Beauty And The Beast Review
As an Aussie I never really understood the UK’s obsession with pantos. Having now been to Aladdin at Watford Palace Theatre and now Beauty and The Beast: the spellbinding pantomime at Richmond Theatre within the last 2 weeks, I’m starting to get an idea of why they are a beloved tradition.
We all know the tale as old as time. A handsome prince turns away an older woman, only for her to turn into a beautiful enchantress and curse the prince and the castle. In order to reverse the curse he must find true love before the last petal falls from a rose. Belle, the beauty of the village, sacrifices herself for her family and becomes the Beast’s prisoner. Can Beast learn that true beauty lies within and can Belle see beyond the Beast before the last petal falls?
Written by Alan McHugh, it does follow a clear structure though Belle and Beast’s romance felt a little rushed which did undermine the theme of beauty within. We were expecting the usual ‘he’s behind you’ lines but these didn’t come though there were plenty of other panto techniques used including shoutouts, sing-a-longs, spraying water guns at the audience and little ones coming on stage. There’s also relevant modern issues mentioned such as the winter fuel allowance and Elon Musk. The story is set in the kingdom of Richmond, so I didn’t get some of the more local references but these received big laughs from the more local crowd.
TV actress Dame Maureen Lipman returns to Richmond to star as Mrs Potty. She had some great ad-libs. Comedian and magician Pete Firman plays Silly Billy, Belle’s best friend. He is engaging and holds our attention whether performing magic tricks or assisting young children on stage. Ben Stock plays Dame Betty Bouffant. This year is Ben’s 19th season with Crossroads Pantomimes. These three leads play extremely well of each other. The funniest moments were actually when they broke character. One time was due to a prop being broken which caused the stage manager to come out and ask who was not playing the trombone at 4am in the morning. The other was a tongue twister- she sells sea shells. There’s no way I could say even a few sentences of the tongue twister sequence or keep going whilst laughing so well done!
Hope Dawe plays Belle and Luke McCall plays The Beast. We enjoyed their rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” whilst dancing against a starry night sky. Jason Leigh Winter plays Flash Harry, with most of the audience cheering him especially when he was flexing his muscles. Cherece Richards is underplayed as The Enchantress but has a fabulous voice and her duet with McCall at the end of Act 1 was superb. The ensemble includes: Imogen Amos, Ethan Atkinson, Meg Darcy, George Deller, Hollie Kate and Catherine Puri.
The costumes were a very bright and colourful. Mrs Potty’s costume included a teapot on her head and the skirt shaped like a teapot. The famous dancing dishes scene with a candelabra and grandfather clock did not disappoint. The puppetry with the wolves in the forest and hip-hopping ghosts were two scenes that stood out as highlights.
Beauty and the Beast is produced by Crossroads Pantomimes, who are the world’s biggest pantomime producer, producing 23 pantomimes across the UK each year.
A light-hearted, feel-good show that’s family friendly. Beauty and The Beast performs until 5th January. Tickets from £13.
Address: Richmond theatre, 1 Little Green, TW9 1QH.
Telephone: 0844 871 7615
Website: https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/richmondtheatre
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/RichmondTheatre
Twitter: @RichmondTheatre
Written by Caitlin Neal
