Beauty and the Beast Jr

Young Nomads’ production of Beauty and the Beast Jr, directed by Sarah Smith with choreography by Rori Saxby and musical direction from Will Cahill, brought the familiar Disney tale to life with charm, enthusiasm, and impressive talent from its young cast. The youth version of the musical is already fast-paced and colourful, and this company embraced that energy with a performance full of commitment and heart.

The cast was ably led by Courtney Parker as Belle. Courtney captured both Belle’s gentle naivety and her fierce inner strength wonderfully. She should be commended for her strong vocals, which shone throughout but particularly in her solo number ‘Home’.  Paired with Lucas Araujo as the Beast the couple portrayed the blossoming of the relationship between Belle and the Beast delightfully. Lucas had good physical presence and handled the final transformation scene well; however, he was let down by the technical issues which plagued the show of which more will be discussed later. Ted Piccaver as Maurice, Lydia Macdonald as Gaston and Maisy Cox as LeFou all had strong characterisation and did an excellent job in their roles. The song ‘Gaston’ was incredibly funny and Maisey and Lydia should be proud of their efforts in leading such a complicated number. La Filles, played by Bella Newman, Olivia Rowan and Hollie Hartwell, had impeccable comedic timing as well as strong vocals and stole the show with their dramatic reactions to Gaston’s every action.

The individuals portraying the cursed household objects had the most challenging job and rose to the challenge spectacularly. Payton Owen-Drawbridge and Emily Philpott worked well together, giving life to the opposing characters of Cogsworth and Lumiere, respectively. Phoebe Sermon brought charm and warmth to her performance as Mrs Potts, and the characterisations of Phoebe Woodcock as Babette and Maria Lord as Madame de la Grande Bouche were also sound. Zoey Manning as Chip gave a cheeky and charming performance that the audience clearly adored. The standout in this group was, without a doubt, Emily Philpott’s Lumiere. Emily had wonderful stage presence and maintained both her character's physical stance and tricky French accent throughout. Her ability to sing so beautifully as demonstrated in ‘Be Our Guest’, with a French accent, whilst remembering she was portraying a candlestick was no easy feat and she was marvellous. While not all cast members fully embodied these physical characteristics of their roles, the effort was evident, and these skills will naturally strengthen with time.

This show suffered greatly from its technical issues. The music was far too loud and I understand from speaking with the director that the microphones unfortunately could not compensate for the lack of projection from the cast, meaning it was difficult to hear a substantial portion of the dialogue and the vocals in many of the songs. This was such a shame because what could be heard was very good and it was clear Cahill and the cast had worked hard on the music but their efforts could not be heard clearly. While a handful of vocals were occasionally off pitch, the cast’s overall energy and commitment to the music shone through. The choreography was effective and cleverly made use of spotlighting the more proficient dancers in larger numbers, such as ‘Gaston’. The costumes were fabulous and were impressively produced in-house; the team should be incredibly proud of pulling off some very tricky designs so effectively.

This show was a joy to experience despite its technical issues the entire cast and crew should be immensely proud of themselves.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.