Beauty and the Beast

Half way through the first act my 10 year old daughter asked me whether this was a professional production? My answer was half professional – half community theatre. Some aspects however led to the confusion.

The scintillating leaping and tumbling dancers and the feast for the eyes dinner scene with golden dancing cutlery come to mind for starters. Both were of such a high standard that (save for the size of the theatre ) most members of the general public would find it difficult to separate the experience from a seat in a fully professional production.

Under the direction of Neil Gooding this musical set a brisk pace throughout. Whereas some of the first Packemin productions were a little crowded in the chorus department, he has hit the right note in squeezing just the right number onto the stage. Camilla Jakimowicz’s choreography was a delight as always and the musical direction of Peter Hayward never missed a beat.

The interesting aspect, for more frequent theatre goers, is how the professionals in the cast compare with those who are (how shall we put in sensitively) not paid.

Not that I have any inside knowledge on this. But based on the size of their write up in the program and the pre-publicity promotion it looks like the paid ones were Scott Irwin as the Beast, Donna Lee as Mrs Potts and Adam Scicluna as Cogsworth.

They performed to the high standard you’d expect and no doubt the large cast gained from the experience of working alongside them.

Two of those, in the not yet professional or don’t want to give up their day job’s department, performed to such a high standard that it led to even more confusion no doubt in my ten year old daughter.

18 year old Kelsi Boyden as Belle performed with a maturity and poise well beyond her years. And David Tucker as Lumiere was exquisite.

Adding further depth to the cast are three principals who are current students or graduates of the Music Theatre degree at the Australian Institute of Music.

Danny Folpp looked the part as the vain muscular Gaston, Dave Collins played Lefou and Rebecca Matheson portrayed Babette.

Beauty and the Beastwas the breakthrough musical production which set up the foundation for Disney musicals. It ran on Broadway for over decade where I was lucky enough to see it at the tail end of its run in 2005.

It needs to be staged with the highest of production standards to bring it off.

Neil Gooding cherry picked many of the best Beauty and the Beast props that have been used around Australia in recent years to ensure it was a delightful evening.

David Spicer

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