Reviews

Beauty And The Beast is not just one of my favourite Disney films (come on… everyone has one!) but one of my favourite films of all time.  Would this production of the musical live up to the magic of the cartoon?

Well, I've seen it before, so I know that it does a pretty good job. The superlative songs of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken could be stuck in the world's worst musical and still remain as wonderful and witty as ever. 

Strong singing cast

Thankfully, they're done justice by the strong singing of the entire cast – in fact, it's some of the songs written specifically for the musical itself, after the sad passing of lyricist Ashman, that fare better. 

Both Ashley Oliver as Belle and Matthew Cammelle as Beast give show-stopping renditions of their solo numbers, If I Can't Love Her and A Change In Me. On the other hand, I didn't feel Oliver's acting was particularly strong and there were problems with diction for the whole cast. 

Whilst Ben Harlow's preening Gaston stole every scene within his muscular grasp with his expert clowning, I was not a fan Ben Stock's portrayal of Lumiere as a completely sex-crazed candlestick, with a French accent that disappeared and reappeared with more frequency than a magician's assistant – although everyone else loved him, he was outclassed and outshone by Sophia Thierens' coquettish feather-duster, Babette.

Size and space

The main problems of this tour are the practicalities of size and space – does an ensemble of seven actually qualify for a mob in The Mob Song?! – and some of the ensemble numbers can seem distinctly underpowered. Not, however, a problem for Be My Guest, which truly remains the all-singing, all-dancing, firework-popping and crowd-pleasing highlight of the show. 

I'm reliably informed that when Disney themselves produce the musical, with a bigger ensemble on bigger stages (and with a presumably bigger budget), the whole thing is much more magnificent.

The stunning transformation of Beast to Prince is the stuff of theatre legend and apparently a closely-guarded secret, explained with 'it's that Disney magic'. 

Sprinklings of magic

This production does indeed have sprinklings of that Disney magic, that are sure to please first-time viewers and children, yet needs lashings more of the stuff to be truly spectacular.