My brother and his two kids relished the opportunity to go to the Gala opening night to do the Beauty And The Beast review at Richmond Theatre on my behalf. They LOVED it, as you can see from their summary below:-
Beauty and the Beast is definitely the best panto my children and I have seen at Richmond Theatre. Hands down. Actually, hands up. We LOVED it!! This pantomime just feels more evolved as a concept and without meaning to undermine any performances of yesteryear this show just seems to be a cut above the rest.
It still very much follows the traditional panto layout but they seem to have achieved it in a much calmer and less chaotic way. You feel like you’re watching (even participating in) a high quality theatre production with a proper story to follow!! It’s brilliant. Perhaps there was a deliberate decision to step away from the usual mania and mayhem, to deconstruct “panto as we know it” and put it back together again (Humpty Dumpty style) into a performance that proves to be as beautiful as it is magical.
It’s also really REALLY funny, with more than a decent level of madness thrown in for good measure, but without being remotely slapstick or overtly cheesy. I can’t quite work out how they’ve done it if I’m honest. It’s definitely a Christmas pantomime with all the trimmings – audience participation, singalongs, shoutouts, dames, heroes, villains – in fact everything you’d expect, but it’s really cleverly done. It just seems to feel like maybe panto has grown up a little?
This is a superb adaptation of a classic much loved fairytale. It’s wonderfully choreographed, acted and performed, with sensational sets and incredible costumes, props and puppets. The music and singing was second to none and the jokes were absolutely on point.
I really want to give a special thanks to all the cast who were absolutely fantastic and made us feel very welcome and at ease, by being extremely professional and rolling with hilarious punches throughout the inevitable slip-ups and hiccups you’d expect from a live family show such as this. Everything just worked.
Also, it turns out Pete Firman is so much more than just a brilliant magician (who I’ve personally been following for years). He looked after us, carried us, entertained us and above all reminded us of the all important life message, that it’s our friendships that carry us through.
Please go. You honestly won’t regret it and you’re certainly in very safe hands.
