AFTER a winter of Beauty And The Beast pantomimes, from the Grand Opera House, York, to Harrogate Theatre, here is Disney’s Broadway Musical, American accents et al despite being set in a small provincial town in France.
Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice’s Broadway show premiered in 1994 but what sticks in the mind is the animated adventure that arrived on screen three years earlier, and it is those oh-so Disney characters that come to stage life anew in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s fundraising production for the JoRo theatre, whose 90th anniversary falls this year
The show is directed by Kathryn Lay, now the Haxby Road theatre’s creative director, whose programme note recalls how she danced around the house in her first Belle dress as a child, when the idea of directing the musical tale was ‘beyond her wildest dreams’.
“Big challenge,” she said in her programme note. “Important to preserve the magic of the classic film and for you, the audience, to see on stage the characters you know and love.”
Her production does exactly that, putting the emphasis on characterisation and storytelling, song and dance, rather than technical flourishes or a bells-and-whistles set. Better that money is raised to the max, going towards £100,000 target for the JoRo’s new Garden Room project.
That said, Julie Fisher and Lichfield Costume Hire pull out all the stops with the costumes, especially for the big ensemble numbers, where assistant director Lorna Newby’s choreography is at its best for the likes of Be Our Guest and especially Human Again.
Anthony Gardner’s old-school punctualist, Cogsworth, with a clock-winding key protruding from his clothing, and Jennifer Dommeck’s Mrs Potts, dressed as a teapot to a T, bring personality aplenty to their amusing performances, while Helen Barugh’s Madame de la Grande Bouche springs into life from a standing starting position as a piece of furniture. Novel!
After appearing in every JRTC production since Made In Dagenham in 2020, Jennifer Jones takes the female lead role of the plucky, resourceful Belle with aplomb, equally adept in song (Home and A Change In Me) and dialogue, and clicking well with Adam Gill’s Beast as love gradually blossoms. Gill, in turn, captures the Beast’s desire to be “human again”, at his peak in Act I’s closing number, If I Can’t Love Her.
Paul Blenkiron’s Maurice and Kit Stroud’s daft Lefou are as reliable as ever, while Spotlight Dance Academy teacher Heather Stead revels in her first JRTC principal role as the fluffy, showy Babette and Stan Richardson has his moments as teacup Chip. Jim Paterson’s Gaston has to defy a bird’s nest of a wig that undermines his villainous authority.
Aptly, no-one shines more brightly than Stagecoach York singing teacher Tom Menarry in his JRTC debut as Lumiere, his stand-out performance as flamboyant as his French accent. His rendition of Be Our Guest with Dommeck’s Mrs Potts is the show’s musical highlight.
Musical director Martin Lay steers the 11-piece orchestra through a score full of variety and contrast with attention to detail and drama in ballads and big numbers alike.