Beauty and the Beast, Richmond Theatre Review

Reviews

13 Dec

Written by Cathie for Theatre and Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review

A tale as old as time has arrived at Richmond Theatre! This year’s pantomime offering is Beauty and the Beast, where spoiled Prince Sebastian of Richmond Castle is cursed to remain a hideous beast unless he can find true love with kind hearted Richmond resident Belle. It’s rare to find a family show that feels so genuinely wholesome and sprinkled with genuine festive magic.

The cast are brilliantly quick witted and delightfully cheeky together on stage. This pantomime is led by TV star Maureen Lipman as Mrs Potty. She’s fabulous and her rapport with the audience has them in stitches with her topical jokes and ad-libs with the cast. Pete Firman is the children’s favourite as Silly Billy. He wows the audience with fabulous magic tricks and has us adults giggling with his breaks on stage and mishaps with the props. Ben Stock is brilliant as panto Dame Betty Bouffant and plays the character with stylish panache. Jason Leigh Winter is a cheerfully preening villain who showcases his muscles and his nefarious plots. Cherece Richards brings her powerful voice to push the plot forward as the ethereal enchantress. Belle (Hope Dawe) is wonderfully compassionate and empowered, providing both fabulous dancing and the moral compass for this show. She is an excellent foil to Luke McColls’ princely beast, who roars often to the delight of giggly children everywhere. His singing and earnest performance work well to push the story along.

The plot is very simple and at times feels like a loose connection of comic setups but is very easy to follow for even the youngest of audience members. Highlights include a fiendish tongue twister that trips up all the cast members in multitudes of ways and uplifting magic tricks. There are also plenty of songs and tunes that both young and old can delight in. The ensemble (Imogen Amos, Ethan Atkinson, Meg Darcy, George Deller, Hollie Kate and Catherine Puri) provided the majority of the dance numbers and much of the pep and pizazz to the show.

The set is beautifully larger than life and brilliantly colourful. The children will love the depiction of the castle and village. The special effects, including the cursing of the beast and a very spooky group of dancing ghosts, will awe most of the audience. This is an especially brilliant pantomime for young families as there are plenty of opportunities for audience engagement and the chance for your child to be on stage to win prizes at the end. It’s a very family friendly affair but filled with plenty of cheeky jokes to keep parents laughing just as much. Firman and Lipman’s chemistry especially will keep you laughing and giggling the whole way through.

If you’re searching for a fabulous family night out which will bring a sprinkling of Christmas magic to your holidays, whilst reminding you of important life lessons then this is the pantomime for you.