Disney's Beauty and the Beast the Musical

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast the Musical performed and stage by Southport Spotlights at Southport Little Theatre, Hoghton Street, Southport on Wednesday 2nd July, 2025.

Disney’s musical Beauty and the Beast, based on the 1991 animated film, is a stage adaptation with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, from a book by Linda Woolverton. I think we all know the unconventional love story between Belle, a young woman who finds herself imprisoned in the Beast's castle and the Beast, a prince cursed to an animalistic form. The musical features many iconic songs from the movie, as well as new compositions.  It premiered on Broadway in 1994 and has since been produced worldwide.

Production Team... when you see the word ‘Disney’ attached to any production your expectations always rise, you just know there’ll be iconic songs, unbelievable characters and a tale full of magic and expectation ... ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is just that and more! Tasked with bringing this Disney classic to stage was placed in the creative hands of first time Director Chloe Merone, along with the ever so experienced Adam Dutch (MD) and Pippa Morris (Choreographer)... did they rise to the challenge .... heck YES!  Energy, effort, chemistry ... all evident throughout!  We had great cast, with no real weak links ... everyone had their part to play and played it with conviction and confidence.  The cast looked great, sounded great and as soon as those lights came up, complemented and supported each other ever so well! Chloe did a great job with the casting and handled the ‘expectations’ attached to a Disney classic extremely well. Adam and his charges provided some great musical support with some wonderful harmonies created, which is a feature we’ve come to expect from all ‘Spotlights’ productions! Pippa’s choreo was ever so effective, loved the choreo in ‘The Mob Song’ especially the ‘clicking glasses’ routine clever and well executed, plus the choreo for ‘Be our Guest’ was superb... be very proud you three... great job!   

The Cast... there was a cast of thirty-seven assembled from Belle to the Beast, from a Teapot to a Talking Clock, from an arrogant/chauvinistic hunter to a trio of the most hilarious ‘silly girls’ on the planet (loved them) ...  so, if I may, let me introduce them all  ...
Molly Wilkinson played ‘Belle’, Michael Fay – ‘Beast’; Graham Padden – ‘Maurice’ (Belle’s father); Lewis Williams – ‘Gaston’; Rikki Spofforth – ‘Lefou’; Matthew Higginson – ‘Lumiere’; Stephen Hughes-Alty – ‘Cogsworth’ ; Jacqui Lewis – ‘Mrs Potts’; James Snape – ‘Chip’;  Gill Harris – ‘Madame De La Grande Bouche’; Zoe Findlay – ‘Babette’; John Delahunty – ‘Monsieur D’arque’; Kerry Baratinsky, Sarah Dutch & Abi Gibbons – Trio of ‘Silly Girls’  - THE ENSEMBLE included Abbie Sumner, Anna Dunnett-Edge,
Anna Laird, Chloe Morris, Corinna Davies, Emma Wood, Emily Blinkhorn, Emily Bloom, Jess Roach, Georgina Abram, Joanne Dorrity, Joshua Harrison-North, Kate Miles-Roberts, Katie Palfrey, Laura-Jane Palmer-Farrar, Louise Webster, Lu Woodfinden, Maddison Rose, Megan Ryan, Olivia Williams, Philippa Sandiford & Sophie Walker. 
You all probably know what comes next in any of ‘MY show reports YES - ‘Show stealer(s) and favourites’ ... MY favourites, you’ll have your own, but these are mine ... and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t separate My two ‘show stealers’ our ‘two leads’ ...
Molly Wilkinson and Michael Fay (Belle and Beast), they really did steal the show for me!  Individually great... together amazing!  Both have outstanding voices... loved Belle’s rendition of ‘A Change in Me’ ... brought the house down as did Michael’s rendition of ‘If I can’t love Her. Both created totally believable characters... loved the scene when they came together, Belle reading the book to him.... be very proud you two!  Wow, this is where it becomes VERY tricky... why, because of characters like Cogsworth, Lumiere, Mrs Potts, Lefou, Gaston, Monsieur D’Arque ... Stephen Hughes-Alty, Matthew Higginson, Jacqui Lewis, Rikki Spofforth, Lewis Williams, John Delahunty and I could go on, there were so many amazing characters created, who I really shouldn’t be separating... so, be very proud each and all, you all contributed and brought this show to life! After saying all that, I do have two final favourites ... loved, loved, loved the trio of ‘Silly Girls’ ... Kerry, Abi and Sarah... right up my street, mannerisms, facial expression, hilarious, missed you in Act 2 girls.  Final favourite ... was a song, sung to perfection by Jacqui Lewis telling us all about a ‘tale as old as time’ the timeless classic ‘Beauty and the Beast’.  Wow ... me and a number of others sat near me were searching for a tissue, great song, great scene, another that brought the house down! Honestly, if I haven’t mentioned you directly, please be assured that you didn’t go unnoticed, this really was a total ‘team effort’ with everyone contributing ... be proud!

Staging/Tech/Set... thought the set was effective throughout using every inch of available space. Loved the two-tier castle set up which offered and provided so many opportunities. Scenes were created and enhanced by adding stage furniture which was done really well, although the pitfalls of moving scenery safely were highlighted during a solo by the Beast, when a fountain, brought on in blackout, set directly behind him, created an obstacle which he almost tumbled over when exiting. SOUND was great, just a tad loud I felt in Act 1 and I did over hear a few murmurings about the orchestra being a little loud during the interval ... but I felt all that was addressed during that interval and we had a much better balance in Act 2  LIGHTING... was creative and worked really well, although if I’m being ‘super picky’, I did feel it was a little dark at times and I would have loved ‘Mrs Potts’ to have been a little more illuminated during her wonderful rendition of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ although I think I understood why she wasn’t ... for fear of taking the ‘limelight’ from Belle and the Beast romantic dancing duo!  The STAGE TEAM worked extremely hard throughout, doing a wonderful job in keeping the show moving at a great pace ...  looking after all things stage wise Andrea Shacksmyth-Claire (Stage Manager & Lighting Design); Paul Shacksmyth-Claire (DSM); Simon Miller (Sound Design); Imogen Walkden-Grady, Hollie Power, Issy Housley (Stage Crew); Chris Morris (Fly’s); and Alex McKillop, James Settle and James Warren (Follow Spots)

Orchestra ... led by the ever so experienced and talented Adam Dutch (MD) with Abi Clark -Reed 1, Michael Walsh -Reed 2, Michael Grant -Reed 3, Cliff Ray-Trumpet, Thomas Edwards -Horn, Corey Gerrad -Keys 1, David Wall Keys 2, Jess Holding-Violin, Selena Farnsworth -Cello, Tom Goulding – Double Bass and Sam Jones – Percussion.  

Costumes ... OMG the costumes were stunning, a visual delight that enhanced this show ever so much provided by Triple C’s Costume Hire
Props ... as always were first class and used extremely well.

Thank you so much for inviting my wife and I to your production, your hospitality throughout and for allowing me and other to meet and chat with the cast post show.  I think we can say by the appreciation shown throughout and the standing ovation at the finale that we all thoroughly enjoyed this production... congrats!
 

Stay safe, Keep well ...
Stronger Together
Jim Briscoe ...
NODA NW
District 6 Rep
 

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