THEATRE REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast at Rotherham Civic

The familiarity of audience participation, broad comedy, ensemble covers of pop hits and knockabout fun are all part of the charm — oh, yes they are.

So it’s a rare joy when the comic standout is not the dame or her clownish son but the posing, vain would-be hero.

Morgan Scott’s Maurice is the best thing in Beauty and the Beast, which is otherwise something of an identikit panto.

When not showing off his athleticism by flaunting his “guns”, lunges and the occasional splits, Maurice is trying to wisecrack, schmooze or scheme his way into Beauty’s heart. It’s a cracking performance and probably worth the admission money on its own.

Beauty… is not the most inspiring of fairy-tale stories — basically, cruel prince is cursed by an “enchantress” to become “the Beast”, a man with a hideous bull-like head, for 500 years unless he can learn kindness and find true love.

His cruelty is demonstrated when he ensnares the winsome Beauty’s wandering dad at his remote castle and blackmails him with a deal that ends up hooking Beauty herself into captivity.

There are few twists in the tale, as anyone who’s been to a panto can imagine.

The show is heavy on exposition — Laura Judge’s Enchantress must have spoken of the prince’s lack of “compassion” at least five times in just a short period, while one scene has the plot being explained three times.

Even given the young age of much of the audience, this felt rather overdoing it.

While the serious stuff feels a bit wooden, the show is lighter on its feet when Maurice, Silly Billy or fearsome Dame Dorothy Do It (David Phipps-Davis) are around.

Phipps-Davies’s dame isn’t as outrageous as some I’ve seen but he/she still packs plenty of punch and his/her costumes and headdresses are, as Strictly’s Craig would say, A-ma-zing!

It’s Nathan Guy’s Billy that holds the show together and he seems right at home whether telling groansome gags, chucking himself around the stage, mooning at Beauty or joining his mum in the now traditional “soggy” scene — well, they are a family of cleaners (or “scrubbers”), after all.

Kat Chatterton, as Beauty, seems a little sidelined and has little chance to shine but is suitably sweet, while Aled Thomas Davies’s Beast makes the most of his limited stage time with a couple of powerhouse songs.

The dance routines are inventive and sharp — one clever skeleton-based scene had adults and kids alike rapt — and accompaniment from pianist/musical director Jonathan Knight and drummer Matthew Harrison is flawless.

Overall, this year’s might be lacking some of the sparkle, pizzaz and magic of 2021’s Aladdin — but it’s still a fun afternoon or night out for the family. And Maurice is a must-see.  

Beauty and the Beast is at the Civic until January 8.