Beauty and the Beast: New Theatre, Oxford

11:01am Thursday 19th April 2007

Why does the Beast not want anyone to visit the west wing of his castle? Is someone hidden there who is even more fearsome than the Beast himself? Who can say, but meanwhile the beautiful Belle has plenty to contend with as she encounters the sharp-fanged Beast and his distinctly quirky array of servants.

Belle has ventured into the castle as she seeks to rescue her father, who has unwisely strayed on to the premises on one of his inventions, an environmentally correct, wind-powered tricycle. The price of freedom, it seems, is to sit down to supper with the Beast - an invitation that Belle understandably views with much trepidation.

Thus runs the storyline of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the touring stage version of which makes a return visit to Oxford this week. Visually, the show exudes the old-world charm of a panto: crooked chimneys sit atop half-timbered houses, and when the cardboard-looking castle gates slam shut, the metallic, teeth-rattling, clanging sound is supplied courtesy of loudspeakers. To be honest, the characters that emerge from Howard Ashman and Tim Rice's lyrics are pretty cardboard too, but that doesn't stop the current cast from extracting every ounce from the material they are given.

Matthew Cammelle's Beast is quite modest of physical stature, and while he can certainly work up a rage that it would be dangerous to ignore, you feel right from the start that he is actually a lonely, gentle, and rather bewildered character underneath. He has his pride though, finding it difficult to say "thank you" (much to the amusement of the young ladies sitting immediately behind me) when Belle finally accepts his supper invitation.

Ashley Oliver's Belle was hampered on opening night by having to do battle with the enthusiastic band - the sound balance on composer Alan Menken's louder numbers was truly dreadful, making the words of several songs almost completely inaudible. However, given a quieter solo, Oliver was very pleasant to listen to, putting plenty of emotion and colour into numbers like Belle, and A Change in Me.

One of the attractions of Beauty and the Beast is that there are lots of fun parts for the Beast's servants - if the show has a social comment to make, it's perhaps about the decline of the servant class.

There was particularly enjoyable work here from Stephen McGlynn and Ben Stock, an excellent comedy double act as Cogsworth and Lumiere, and from Liam Buckland and Tyler Fagin who share the role of Chips, the talking teacup. Snappy dancing and enthusiastic delivery of the ensemble numbers complete the picture. Taking it as read that the sound problems have now been sorted, this is a tuneful, undemanding, and entertaining show.

Beauty and the Beast continues at the New Theatre, Oxford, tonight and tomorrow.