This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour was invited to see Beauty and the Beast by Birmingham Hippodrome.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Review: Disney Beauty and the Beast at Birmingham Hippodrome
A Stunning production!
Directed and Choreographed by Matt West, music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton
Cursed by a witch’s spell, a Prince becomes a Beast (Shaq Taylor) and his entire household becomes enchanted with time running out. One day Maurice (Martin Bell) stumbles upon the castle and is imprisoned by the beast, his daughter Belle (Grace Swaby-Moore) comes looking for him, the beast will only release Maurice if Belle swaps places with him.
Back in the town, Maurice tries to tell the local tavern but Gaston (Tom Senior) doesn’t believe him. Gaston is in love with Belle, however, Gaston changes his mind and sets off to the castle.
It’s fair to say that I loved every second of this wonderful production from start to finish. The staging, the lighting, the songs, the costumes and the actors were all fantastic. It is very easy to see why this run is almost sold out – there are SOME tickets left, so keep looking if you are determined to see this as returns do happen.
The stage looks like a cinema in the opening moments as We hear the wonderful voice of Angela Lansbury in the prologue to welcome us to this world. The digital projection used takes us from set to set within seconds as the story progresses.
Gripes become very trivial with shows like this; so here it is, I’d say the majority of people in a small French Town would have French accents but apparently here apart from Lumiere (Gavin Lee) and Babette (Emma Caffrey) they are all pretty English sounding me. This is also the case in the animated Disney film that this is mostly based on.
My favourite performance came from Gavin Lee as Lumiere as he brings his character to life wonderfully. Sam Bailey is fantastic as Mrs Potts and Tom Senior is dynamic as Gaston the townsman everyone loves to hate. And Grace Swaby-Moore delivers a lovely performance as Belle, our hero.
From Belle to the titular Beauty and the Beast there are many wonderful song moments but my favourite is Be Our Guest, a stunning Broadway piece that brings the Disney magic right into central Birmingham.
A Stunning production Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is at Birmingham Hippodrome until 26th March 2022. The UK and Ireland tour currently continues until 8th January 2023. Book tickets here beautyandthebeastmusical.co.uk/?#booktickets.
