PANTOMIME REVIEW: Beauty And The Beast - The Brindley Theatre, Runcorn.

It's a tale as old as time with an extra helping of fairy dust and pyrotechnics at this year's Easter explosive pantomime ‘Beauty And The Beast’ at The Brindley Theatre in Runcorn.

As you can imagine, as a theatre critic over the decades I have witnessed and reviewed many pantomimes, and I have to be honest they are my least favourite of all shows, usually avoiding them like the plaque! However, I decided to give this one a go as I like this theatre for its location and style of auditorium. After disliking pantomimes for many years, I have to say this production has definitely changed my whole view on the matter as I absolutely LOVED it! On entering The Brindley Theatre for the 6pm showing the auditorium was filled with children and their families all full of energy and excitement awaiting the start of the show, I have never seen so many little girls in Belle dresses and I have to say it was 'cuteness overload' to see them all looking so sweet.

On curtain-up ‘Fairy Rose’ (Amy Blackwell) sets in motion the tale of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ of how the prince was vain and mean and in punishment was turned into a hideous beast (Chris Maloney). To break the spell the beast must learn to love and be loved back or face a life of isolation and being cursed for his arrogance and vanity to a life of fur and fangs! The performance is true to the tale we are all familiar with. Belle (Rebecca Lake) being exchanged for her inventor father (Steven Arnold) after he becomes lost in the forest and stumbles on the beast’s castle. Gaston (Jordan Kennedy) is the village’s egotistical arrogant hunter who vows to win Belle’s hand in marriage and is determined not to let anyone else win her heart, even if that means killing her true love.

Guiding the audience through the tale as old as time, but unable to be free from breaches of Disney copyright, there are no familiar songs we all associate with this show, however, Trio Entertainment Ltd have cleverly injected many familiar and popular songs that the kids and families can connect with. We heard renditions of ‘Toxic’, ‘Bad Romance’, ‘Bad Guy’, ‘Sexy And I Know It’, ‘Love Me Like You Do’, ‘Green Green Grass’, ‘I Need A Hero’, Gimme Gimme Gimme’, ‘YMCA’, ‘Sex Bomb’ and many more well-known tunes that had the audience singing and tapping their feet to.

One thing that I was immensely impressed with was how immediately from the opening scenes the children in the audience were completely engaged and involved and this did not change throughout the whole two-hour show. I have been to many pantomimes where the actors only periodically engage with the audience losing the little ones' attention leaving the grown-ups left to try and get them to sit down or to entertain them themselves. During the show the audience participation and engagement was absolutely fabulous which is a huge credit to the characters on stage, who filled the stage with fun, giggles, silliness, over-the-top characters, a dazzlement of colour both in costumes and the set itself.

Gaston (Jordan Arnold) provided the audience with lots of opportunities to boo and hiss at his distasteful character (everyone loves a baddie), and it was clear the kids loved to interact with this villain who wasn’t particularly frightening, but had the usual grand monologues and grander gestures and the audience took every opportunity to heckle and boo him.

A pantomime is not a pantomime without a lovable, unafraid-to-speak-their-mind, and riddled-with-puns-and-innuendo Dame, and this production had the crème de la crème of dames Jordan Bateman as ‘Dame Potty Polly’, who delivered an outstanding performance as the pivotal role of the hilarious potty-mouthed teapot. There was plenty of silly humour age-appropriate for the little ones, a few saucy adult jokes which thankfully went above the children's heads, lots of audience participation, lots of naughtiness, and unpredictability Bateman wore the most fabulously extravagant outfits, wigs, and makeup.

Andrew Curphey put the campness in the word camp with his phenomenal rendition and interpretation of his character Loopy Louie - what a fabulous coupling with Jordan Bateman as these two were the high-point of the show as they dazzled and charmed the whole audience throughout. The coupling was flawless and magical to watch, huge congratulations to the casting of these two amazingly talented entertainers, they dually captivated their audience and held the attention of each and every member of the auditorium whenever they graced the stage. 

'Beauty And The Beast' is a ridiculously funny, remarkable, sugar rush of song and dance throughout which was pure panto magic the likes of which I have never seen before. For the first time as a theatre critic, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about a production as the costumes were fantastic, the choreography impressive and each and every cast member illuminated the stage with joy, delight, laughter, and pure enchantment.

The greatest surprise and highlight for me personally was Chris Maloney singing ‘This Is The Moment’ from 'Jekyll And Hyde' completely abstract from the actual pantomime and the storyline but a magnificent treat for a musical theatre lover like myself.

This production is a must see for families as you will not be disappointed, ‘Beauty And The Beast’ continues its run at The Brindley Theatre in Runcorn until the 5th of April 2023, then moves to The Albert Halls in Bolton for two further nights.

Reviewer - Katie Leicester
on - 3.4.23