Review: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

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Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 10th May 2025.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has arrived at the Adelaide Festival Theatre and will, no doubt, draw many young, and older fans of the animated musical who cannot wait to see the live version. Opening night was packed, and many little princesses, in their best colourful party dresses and adorned with tiaras, were clearly delighted to be there and excited to see the fairytale come to life.

Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont’s fairytale was turned into an animated film by Disney in 1991, and a stage musical production, by Disney Theatrical Productions, premiered in 1994. This production, though, is a far cry from earlier versions, thanks to advances in theatrical technology. Taking a leaf out of the stage magicians’ book, there are instant costume changes, and the set has a life of its own.

Directed and choreographed by Matt West, the musical has a book by Linda Woolverton, music composed by Alan Menken, and the songs have lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Ann Hould-Ward designed the colourful costumes which are such an important part of creating the characters, and the extensive sound design is by John Shivers. The small orchestra, under Luke Hunter, does a superb job throughout. The introduction was recorded by the late, Angela Lansbury.

Of great importance, as mentioned before, is the scenic design, by Stanley A. Myer, enhanced by lighting designer, Natasha Katz, and coupled with the illusion design by Jim Steinmeyer, and the projection and video design by Darrel Maloney. It is amazing what can be done if one has a huge budget. What would seem to be major set changes take only moments, as set pieces are flown or trucked in and out, while large Rococo scrolls flit around to form constantly changing patterns.

The choreography is wonderfully energetic, and I especially loved the big Act 1 production number, Be Our Guest, with the tap dancing chorus line of cutlery, and the projected view from overhead as the dancers created patterns with their bodies, all in the style of the great 1930s film choreographer, Busby Berkeley. Also memorable were the clinking mugs, and hints of the music of Offenbach, in Gaston.

The Beauty has her nose in a book, and the Beast has a vast library. They are my kind of people, and it is inevitable that, with so much in common, they just have to get together.

Shubshri Kandiah is a delight as Belle, her sweet, clear voice and flashing smile, ideally suited to the character. The first number, Belle, introduces her and the townsfolk, showing her popularity, and her love of escaping the day-to-day routine through reading. They find her a little strange, but loveable. The audience loved Kandiah’s portrayal of the character, too.

The Beast is played brilliantly by Brendan Xavier, a lonely, bitter, and angry creature, hiding any finer feelings that he might have. Xavier brings pathos to the role, and adds comedy when he attempts to change into a gentleman as he falls for Belle. His transition, and ultimate transformation back into the handsome prince, is a well-conveyed journey. To quote Shakespeare, from the opening of Macbeth, ”Fair is foul and foul is fair”. That is true here, as we are also reminded, with another literary reference, that one should not judge a book by its cover.
 
The real beast, of course, is Gaston, played by Jackson Head, whose arrogance and self-entitlement is on display from his first appearance during the song, Belle. Gaston doesn’t like books or reading, so he is obviously the bad guy. He is determined to marry Belle, the one woman who resists his advances, but informs the others that marriage will not affect his many casual relationships. His self-promotional lyrics reminded me of the braggart centurion, Miles Gloriosus, singing Bring Me My Bride! from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Head conveys the unpleasant aspects of Gaston with great humour, and has a voice to suit a heroic lover, which Gaston is certainly not, creating a nice dichotomy.

Gaston is, in fact, an arrogant predatory male who is used to having women succumb to his physical attributes and self-promoting bluster, but who is also nasty enough to sink as low as to try to force Belle to marry him by threatening to have her father committed to a mental institution. We should not forget that fairytales are often very dark, cautionary tales. Those of the Brothers Grimm can be horrific, in their original form.

Gaston is aided and abetted by his admiring henchman, Le Fou, French for ‘the madman’, played with enormous energy, enthusiasm, and plenty of comedy, by Adam Di Martino.

Belle’s loving father, Maurice, an eccentric inventor, is played by Rodney Dobson who engages in a very humorous scene when he stumbles upon the Beast’s castle where he is astounded at meeting the transformed servants, but he is quickly imprisoned by the Beast. Dobson gives a wonderfully warm characterisation as the concerned father.

Lumiere is given a deliciously flamboyant reading by Rohan Browne, forming an hilarious double-act with Gareth Jacobs as the more conservative and fearful Cogsworth. They spark off each other with a continuous stream of laughter generated whenever they appear. More laughs come aplenty from the other transformed servants,

In England, every problem is solved by a nice cup of tea, so Mrs. Potts, regularly offering to pour a ‘cuppa’, is played by Jayde Westaby with an English accent, as she wheels her son, Chip, around, using another magicians’ trick to reveal only his head as a teacup. Jared Bickerton played Chip for this performance, but four others share the role: Oliver Fuller, Anderson Kwok, Eason Ma, and Olive Mayes.

Madame (Madame de la Grande Bouche, mistress of the big mouth) is played by Alana Tranter and Hayley Martin plays Babette, Lumiere’s girlfriend, both adding lots more fun to the relationships between the residents of the castle, and the machinations as they try to school their master in the ways of becoming a gentleman.

The pace of the performance never lets up for moment, keeping the audience laughing, applauding and, occasionally, shedding a tear. This is more than a musical; it is a spectacle. The well-deserved standing ovation from the appreciative audience came as no surprise.

This production runs until 6th June, but Fridays and weekends are already selling very heavily, with some sections of the theatre already sold out on many performance dates. Book your tickets before it is too late.

Photography, Daniel Boud.

Australia - Adelaide Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. BONNIE AND CLYDE (The Arts Theatre)

24.3% of votes

2. COME FROM AWAY (The Arts Theatre)

23.1% of votes

3. BILLY ELLIOT (Northern Light Theatre Company)

17.6% of votes

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