After my first visit to see a full ballet, Romeo And Juliet, I was wondering whether they were all as good as that. Beauty And The Beast has convinced me that they probably are! Once again I was in awe of the performers, the orchestra and the creatives.
Not being a regular ballet buff, I don’t think that twice in 74 years counts as regular, I suddenly realised that there are different types of production. There are the ones where the music is written as a ballet, such as Swan Lake and Nutcracker, both by Tchaikovsky and the aforementioned Romeo And Juliet from Prokofiev; then there are others, such as this one, which are created by the choreographer utilising the music by several composers to tell the story. OK, some pennies take longer to drop than others, especially when the machinery has gone rusty. Beauty And The Beast uses works by Bizet, Debussy, Poulenc and Glazunov all sandwiched between two pieces by Saint-Saëns. Some of them were familiar to me, such as the opening which was Danse Macabre, Clair de lune and The Snow Is Dancing, but others were discoveries, ones which I will make a point of listening to again to appreciate them on their own merits, although it will be difficult to expunge the memory of the dancers from my mind. A bit like listening to a pop song when you have seen the video, but only a bit!
The synopsis is pretty straightforward and, whilst not as totally bonkers as a lot of the operas I have seen, it is a fairy tale so still requires a good deal of reality suspension. I will begin by saying that the photographs used in my review were supplied by Northern Ballet and the dancers pictured are not the same ones as those who performed on the night, so the captions will only mention the characters’ names. The dancers will be identified in the text. So, are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. (One for the geriatrics there!)
Once upon a time, there was a total poser called Prince Orian, danced by Jackson Dwyer, who was about as deep as a pavement puddle during a drought. He lived in a castle, where the walls were all mirrored so he didn’t waste any of his life by being unable to see his reflection, making Narcissus look modest. He surrounded himself with acolytes who spent their time exploiting his arrogance and living the high life. The posse included two sisters, Chantelle and Isabelle (Harriet Madden and Aerys Merrill), who were the offspring of a wealthy man, whose other daughter, Beauty (Saeka Shirai), spent her time looking after him whilst they were out getting drastic with his plastic in Harvey Nick’s.
During one bash at the Prince’s gaff a mysterious woman in a black hooded cloak appeared asking for food but, as she hadn’t got a wristband on, he castigated her for being a gatecrasher. As everyone is laughing at her she throws aside the garment to reveal that she is a stunner, much to the surprise of those present. She is La Fée Magnifique (evil fairy – danced by Abigail Prudames) and, as he has been such a boor she puts a spell on him, turning him into a wild beast. A second fairy, La Fée Luminaire (good fairy – Dominique LaRose) who is the sister of the evil one, approaches The Beast and puts her hand on his heart telling him that only true love can break her sister’s curse, and drops a rose at his feet, a recurring motif throughout the night. This puts a damper on the party and everyone leaves except for the Prince’s manservant, Alfred, who takes him away as all he can now see in the mirrors is his grotesque reflection.
While all of this is going on, Beauty and her father, whose money has now all gone, thanks to the profligate spending of his other daughters, get a visit from the bailiffs who pack all of his chattels into the back of a removal van just as the sisters arrive back from the party, so they seize their designer gear as well. The family is evicted from their house and are forced to live in an abandoned tour bus.
One day, the Father (Bruno Serraclara) goes into the forest searching for food, when he gets attacked by a creature who sees him picking a rose from an enchanted garden to take home to Beauty. Rather than kill him, the creature, who is really The Beast, says he will spare his life if one of his daughters agrees to go and live with him. He gives The Father a key to the castle to facilitate the daughter’s entry.
After a few days, Beauty decides that she will sacrifice herself for the family and takes the key, along with the rose, to give it back to the Beast. Once the initial fear has worn off, not helped by the state of the now dilapidated castle, occupied only by The Beast, Alfred and four servants, who seem to have suffered the same fate as the prince in that they act, and look, like animals, Stockholm Syndrome kicks in and she begins to warm to life there. She is given quarters in a room behind a huge mirror shaped like a broken heart. Actually the servants are comedy gold, their dancing and mannerisms being hilarious.
The Beast also warms to Beauty, berates himself for being such a plonker and, as he begins to reform, he feels the atmosphere of the castle lighten and transform into a place of joy. Just as things seem to be going well, Beauty has a feeling that her father is ill and says she must go see him but will return. This sends Beast into a depression and he becomes desperate. Suddenly Beauty comes back, realising that she loves the Beast and, as soon as she begins to tell him, the curse is broken, he turns back into a Prince and they all live happily ever after. Ahhh.
What I really loved about this production, was that the Beast was depicted as a sort of wildcat rather than a horror movie beast, so it was not beyond the realms of possibility that he could be loved on some level. There was also a fair amount of humour in the dancing and facial expressions, which stopped it from becoming too dark and Gothic. Having said that, when Beauty arrived at the Beast’s castle for the first time, it was to the strains of an organ which had me wondering whether the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Daniel Parkinson, leader Geoffrey Allan, had enlisted the services of Vincent Price.
The Choreography, Direction and Costume Design was by David Nixon CBE who did a magnificent job in conjunction with Duncan Hayler, Set Design and Tim Mitchell, Lighting Design. He pulled off some incredible special effects which both took the audience’s breath away and had them chuckling. The bailiffs’ truck was brilliant, as was the way the walls morphed into packing cases in which the family’s goods were carted away. The jaw-dropper, though was the instantaneous transformation of the Prince into The Beast. Spoiler Alert! They were two separate dancers, but even so it was a masterstroke. Julie Anderson was Costume Design Assistant and John Longstaff Music Arranger.
Now, this is probably just me, but Alfred, danced by Archie Sherman, was attired in a sort of frock coat but the cut of it meant that it protruded at the front just below belt level, so, from some angles, it seemed that his thoughts were on other things rather than the plight of his master. ‘Nuff sed!
The physicality and grace of ballet dancing never ceases to amaze me, and seeing it live adds another dimension. Every emotion is conveyed seemingly effortlessly with body language as well as dancing adding to the overall mood. One piece stuck in my mind which, on its own was not a pivotal part pf the plot, but, Harris Beattie as the Beast, had to run full pelt across the stage and leap onto a round table, landing on his knees. The width of the table top was not more than a foot or so longer than his shin so he had to be inch perfect and halt the slide, caused by his speed and the gloss finish to the furniture, preventing him from coming a cropper by falling off the other side.
If you have never been to the ballet, this is a perfect one to break your duck, although I believe I might have written the same thing about Romeo And Juliet. If you have been before then go again, preferably to this one. I suppose it just reinforces my original view that Northern Ballet’s productions are all amazing. I just hope it isn’t another 74 years until my next two!
Beauty And The Beast runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until Sunday, 9th June. For more information and to buy tickets, please fog to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/nb-beauty-and-the-beast-2024/
For more details on Northern Ballet it is https://northernballet.com
All images supplied by Northern Ballet. Photographs by Tristram Kenton
Tyke It To The Limit 