Beauty and the Beast

Based on the 1991 Disney film, Beauty and the Beast tells the story of Belle, a bright young woman who trades her freedom to save her father from an enchanted, monstrous Beast. Within his castle, Belle teaches the cursed Beast to love and be loved, breaking a spell, saving him from a vengeful mob led by Gaston, and turning him back into a prince.

Utilising the depth of the Norbury stage, a good sounding band led by Stephen Watkins, was located at the rear of the stage against a sparkling star cloth and with a short narration explaining the transformation of the Beast, the atmosphere was set. Belle played by Alecsandra Gheorghe was excellent; a lovely voice and a great caring disposition who loved her books. Despite his advances the charming but arrogant Gaston, played well by Noah Glyde, is totally surprised with Belle’s rejection of him.  She would rather read a book! Gaston’s sidekick Lafou was also well played by Georgie Levine, with great energy and a fine voice.

I liked Belle’s father Maurice played well by Max Price, an eccentric inventor and loving father, prepared to do ‘No Matter What’ for his daughter. When Maurice discovers a castle, he meets the Beast within. Linus Hughes as the Beast, with a magnificent costume, provided some brilliant acting throughout. He will spare Maurice’s life if he will swop with Belle.  I felt the changing relationship with Belle, from aggression and terrifying in appearance, to kindness and sensitivity was excellent.  Gheorghe’s song about how she was missing ‘Home’ was beautiful. ‘Gaston’ sung in the tavern was a great company number too.

In the meantime, we meet the characters at the Castle; Whizz Byrne was bright as a button as Cogsworth, along with Chip (Charlie Barker) and as Lumiere Cameron Morris, had a great accent, a charming stage presence, often light hearted and an eye for the flirtatious Babette, well played by Elizabeth Tresadern and a good dancer. I also liked Mimi Groves providing items from her wardrobe as Madame De La Grande Bouche. There were many more characters, all beautifully dressed and contributing to a great picture. ‘Be our Guest’ was a great company number near the end of Act 1 following which Hughes displayed great feeling with ‘If I Can’t Love her’ expressing his concern about his inability to love.

Opening Act 2 Belle goes for a walk in the wood, becomes alarmed by the wolves (Eve Bakewell & Mabel Phillips) and is saved by the Beast, at which point they begin to notice feelings for each other, which was very well acted. The enchanted objects express their hope of becoming human again, following which Dimmock sings the iconic ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and a rather sensitive moving moment followed when the Beast and Belle meet and dance together. When Belle announced, she must go to her father, the Beast agreed and Gheorghe sang of the change in her with great control. Meanwhile Gaston leads the villagers to attack the castle which is another good company number, Gaston shoots the Beast and when Belle returns to find the Beast and tells him she loves him, his transition to Prince and the objects to humans is very well staged.

This production was an absolute delight and I congratulate director Alec Fellows-Bennett and the entire creative team. 

Bruce Wyatt, Regional Representative, District 10

I was delighted to be invited as a guest to a superb production of Beauty and the Beast. Bruce has described the band location which was effective. The set was simple in design but it worked wonderfully with the rose depicted along with stain glass windows.

The opening was very cleverly depicted and removed the need for the prince to change into the beast. The transformation at the end was well stage with good use of lighting. The use of lighting was good throughout the show.

There can be no doubt on the vocal quality and acting of Alecsandra as Belle along with the other named characters. The choreography throughout was well constructed.  The quality of the band was wonderful and enabled me to not only enjoy the wonderful score but also hear every word.                                           

The ensemble was large; I was pleased to see how they interacted well with each other and the main characters and were fully enagaged.

This was a show I could have willingly watched all over again. 

Andy Brown, Regional Councillor NODA West Midlands.

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