowri Paynter, who had the audience going being the goofy daft character that was needed. Panto requires a lot of good comedy and this was provided in abundance by Anthony Evans as Didi Domestique and Russell Rees as Willy Domestique. The report with the audience was excellent and the kids loved these characters for the whole panto. Quirky one liners, great timing and audience interaction. Theres always a Fairy and for this panto Leah Hopkins was spot on! Funny, talented and delivered her songs so well for the whole panto.

Then we move to our supporting characters – Pierre played by David Treseder, Prince played by Gruffudd Watkins, Young Prince played by Oli Medlicott, Alpha Wolf -Kyle Treseder, Enchantress – Dana Maskell and the Young Princes BFF - Amy Jones and Katie Patton. All of these cast gave absolutely everything to supporting their principal cast and every time they were on stage, they produced a great performance, integral to the story. Massive shout out to the ensemble and Juniors from Glantawe, who genuinely looked like they were having a ball on that stage. A very good job done by all involved.

Thank you once again for the invite and I look forward to seeing your Juniors in May for Sister Act Jr.

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