Review: BEAUTY & THE BEAST, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, December 3 2015

Last night featured my first pantomime of this year's festive season, the unconventional Beauty and the Beast at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. There is the usual rotation of pantomimes that many theatres alternate; most commonly Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and Dick Whittington with a few other options for good measure. Beauty and the Beast is one that I personally haven't seen in a pantomime format before and did it work? I think so!

Iain Lauchlan returns for his 21st Christmas residency at the Belgrade whereby he has written, directed and is starring in the show. Taking into account previous years as well, there is a level of repetition from one to another but not in a bad way at all; in many ways, it's like revisiting an old friend! Lauchlan always formulates the perfect recipe for a pantomime with a well-balanced blend of comedy, storytelling and audience interaction - suitable for adults and children alike. Starring as Dame Clarabelle Crumble and as a seasoned professional, he is a complete natural with the audience and has some of the best costumes around including a cocktail, a cupcake, an Adventures of Asterix-esque battle outfit and the beautiful light-up Eiffel Tower during the curtain call. The design is once again created by Mark Walters, reminiscent of previous years but still completely stunning and it fits the large stage seamlessly. Pete Kramer's lighting shows off the set well and there are some really beautiful moments throughout the show. Jenny Phillips - who also features in the show as the Enchantress - provides nice choreography and the company seem to be very together and slick during routines. Musical director Glenn Hogue runs a tight ship, keeping his small band in sync; it is just a shame that the musical arrangements by Steve Etherington aren't more powerful. Lyrically they are good but the original music never seemed to build during the songs. The love duet between Beauty and the Beast needs to be much more lavish musically; it needs to be a hairs standing on end number and sadly fails to do so. The 'Uptown Funk' number in UV however goes down very well!

Craig Hollingsworth returns for his third pantomime in Coventry and embodies everything that is good about this style of theatre. Hollingsworth and Lauchlan make a formidable team and they make the entire production really. Playing Willy Crumble, there were plenty of 'willy' jokes naturally. You could see them coming a mile off but they were still wittily embedded in the script. When he came onstage riding a Chopper bike, it was only a matter of time! The slosh routine segment is particularly good; a scene which always goes down well with audiences. Jessica Niles makes a lovely Beauty; her acting in particular is excellent. Niles' counterpart is Charlie Bowyer who takes on the Beast/Prince character. He too is a brilliant find and strikes the right tone between the menacing side of the Beast and the softer nature we see later on. His transformation wasn't particularly exciting, though, unfortunately. He appears to levitate prior to the change but then his mask is just pulled off so that was a bit of a lost moment.

Although on paper you automatically think of the Beast as the villain, he is clearly not in the show - even though he did make several children cry during his first real appearance! He is never booed. This is saved for the equivalent of the Gaston character in the film, here named Maurice and played with a high camp factor by Andrew Gordon Watkins. Even though he has the token villain card, he is still not what I would class as a true panto villain. This is something I missed from the production.

Overall, a thoroughly entertaining and professional Christmas show, suitable for the whole family.

Beauty and the Beast plays at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry until Saturday 9th January 2016.

Photo: Robert Day

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