Photo credit: Wes Webster Photography
Christmas has begun in the town, ‘Welcome To Christmas In Crewe’ is lit brightly for all to see. And, to put the final ingredient for any festive period, panto is back at Crewe Lyceum.
The classic tale of Beauty and the Beast sees an arrogant prince cursed to live as a beast, his only hope of salvation is to find love before the last petal falls from a magic rose. Can village girl Belle see beyond appearances and learn to love a beast?
Hollie Smith-Nelson excellently takes on the titular role of Belle, the Beauty. Great vocals both solo and with James Wilkinson (Prince / Beast) and was a strong all round performance. James was equally as good as the Beast and had good chemistry with Belle for an entertaining overall performance.
Familiar face, Malcolm Lord was, as ever, a welcome return, this time as Cynthia Scrub-It. It would be impossible to guess what outfit he will appear on stage in next (I could have sworn I even saw a familiar international landmark in the costumes somewhere!) and his comedy timing is great, with punchlines and funny side comments.
His comedic foil again was Ste Johnston this time playing Cynthia’s son Sammy Scrub-It, back for a third successive year after last year’s Cinderella and Aladdin the year before. They were brilliant as a pair (especially the chaos in their shop) and gave many laugh out loud moments. Both had a fantastic rapport with the audience and breaking the fourth wall several times with jokes aplenty for both mums and dads as well as the kids, the laughs flowed from there. Special shout out to Ste for his funny interaction when members of the audience got to go on stage.
Michael Quinn as Gaston was fantastic. His character acting was brilliant, his vocals strong and was very funny within it. Definitely a very welcomed surprise to offer that constant humorous element to somewhat the villain of the plot and definitely made the role his own.
Jenny Ryan, most famous from ITV’s ‘The Chase’ played ‘The Enchantress’. ‘The Vixen’ was strong in the role and the added element was the great vocal performances during her solo’s. Unsurprising really given she was a finalist in ‘The X Factor: Celebrity’, singing Lady Gaga’s ‘Edge of Glory’. Jenny was also an integral part of ‘The 12 Days Of Christmas’ routine, helping create chaos and hilarity with her fellow actors and the audience alike.
The support from the ensemble and junior ensemble was excellent. With excellent dance routines, some wonderful expressions and really highlight the talent from everyone in the production.
We did put out a picture on social media of the wonderful dresses and display on floor 1 created by students from Cheshire College South & West where children can have some memorable panto photos. Also, a shout out again to the editors of the programme for its lovely contents of games, poems and word-searches, loads for little ones to do.
The whole production was everything seasonal cheer should be. It’s exciting, hilarious,, plenty of local humour, the costumes and sets shine and the cast add the final Christmas sparkle.
The production runs until 5th January and tickets are available from the box office, or online here https://www.imaginetheatre.co.uk/pantomimes/2024-beauty-and-the-beast-crewe
