Beauty and the Beast

“Beauty and the Beast” is a pantomime based on the much loved story of Beauty and the Beast. This production is from an original script by John Dowell, it has been very well crafted and is full of good clean family entertainment, is very funny and packed with lots of audience participation.

The direction by John Dowell was excellent, it had a great pace, which is essential for pantomime, was well rehearsed and the staging was very good. Leigh Smith’s musical direction was very good too, some great music choices that were all performed perfectly. The choreography by Juliet Lennox was slick and well performed.

Without exception the cast all performed well. Mark Belson in the role of Gaston really captured the arrogance of his character with good humour. John Dowell as Betty Baguette was very funny and had a great rapport with the audience. Vicky Amies as Fairy Bonbon had a lovely accent and a delightful team of Littlie Dancers who came on stage with her and clearly had a lot of fun performing alongside her. Rachel Smith as Grimelda gave us an opportunity to boo and hiss. Chris Lay was excellent as Phillippe Floppe and he too had a good relationship with the audience. Annette Cowell was great as the scatty Professor Craquepotte. Leah Scott was a beautiful and delightful Belle. James Down was a dashing Prince Fabulous / The Beast; he managed the contrast between the characters very well. Robyn Billingham as Tik-Tok, Juliet Lennox as Candlewick and Julie Davenport as Mrs Brew all gave excellent character performances. Special mention must go to the Ensemble who danced and performed well throughout the pantomime.

The scenery and props were all excellent. The costumes were stunning. The lighting was outstanding and the sound quality was very good too.

Thank you to all at Dreams ‘N’ Wishes for this wonderful, colourful and highly entertaining performance of “Beauty and the Beast”.

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