Beauty & the Beast (tour)

The title song evokes an age-old truth: “Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong”, perfectly setting the tone for this well-loved fairytale that, unlike a real rose that withers and dies, continues to renew itself with each unique interpretation such as this.

Alison Pollard’s magical, uplifting touring production of Beauty and the Beast is sumptuous eye candy, with dark undertones that play the redemption factor to the hilt; you really sense Matthew Cammelle’s Beast is a man, if we can call him that, marred by his past intolerant but utterly human misgivings, whose journey to becoming human again is both painful and gradual. Gaston Ben Harlow on the other hand – the extraordinarily tall, ruggedly handsome rival beau representing the flip side of the coin – turns the tables on us, taking on the persona of a green-eyed monster who rapidly descends into his own self-appointed hell. For all his bullying tactics he is an amusing, overblown caricature who in the company of down at heel side-kick Lefou, (Mark Connell) delights us with sight gags and outrageous banter aplenty.

Beauty is only skin deep or so they say, yet it’s worth noting that in a story where the central theme is about looking beyond physical differences and praising inner beauty, this Disney production’s heroine is a strong willed and spirited Belle Ashley Oliver, who from the outset appears less aggrieved by the Beast’s grotesque demeanour than his beastly attitude towards her, although the concept of what determines beauty is further exploited in characters like Gaston, and even Belle’s wacky but well meaning father Richard Colson.

The enchanted objects Belle greets upon her arrival at the castle are quirky, persuasive and integral to the tale’s unexpected meeting of two very different hearts and minds. Ben Stock’s flirty candelabra Lumiere is a great source of amusement while Mrs Potts Susan Humphris – a most exquisite looking teapot – steals the limelight when she sings the deeply moving, unpretentious “Beauty and the Beast” and Cogsworth Stephen McGlynn – a wise cracking mantelpiece clock who, pardon the pun, was irrepressible at winding up his ornamental cohort Lumiere – a fine display of on-stage chemistry.

Alan Menken’s musical score complemented by Tim Rice and Howard Ashman’s unfussy but knowing lyrics speaks straight from the heart, delivered by a passionate and dedicated ensemble. The musical number “Be Our Guest” in Act 1 is a heady cocktail of shimmering, swirling dancers masquerading as ‘knives, forks and spoons’ and the riotous beer swigging sequence in Gaston’s Tavern is well choreographed and slickly executed. The Beast’s dilemma is powerfully vocalised by Cammelle’s glowering yet despondent avowal in “If I Can’t Love Her” while Oliver’s breakthrough song “A Change in Me” is delicately performed with growing conviction and without the merest glimmer of over-sentimentality.

A set design by Charles Camm cleverly evokes the quaint, unspoilt pastoral environs of Belle’s world juxtaposed with the Beast’s darkened, imposing fortress of menacing winged gargoyles and high vaulted ceilings, while Elizabeth Dennis’s lavish costumes help bring the iconic characters alive.

Although at first glance this touring production could easily be dismissed as a light-hearted homage to the Disney canon and its perennial feel-good factor, any similarity to the 1992 film does not bear scrutiny; its individual prowess as a theatrical production will surely continue to enchant both children and adults alike.

– Emma Edgeley