A guest review from Frances Hall with a four star rating. Given this fine company's history I am not surprised. Clearly I missed a treat. Much better than the horseracing results from York. Roy Hall
Beauty and the Beast
Disney musicals are not everyone’s
cup of tea, and I think Mr Hall probably made the right decision to opt out of
this one, purely from the point of view that he is much more inclined towards
the gritty realism of a ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘West Side Story’ than this sweet
and tender adaptation of the popular children’s love story. However, he did
miss another stunningly produced offering from this talented group of
youngsters. Being a director of musicals myself, I appreciate just how much
planning and expertise Lucy O’Hare and her production team must put in before
she embarks on her two week Summer School productions. Nothing is left to
chance. The set is carefully conceived
and the means to construct it in place; the technical crew, some of the
best available in the area, are booked and primed; the Musical Director, Graham Thomson, with
hand-picked orchestra, is ready to teach complex harmonies; Lucy’s mother Gaye is
designing and making costumes (loads and wonderful for this production!). The
list goes on. I believe the principals
are auditioned and cast in advance, but beyond that everything happens in two
weeks of concentrated rehearsal. And that requires an enormous amount of
enthusiasm and solid hard graft. And, wow, what enthusiasm leaps off that
stage. No matter whether the part is big or small, chorus or principal,
everyone is having a ball.
I went to the matinee and was
predictably surrounded by wriggling, giggling, girly girls, many in replica
‘Belle’ party frocks who absolutely loved every minute. They all knew the
story, the songs and the classic ‘Be Our Guest’ routine of dancing crockery.
Wisely the production mirrored the film as closely as possible and the
characterisations kept firmly in the two dimensional, no gritty realism
required. None the less Ellie Reay was a charming and beautiful ‘Belle’, with
real maturity in her singing, and Alistair Robinson a fine balance of angry
‘Beast’ and lost soul, played with depth. All the enchanted servants were good,
although I lost some of the diction from ‘Lumiere’ (Harvey J. Eldridge) and
Babette (Abbie Mead) in otherwise fine performances. Jessica Pegram as ‘Mrs
Potts’ was particularly strong and sang the title number beautifully, sparkly
supported by her tea-cup son ‘Chip’ (Connie Jenkins-Grieg). Cameron Hay was
having a whale of a time with his excellent he-man ‘Gaston’ and was ably
supported by an ebullient Harry Rodgers as ‘Le Fou’. The company numbers were
all outstandingly well sung with some nice characterisations in the background.
In the unenviable role of lone adult in the cast, Chris Young gave a touching
performance as Belle’s father and would-be Heath-Robinson inventor ‘Maurice’.
Production-wise Fred Rayment’s
lighting was absolutely superb, how lovely to be able to indulge in sumptuous
‘Disney’ effects. If I have a criticism it has to be that at times the pace
dropped in some acting scenes, and for me I would have preferred that the Beast
and the Prince were in fact the same actor, tricky but possible. But, all in all, another in a long line of
brilliant productions from Empire Theatre Arts. Can’t wait to see what next
year will bring. Frances Hall
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