Review: Disney's Beauty and the Beast, The Playhouse

Published on Thursday 24 September 2009 09:19

Disney's Beauty and the Beast ***** The Playhouse

IT'S A Disney formula as old as time – take a classic fairy tale, turn it into a best-selling cartoon and, when the merchandising opportunities begin to wane, put it on Broadway. Throw in a few new songs and you've got yourself a Tony award -winning hit that can make money in the regions as long as there's rhyme in the world.

Where Beauty and the Beast strays from the formula, however, is that its touring production is simply stunning, making it easy to put aside the commercial scepticism and wholeheartedly embrace two and a half hours of feelgood schmaltz. Ashley Oliver's Belle is a spot-on lookalike for the film's sweetheart and her natural vocal ability complements the sensitive portrayal of her burgeoning relationship with the Beast.

The Beast himself, played by Shaun Dalton, covers a wide range of emotions over the course of the show, developing from the ferocious, heartless cur who imprisons Belle's father into a compassionate human being. Dalton's portrayal of this journey is sympathetic, funny and moving. He segues easily from gruff ogre with pantomime temper tantrums to furry fellow bounding about the stage with all the warmth and exuberance of a Labradoodle. His solo, If I Can't Love Her, touches the audience in particular. And all with a layer of latex on his face.

Vying to steal the show from under Oliver and Dalton's noses are a number of excellent supporting turns. At the front of the pack was Ben Harlow's fabulously narcissistic Gaston, whose faithfully cartoonish performance offered such eminently quotable tips as: "I use antlers in all of my decorating." And his comic chemistry with foil Lefou, Eddie Dredge, was a highlight.

Following hot on Gaston's shiny, thigh-high leather boots, however, was the Beast's household staff. And while the film's firm favourites Mrs Potts, Chip, Cogsworth and Lumiere all provided outstanding performances, it was the dancing tableware that really wowed the audience. The ensemble piece Be Our Guest almost brought the house down with its acrobatic crudits, Busby Berkeley-style routines from the plates and Can-Canning French napkins under a shower of exploding champagne.

Aiding the play's sense of magic was a beguiling array of scene changes and pyrotechnics, the cast melding effortlessly with well-timed CGI imagery overlaid on a translucent curtain.

There are also many intriguing layers to this particular adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, based on a mid-18th century French novel.

Belle's opening song voices her frustration at the narrow-minded petit bourgeoisie in her village and the story follows her rise to equality with a prince. You wonder if its popularity at the time in France wasn't perhaps also related to a pre-revolutionary shift in social attitudes.

The symbol of a rose losing its bloom also has many parallels with the preservation of youth, beauty and virginity over wisdom and humility that is more than relevant to today's culture.

Mind, it's likely best to catch Beauty and the Beast now before the cynic in you starts wondering if the poor lass who falls for her captor hasn't simply succumbed to Stockholm syndrome . . .