Beauty & the Beast

Even though I will never 100% admit it, I do secretly love a good Panto! Beauty and The Beast at Stourbridge Town Hall is my first experience of a Panto written by Alan P. Fray which was directed by Steve Humpherson. This is also my first experience of enjoying the talent of Stourbridge Pantomime Company.

Prior to the show, The company gave a warm and enthusiastic welcome. The audience eagerly grabbed their seats and soaked up the atmosphere with expectation. This enthusiasm and excitement easily became infectious. It was hard not to smile at everybody in the audience and on stage having such a good time!

It was a very entertaining show packed full of excellent performances. The dynamics of the music was very effective, Musical Director George Stuart and his musicians stealing the show at times. The Choreography by Amy Williams was very professional with some excellent use of space and surrounding areas of the stage; with all of the dancers a joy to watch. Each dance routine had a little quality moment which stood out. This company meant business!

The set, lights, including the imaginative use of strobe and the sound direction alongside a well-oiled stage management crew all blended into a terrific evening with well executed scene changes. Overall, the performers in the show delivered some brilliant jokes with some excellent comedy timing and tongue in cheek fun. There was a nice mix of in-jokes, double entendres, audience participation and some laugh out loud physical comedy moments. The pace in Act One was snappy, sharp and comfortably established. Act Two lost a little at the start but picked up again, gathering pace towards a magnificent Spanish finale!

The main characters of Belle (Sophie Ruddick) and Prince Danton, AKA The Beast! (Jonathan Hunt) delivered a sweet and confident performance together. Good Fairy Flora (Sami Brasenell) and Bad Fairy Belladonna (Julia Tromans) were an absolute pleasure to watch.  Whitney and Britney (Belle’s Sisters) played by Dawn Shillingford and Emily Jeavons had some of the best interactions with the majority of the cast and with their delightful broad Black Country accent made the characters very lovable, even though the sisters took advantage of their father, Alphonse (Peter Goldsmith). The sisters selfishly took their father’s money to pay for their “beauty treatments” to try and impress the ‘Hottest Hunk’ this side of Halesowen, Gustave (Ricky Hammond) who played the part perfectly with the right amount of conceit. Also playing alongside Gustave was Monsieur Le Fou (Ben Simpson). He impressed with excellent physical characterisation and a great French Accent.

Marcel (Adam Chester) and Monique (Sammy Tromans) worked at a Beauty Parlour and were happy to accept the money from the sisters for their (lost cause) beauty treatments. They brought a new level of comedy into the mix and drove the show forward. One of the highlights of the show involved Marcel, Monique, Whitney, Britney, a neck massager and a steam room!

Finally, “The sun never shines in Lye”, but it shone on Hattie Rudge who played Jacques. Hattie made the stage come alive with every line delivered with such fun, energy and presence. Jacque’s Mother, Madam (Made in France) Fifi, played by David Shaw was classically suited to play the dame and was perfectly cast. Truly excellent stand out performances from both.

Every single person involved in this production, the entire company on and off stage, the dancers, musicians, actors, stage management and the director should be very proud of this show. There were many ample opportunities to showcase the talent of the company and the audience loved being part of it; Including the brilliant Penguin Dance!

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