|
Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Presented by: BLOC Music Theatre
Venue: Her Majesty's, Ballarat
Reviewer: Michelle Rogers
Date Reviewed: 31st May 2008
Once Upon a Time in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a
shining castle.
So begins BLOC’s production of Beauty and the Beast. This
entertaining show was truly one the whole family could enjoy –
little children giggled, while some of the older audience members,
such as myself, had more than one tear form in the eye – the
fairytale beauty and romance of this story took me back to the magic
of being a child discovering the joys of indulging in a good fairy
tale, while the humour and creativeness of the show added another
delightful dimension.
Beauty and the Beast is of course, the story of the unconventional
Beauty named Belle, and the lonely Beast, hidden away in his shining
castle due to his own selfishness.
Carmen Morris seemed to embody Belle, capturing her sweetness,
beauty and individuality. Her singing voice was strong and sweet
throughout, her moves graceful, her words of love and longing
sincere.
Alan Edmondson played the Beast sensitively, presenting a touching
character, who certainly bought a tear to this theatre-goer’s eye.
Zoy Frangos was well cast as the narcissistic Gaston, who tries to
woo the quirky Belle with his arrogant charms – he amused the
audience and flexed his muscles like a good ego-maniac should – it
was hard though, to ignore the fact that this strapping young lad’s
English accent often faltered into a Hard Yakka brand of Australian
speech.
The sets were breath-takingly impressive – obviously some very
talented people worked extremely hard to make this show look
dazzling! Jim Muller and his sidekick Lyle Quick were in charge of
set construction and faced the challenges involved with this show
head on. The transitions between sets were silky smooth.
Lynne Muller took care of the costumes as Wardrobe Coordinator –
she’s been making costumes since 1976 and it shows – the beauty and
intricacy of the costumes was nothing short of stunning.
The principal Candle, Lumiere, was expertly portrayed by Josh
Vucicevic – his cheeky flirty ways were funny and delivered smoothly
in a va-va-voom French accent.
The whole cast had strong singing voices, carrying the show with
apparent ease.
The lighting was effective, providing the audience the direction as
to where to focus its attentions during cast-heavy scenes. The audio
let the talented cast down during the first couple of numbers, as it
was not loud enough, meaning it was slightly difficult to figure out
what the characters were singing about.
The lovable Mrs Potts, the teapot, was played beautifully by Julie
Stacey - her son Chip, the chipped teacup, was superbly portrayed by
the young Fergus McLaren. The two must have bonded over rehearsals
as they seem as close and loving as any Mother and Son who have been
turned into a tea set could hope to be.
A
touching moment was experienced, seeing Beauty and her Beast fall in
love as they danced, with Mrs Potts singing the title song in the
foreground. Great coordination and talent was on display,
particularly during the song ‘Gaston’, where most of the cast sang
and danced, using pewter beer mugs creatively as nifty dance props.
‘Be Our Guest’ was performed with much gusto and charm by Lumiere,
Cogsworth the clock (played by Tim Gay) and many other enchanted
household items as a finale to Act One – the visual display of
dancing napkins, forks, plates and graters, to name but a few, was
very exciting and really captured the magic of the story and of
musical theatre itself.
Congratulations to BLOC on a great show and also on 50 years of
Performance!
Michelle is a musical theatre lover, hooked on viewing and reviewing
musicals. She loves writing, grahic design and photography and
would like to make it onstage herself some day! Favourite musicals
include Sweeney Todd, Wicked (saw it on Broadway),
The Color Purple, Hairspray and Dreamgirls.
|