"Beauty & The Beast" by Spotlight Theatre Company.

Squire Performing Arts Centre.

Because I'm not around when Spotlight are performing this show over the next few days, I was invited along to be their guest at a dress rehearsal performance of the show, before opening night on Friday night.

You know the main story of Belle who is captured by The Beast who was really Prince Henri after he was not very nice to the Enchantress and it is through the love that develops between Belle and The Beast which breaks the spell. In the mean time though chaste Belle is being chased by the hunky and muscled Gustave. OK, got the story? Good, because you're going to love this show.

I've decided that I am not going to say just how marvellous every one is on stage, because I always do that, so instead I will just re iterate just how good this cast and creative team are.

Belle is played by Samantha Hedley, and let me re iterate what a beauty-ful voice she has, which is put to fantastic use in this soundtrack. This is quite a physical role and Sam literally at times, throws herself into it.

The Beast is played by Sam Barson, and when I found out about both Sams taking the leads, I automatically knew that this production was going to be a big hit, which it will be. Sam, for anyone who has never heard Sam sing before, will be blown away by the absolute power of his voice. He's also really scary in Beast mode!

Gaston is played by Oliver Smith. Wonderfully arrogant, as expected, and I had half expected one of those "ting" sound effects every time Oliver flashed his molars. Great fun role delivered with just the right dollop of smarm. Gaston is a bully who likes to think he can get any girl that he wants by flexing his muscles and flashing a smile, but he has met his match with Belle.

Patrick McChrystal plays Le Fou, Gaston's right hand man. Another role made for Patrick due to the comedy element. It's a fact that the translation of Le Fou is actually "the fool", but he's not as foolish as it makes out. He hero worships Gaston even though Gaston treats him quite horribly. A lovely physical knock about role for an actor who knows how to play knock about extremely well.

The gorgeous Laura Thurman plays Mrs Potts. One thing that I have noticed with all of the cast members is that the casting is a perfect match for the characters. Mrs Potts is a lovable, friendly, caring and maternal person; with that said, you can see why Laura was picked for this role.

Cogsworth, the fusty old clock, is played by the equally gorgeous Joe Butler. This is Joe at her very best, especially with her facial acting and comedy skills. There is not, however, anything fusty about Joe with this sparkling character.

Lumiere is played by David Page. This is one of my favourite characters in "Beauty & The Beast", probably because of Lumiere's stylish personality, so obviously you need a stylish actor to play such a character, and we got one in David. The outfit is brilliantly sparkly, and those heeled shoes are wonderfully high, making this candelabra look even taller. Only once do those shoes leave David's feet, and that is to bring out the tap shoes, which there's a brilliant and big tap scene to accompany "Be Our Guest".

Adam Collishaw  plays Maurice, Belle's Father and an inventor. It's because of Maurice that Belle ends up at the Beast's castle and is imprisoned. Maurice is set upon by a pack of pretty ferocious looking wolves and flees to the castle for cover. Adam brings out the eccentricity of the character perfectly.

Stephanie Beara plays Babette, Luminiere's French girlfriend, showing that Disney did include saucy characters in his films. Another perfect piece of casting!

Chip is played by Emily Holder, who is balanced on a tea trolley as Chip, the delicate China cup. Emily sounds so much younger as this character and really gets into the role, and with this brilliant costume at first glance looks every inch a tea cup. It's only when you look closer that you notice the clever positioning.

Laura Ellis plays Madame de la Grande Bouche. This costume is absolutely wonderful; it's so good that, with the wig and costume combination, Laura was completely unrecognisable, but what a lovely role that oozes class.

Les Filles La Ville are played by Charlotte Barrington, Megan Leahy & Emily-Hope Wilkins. This trio are great fun, always dreaming of being Gaston's girl. They are so enamoured with this Romeo that they even agree to keeping up "rendez vous's" with him, even after he has tinkled Belle's bells! Who said Disney was just for kids?

Monsieur D'Arque is played by Shantanu Bhumbra, who also is part of the ensemble. This character is the one that Gaston has employed to get  Maurice, Belle's Father, out of the picture by making the townsfolk think that he had gone a bit loopy by saying that a Beast occupied the castle.

The Young Prince is played by Abraham Collishaw, who opens the musical with a nice bit of physicality in the role, after being cursed by the Old Beggar Woman, played by Sophie Petruccio-Hall.

The voice of The Narrator is by Liam Petruccio-Hall, who we hear at the start of the show, giving us the background to how the Beast became who he was and what was needed to lift the curse. Straight away you know the history and you're ready for the action for the next couple of hours.

A lovely ensemble consisting of Hannah Haywood-Cupit, Sophie Benner, Bethany Wear, Abraham Collishaw, Lucy Horton, Tilly Wishart, Grace Collishaw, Luca Smith, Ella Swangreenwick , Claire Collishaw, Poppy Cook, Amy Flatman, Hemi Lewis, Preston Nash, Madelyn Monaghan, Daisy Donoghue, Scarlett Coleman-Smith, Sophie Benner, Harriet Hopkins, Eva Sheppard and Erin Hanby.     .

Directed by Amanda Hall and what Amanda doesn't know about creating a successful production and collating the perfect cast, really is not worth knowing. This is another successful production to be added to Amanda's list of hits.

Choreographed by Kristian Cunningham, and just by looking through the list of names working their magic in the Production department, guarantees that the best people are involved in this show. Kristian is renowned for getting the best out of his dancers, and that certainly shows in this show. I've always admired tap dancers because I know how difficult this particular area of dance is, but in this big tap number, they all make it look like they get out of bed tapping, it comes across as effortless and natural as that. 

Musical Director is Vicky Moroziuk and when you hear the quality of this cast's individual and combined voices, the control and the power, you'll be able to appreciate the workload that has been put in by Vicky as well as the actors. The vocals epitomise the Disney sound.

Costumes by Laura Leo at Leos Theatrical Costumiers, Spotlight Theatre and Kristian Thomas Company. I've touched on a few of the costumes but every one of them are worth mentions. There's no mistaking any of the characters when you see their costumes, and that's without them saying anything. 

Set Designer is Joanne Furner, and the Beast's castle is a complicated composite construction which breaks down into various other areas of the castle. The imposing entrance into the castle is up above the stage, where the rose that slowly loses its' petals is kept. From that entrance there's a three tier descending staircase to the stage. The top section also catches the light beautifully making a really colourful spectacle.

Sound design is by Rob Ketteridge. I was there on Friday during the tech run through, but if the sound is as good as the tech performance, then you're in for a very special listening experience.

Lighting design is by Oliver Read and operated by Abby Catto. This is a big job, all you need to do is take in the number of separate lights focusing on stage, but it's also a very colourful spectacle. A treat for the eyes and ears thanks to Rob, Oliver and Abby.

I said at the start that you will adore this production, and you will. It is great fun, has a brilliant cast and soundtrack, some wonderful characters and, most importantly, it has a lovely warm happy ending. And we all love a lovely warm happy end now don't we?

"Beauty & The Beast" will be at the Nottingham Squire Performing Arts Centre from Friday 30 August until Sunday 1 September.

 "Grease The Musical"

Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

I may not have had a pink bomber jacket to don, but I automatically raided my pink attire and systematically made my way to the Royal Concert Hall as fast as greased lightning to watch one of my favourite electrifying, fun and frothy musicals that transported me back to my teenage years, "Grease". Now, when I say that, I mean that I was a teenager when the film was released, not that I was at school in the late 1950's!

After all these years, this musical is still amazingly good fun and everyone knows the complete soundtrack in full. “Summer Nights”, “You’re The One That I Want”, “Sandy”, “Hopelessly Devoted To You”, "Greased Lightning", “Grease”, “Beauty School Drop Out” and my favourite “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”. First performed in 1971, five years before the film version starring John Travolta as Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Dumbrowski, it's lost none of its' frothiness.

We all know what to expect from "Grease" so I don't really need to tell the story of the musical. What I can tell you is that this production encapsulate the whole feel of the era, 1959, and of the "belonging" to the separate gangs, The "T Birds", the leather jacketed "lads" gang, "The Burger Palace Boys" and the "Pink Ladies", the all more refined collection of ladies who have sleep over parties and discuss the teen idols of the day and make up.

This production isn't the same as the film version, so if all that you've seen is the film, there's a few changes in the running order of the plot and some of the music. Some of the plot line has been omitted, but that will be because scenes like the car race is impossible to replicate on stage unless you use videography, but that section looks good on screen, but not essential to the plot of the musical.

Marley Fenton plays Danny and is a lot more streetwise and "laddish" than the image presented by Travolta; there's an edge about Zuko that Marley captures well. In Marley's performance, I didn't see Travolta playing Danny Zuko, I saw Marley playing Zuko, and that I feel is an important factor when playing such a well known character. He does a brilliant version of "Sandy" as well.

Hope Dawe plays Sandy Dee. Going with the original musical version of Sandy is a preference for me as she is less of a blonde "airhead" type character and has more about her, although I love Olivia Newton-John's portrayal in the film. Hope presents Sandy as a character who fits in well with The Pink Ladies, eventually, but shows her own personality. Vocal wise, this lady has a stunning and powerful voice.

Rebecca Stenhouse is Betty Rizzo. Rizzo is one spunky lady who is in charge of what she does. The whole "girl power" image that Stockard Channing created in the film is here, brought to the stage by Rebecca. My favourite song from this musical has always been "There Are Worse Things I Could Do", but I felt the arrangement was just a little too aggressive. Yes, it brought out the fragility and the scared emotions of Rizzo, but seemed a little on the shouty side, which may have been the mix of the song, who knows. Still, a very powerful performance from Rebecca.

Ben Nicholas is Kenickie. When the film was being made, John Travolta wanted to sing "Greased Lightning" even though the car belonged to Kenickie, so it's right that the musical goes back to the original version which allows Ben to belt out the brilliant "Greased Lightning". Kenickie here is a powerful character, definitely not second to Zuko, and this is true to how the original 1950's gang members used to behave. 

Doody is played by Kieran Lynch. This character is one of the younger members of Zuko's crew, and boyfriend to Frenchy. Kieran brings out the fun, and slightly ditsy, some may say naive character, which is what makes Frenchy and Doody such a well matched pair.

Alicia Belgarde plays Frenchy. Oh, I love this character because she is such a simplistic person. She wants to be a beautician but fails at that, confirmation coming from Teen Angel in the dream sequence, surrounded by plenty of pink clad ensemble angels. A lovely fun role for Alicia to get her teeth into.

Lewis Day plays Roger, or "Rump" as he is nicknamed. Why does he have this nickname? Because he is the best "mooner" in school. Don't know what a "mooner" is? Look it up or come and see "Grease". The song "Mooning" has a lovely falsetto part which Lewis hits perfectly.

Sario Solomon is Sonny. You may remember Sario from taking part in "Let It Shine" on the BBC when they were looking for a band to play The Band in a new musical featuring the music of Take That. He got through and appeared at the Theatre Royal in that show. After bulking up his theatrical CV, he is back in Nottingham in this role. Sario was a guest on my radio show when "The Band" was formed and he was an incredibly polite young man, I don't think theatre fame will have changed him. 

Sonny is a wonderful comedy role for an actor and Sario looks to be enjoying every second playing Sonny. It's a fun performance with plenty of energy. Sonny is quite an animated character, forever chasing skirt, and Sario's animated antics and facial acting resembles a puppy, excited at everything that is around him. Wonderful accent and some nifty moves as well.

Jan, the compulsive eater, is played by Emerald B. I have a feeling that this side of Jan's character is played down a bit, from what I can remember from other productions, a decision I expect taken by the Director, not only to shave seconds off of the running time, but also I can imagine it would not be a good trait in today's very politically correct world. That said it also diminishes character on stage for this role in 2024 as the eating cravings is what makes this character.

India Chadwick is Marty, the "beauty" of "The Pink Ladies", looking more mature than the rest of the ladies, that is until she opens her mouth. A nice cheeky performance from India.

Jayd'n Tyrone plays the nerdy Eugene. This is another character that has diminished, and again this is just my opinion, in the 2024 stage version. This again could be because throughout the years of "Grease", Eugene is the character that gets picked on for being "nerdy"; something that in today's social environment is frowned upon and will be classed as bullying. Grease's equivalent of "Mr Cellophane".

Phoebe Roberts is Patty Simcox, the athletic and attractive cheerleader who also, and quite naturally, has an eye for all of the jocks, including Danny, even though she knows that Danny has eyes for Sandy.

Dominique Planter is Miss Lynch, the teacher.

Doubling up as Vince Fontaine and Teen Angel is Joe Gash. It is very difficult to smoothly replicate the 1950's speed talk dee-jays as they made a career out of talking that fast. I have always been an admirer of U.S. DJs of this era. The Weird Beard, Johnny Holliday, Joey Niagra and Hunter Hancock; radio presenters who talked as fast as the rock n roll music they played, and that took skill to never be lost for words and rhyme what they were announcing. Joe couldn't quite get to that standard, but then again, I don't think I've seen any actor emulate that skill in a musical like this, but Joe was fun, not only to listen to but watch as well. In the days when radio presenters were as big a star as the performers they played on vinyl, Mr Gash created that "star" DJ image wonderfully.

Teen Angel was also fun to watch. The big song here is of course "Beauty School Dropout", which had a musical arrangement that didn't click with me at all. This song is one of the simplest songs, musically in the musical, which is why they often have "guest performers" performing this song in cameo roles. This arrangement didn't sound right at the start but I mellowed to it by the end, especially with Joe's perfect falsetto ending.

Cha Cha, Kenickie's blind date for the prom, is played by Deena Kapadia. She is the best cha-cha dancer with the worst reputation!

Johnny Casino is played by Adam Davidson. Another energetic singer who performs at prom night, providing the music, with his band, for the dance competition. Adam has a voice that suits this style of music well, and he has a fair set of pipes on him.

An energetic and fresh-faced ensemble added more meat to this rich stew.

Directed by Nikolai Foster, of Leicester Curve. This is not the first time that I have seen "Grease" directed by Nikolai, he did it a few years ago as well. Nikolai has managed to keep the production fresh by changing a few things, which anyone who has seen the show on previous occasions will notice the changes. It's tight and fast moving, at times the dialogue seemed like there was a race on, and with the strong American accents, the words did seem to tumble into each other a bit, but on the whole this show is a massive hit, and just as fun as every other production I've seen, and I've seen quite a few "Grease" productions over the last twenty or so years.

Choreographed by Dame Arlene Phillips this show is rammed with some of the most energetic choreography I've seen in a long time. All of the dance moves you'd expect to see from this era is in there. It is full on and this cast made it look like a walk in the park; I don't think I saw one of them break sweat all the way through, but you can guarantee that pounds are shed every night on stage.

Charles Ingles is the MD for the show, and what I liked about the sound of him and his band is that it was in no way overpowering, but pitched at just the right level. The classic "Grease" songs that we all know and love sounded great as did the newer songs like "Tattoo Song" and "How Big I'm Gonna Be". There's also a new song called "Grease", which is completely different to "Grease Is The Word". These instantly create a fresh sound to the show.

When you see a musical like "Grease" as many times as I have, you can't help but notice changes, some magic, some less magic, but what makes this musical so very magical is the story, the strength of the acting and that brilliant soundtrack. You will not be disappointed at all and you'll leave the theatre singing away to several of the big hit songs, and they'll stay with you for long after you've got home. It'll be "the word" on every theatre goers lips this week.

It's the one that you want to see on a warm Nottingham Summer night.

"Grease The Musical" is at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall until Saturday 31 August. 

 "The Mysterious Mr Love" by Tabs Productions.

Classic Thriller Season 2024.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Is this really the final play in this year's Classic Thriller Season? Have the weeks really flown by that fast? Well, yes it really is and yes, they really have!

Set around the turn of the century, 1914 to be exact, the story concerns "Mr Love", a handsome and wily conman who marries women for their money and then runs off with everything they own. His latest victim is Adelaide Pinchin. She is a milliner, who has inherited £50. She appears to be a very vulnerable lady, who has low self esteem and lives with her strict family. Just the sort of woman that Mr Love goes for.

Mr Love charms her, after seeing her through the window of the shop that she works in the back room at, and uses his seductive skills to entice her into a secret marriage within days of their meeting. However, when they are married he puts his usual plans into action, but things don't go exactly as he had envisaged!

Mr Love is played by John Goodrum and Adelaide is played by Sarah Wynne-Kordas in a brilliant example of a two-hander in story telling. You become completely drawn in through the narration from both actors from the start, and when the setting out of the back stories are completed, you then become involved in a story that you really don't know where it leads to.

There's a feeling of cat and mouse going on with the upper hand being flipped by both characters. I was waiting for the twist, but there was no twist. I then got to thinking, with Mr Love's back reputation, he wouldn't fall into line with Adelaide's offer, and did Adelaide really think that she would be the woman to turn Mr Love around? Well, one of the scenarios came true, but which one?

Directed by Karen Henson, who develops the cat and mouse game perfectly. Having not seen this play before, I really did not know which way this little conundrum of a play was going to work out. The characters are polar opposites and this is also brought out, but again, there are times that you think Adelaide's confidence and George Love's conceding to this new found confidence is going to work out. A wonderful piece of direction and execution of direction all round, to keep the audience really on their toes.

Set design is by Sarah Wynne-Kordas, and we see a very different design with this one. It's stark with Millener's stands providing much of the design layout, but a semi back drop of material, again blending in with the Millenary theme, around a table and two chairs, along with only a few props. Once you've taken this inobtrusive set design in, all you need to do is concentrate on the actors and the story.

Lighting design is by John Goodrum, who ensures that when focus is needed, the decreasing spotlight id firmly on Mr Love, again drawing you into Love's face and features. John is one of those actors who really knows how to change a mood with just a change to his facial acting, and this is, quite literally, highlighted by the lighting design.

This two handed piece of theatre closes this year's Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season, not so much with a bang, but with a sublimely, classy thriller, that will have the tendency to leave you feeling quite tense, so much so that you may need to return home for a de-stressing hot bath, not forgetting the bubbles!

"Mysterious Mr Love" is at the Nottingham theatre Royal until Saturday 31 August.

See you for more thrills in 2025 Tabs.