Beauty and the Beast

Banishing the band to the back of the stage for a musical presentation might diminish the sense of occasion, but there is no denying that this production of “Beauty and the Beast” really made the most of the benefits of this choice.  The sound balance between the band and the performers was pretty good throughout, and the company numbers in particular gained in immediacy by being pushed well forward into the auditorium.  The upstage structure provided plenty of levels as well as interesting entrances and exits, in keeping with a fairytale castle, while the painted flats, evoking the original animated film, demonstrated the skills of the set-building team.  The challenge of the petal-shedding rose, central to the plot, was neatly solved using animations on a large television screen, and a passage behind the screen allowed for rapid transitions between scenes in different parts of the castle.  It was evident that everything had been carefully thought through.

If good planning provided the foundations for this impressive production, the gloss was derived from some fine performances in leading roles.  Belle’s rejection of the superficial Gaston was revealed as a necessary precursor to her falling for the Beast, as we understand that she is able to look past the public persona to see the soul within.  Transformed from a Prince because of his lack of charity, the Beast can only revert to human form through falling in love and being loved in return, and here the characterisation charted the narrow path between being sufficiently unattractive to provide the necessary jeopardy, and being vulnerable and kind enough for love to be a possibility.  Add in Belle’s eccentric father, her brutish and narcissistic suitor and an array of enchanted servants, and set the story to a truly memorable score by Alan Menken, and you have everything you need for an engaging and entertaining evening’s entertainment.

“Beauty and the Beast” was clearly a popular choice with the Society’s membership, and there were apparently 65 performers in the company.  They certainly packed the stage in “Belle”, and the range of properties, costumes and clearly-defined roles gave this village scene interest and colour.  The downturn in the hospitality business clearly hadn’t reached Gaston’s local, which was packed with happy revellers, while the show-stopping “Be Our Guest” included some impressive tap breaks in which the troupe ensured that they kept their smiles in place and their eyes off the floor, and an energetic can-can to provide a suitably flamboyant finale.  This number also included a hugely ambitious “Busby Berkeley” routine: the patterns weren’t obvious from the stalls, but no sooner had I thought that the scene would look great from above than I realised that it was actually being projected live onto the cyclorama from an overhead camera.

One benefit of having such a large company to work with was that the choruses were strongly sung.  The men, although seriously outnumbered, were able to make themselves heard in the harmonies, most notably in “Human Again”, a number in which the top sopranos also had an opportunity to shine.  The musical discipline extended to the band, with a melancholic solo violin adding poignancy to reflective moments, and the glockenspiel effects amongst the keyboards sounding both authentic and atmospheric.  The hired costumes captured the essence of the animated film – I particularly liked Cogsworth’s clock and Madame de la Grande Bouche’s wardrobe – but no less impressive were LeFou’s character-defining suit and Belle’s Disney Princess dresses.

The whole production was a celebration of the magic of the theatre.  The director’s clear vision, the choreographer’s eye for spectacle and the musical director’s musicianship combined to create a memorable show; a real community effort elevated by many fine performances in leading roles; an inclusive endeavour in which every member of the company had opportunities to shine and which provided a chance for local youngsters to develop their stage skills.  The technical challenges presented by this much-loved musical, and the limitations of the theatre, were confronted head-on through imagination and invention, and I can’t believe that anyone in the audience left the theatre without a smile on their face and a tune in their head.  Congratulations to everyone involved.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.