Beauty And The Beast The Broadway Musical

Beauty And The Beast The Broadway Musical is an iconic show. It has certain subliminal expectations from the audience of specific colour themes, accents, props and costumes. It is not a show where anything can be given artistic licence, therefore I was very excited to go and see All Saints Elton Theatre Company`s production of it.

We arrived to an open minimalistic set with a fabulous rich purplish blue colour wash, a huge projection screen at the rear of the stage already set with the Disney projection title and two sets of balustrades – one mounted on a low rostron, the other floor mounted.

This production was accompanied by tracks which Musical Director Martin Wadsworth had obviously well drilled his cast over as the harmonies were nice and tight. There was attack and no hesitation for the start of the vocals in both the ensemble and the principal numbers - I especially enjoyed “Belle”, each individual in the number came in clear and strong. The choreography by Samantha Tarrier was interesting with lots going on and lots of general movement on the stage. My favourite number was definitely “Gaston “ – it is a make or break number for the ensemble, it is quite long, a bit repetitive and needs strong, hard, solid vocals all the way through it only marries with some high energy choreography - I am pleased to say that neither Samantha nor the ensemble did not disappoint. They clashed their tankards and flung their legs about with gusto and great enjoyment!  The sound by Stephen Davies was fairly consistent throughout, although at the very beginning, we couldn’t hear the narrator Maureen Tarrier, whether that was mic movement when the full costume went on or gremlins in the system, I am unsure, but for the rest of the cast it was fine for the rest of the performance. The balance between the vocals and the tracks was good – the music still enveloped you without drowning you.

The lighting by Jonathan Skinner and Keira Ward-Kelly from Technical_Event_Creative_Hire was good and created a great atmosphere. Personally I would have liked the wolf scene in the woods to have been a bit darker, but I do appreciate that it is difficult when you know you will have very small children in the audience. The set was very minimalistic with the projections from Broadway Media taking the lead and various other pieces being brought on, eg The Well in the village, Belle`s house frontage, the cell in the Beast`s castle, the bed in Belle`s bedroom in the castle and the table for the dinner to solidify the specific scenes in the tale. They appeared quite seamlessly by Trev Brown and his backstage crew with no exceptionally long blackouts. The props by Carol Parry were complimentary to the scenes and were handled competently by the cast.The costumes by Utopia Theatrical Costumes were bright and colourful with the principals instantly recognisable. I do know that the ensemble had cries of disbelief when the plates costume arrived – especially with it measuring 4 feet across, however when they were on stage they moved about with ease and grace and had no crashes.

Chris Terry as Maurice (Belle`s Father) used his stage space well. He projected out towards the audience and his bumbling characterisation was spot on. His gentleness towards Belle (Tilly Smith) was unforced and very natural looking. In return, Tilly Smith (Belle) showed some lovely chemistry in her scenes with Chris. She too had a lovely solid characterisation, her utter distaste and disdain for Gaston (Matthew Flemming) positively shone through her performance right down to her fingertips. Her vocals were beautiful with both strength and her characters sense of naivety. Tilly`s performance of “A Change In Me” was beautifully controlled - her facial expressions when she was finding herself falling in love with The  Beast were well presented to the audience so we got a sense of what was going on in her head. She used her stage space well and showed some nice chemistry with all the other characters throughout the performance.

Adam Moss as Le Fou had a super strong characterisation and his interactions with Gaston (Matthew Flemming ) were great. He was oily and creepy, yet still managed to retain some threads of decency. Personally I particularly enjoyed the very small exchange between him and Belle about the scarf that he had found in the woods. I also thoroughly enjoyed the musical number with Gaston “ Gaston”. The chemistry between Adam and Matthew (Gaston) was very evident. Matthew Flemming was every inch his character Gaston, in real life he had even taken on a lot of physical training to make his physique more like Gaston`s - he strutted about the stage in his boots totally owning every inch, he delivered his vocals well, he was chauvinistic, sneering, self centred and conceited and we (the audience) loved him! Charlotte Hammond, Helen Shaw and Charlotte Crowley played the three Les Filles La Ville. They were fluttery, coquettish and sneering. They had some great comedic pushing and shoving moments, Charlotte Crowley in particular seemed to enjoy her characterisation and gave some great facial expressions to the audience.

I was very intrigued as to how Chris White, a very strong Liverpudlian, was going to get his tongue around the part of the French candlestick character Lumiere. I needn`t have worried because he delivered in bucket loads! He kept his French accent very well throughout, even through vocals and his over the top arm gestures were perfect, I loved his little French flounces that he threw in at The Beast (Dave Oliver) or at Cogsworth (Tony Rostron) and his seductive wiggles at Babette (Grace Young). Tony`s portrayal of Cogsworth was spot on we could clearly envisage the very particular and stress man that he had been before the magic started to take over, he was solid and big in his arm gestures, he used his facial expressions well and kept a good front line to the audience. Jacqui Collier took on the large character of Madame De La Grande Bouche. Personally I feel that her characterisation could have been a lot bigger and much more effusive, but I do know that this is only the second production that Jacqui has been in. Laura Thompson played the gentle motherly type, Mrs Potts. She negotiated her stage space well considering her costume constraints, she delivered a pleasant rendition of “Beauty And The Beast” . She had some good facial expressions and emoted her worry well to the audience as the rose petals kept falling. Dave Oliver took on the huge role as The Beast, even with all his facial prosthetics by Rebecca Armstrong, we could clearly hear all the dialogue and could easily hear the words in the vocals. Dave`s vocals were very strong, especially in the key changes in” If I Can`t Love Her”, he used all his stage space well and showed some great chemistry with Tilly (Belle) .

The ensemble worked hard during this production, they came out with some great energy and kept it up till the end . They negotiated cumbersome costumes, props and choreography to deliver some well drilled routines.

 Both my guest and I thoroughly enjoyed both your production of Beauty And The Beast The Broadway Musical and The Beauty and The Beast cupcakes made by Elaine Williams-Jones and served to us at the interval with our drinks. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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