St. Joseph’s Players
Beauty and The Beast
St. Joseph’s Hall, Chapel Street, Leigh
Until Saturday

Pantomime is alive and kicking in Leigh this week as St Joseph’s Players present their annual Pantomime – Beauty and The Beast.

Written and directed by society stalwart Doreen Johnson, this production keeps the tradition of pantomime well and truly alive.

In the opening scene, we are treated to an excellent rendition of the famous song, Beauty and The Beast, sung faultlessly by D’Oyly Carte and Opera North tenor, Joseph Shovelton who took the role of the Pantomime Dame, Queen Wilhelmina.

Joseph made and excellent dame and showed some great comic timing and versatility in his performance.

One bad Fairy, Hellebore (Donna Wood) and six good fairies, headed by Briar Rose (Katherine Roberts), provided some good comedy moments.

Zoe Unsworth, Zara Tang and Tilly Carroll showed some excellent vocal skills and sung beautifully with Shovelton in their performance of The Rose.

Vikkey Dixon and Kitti Dixon completed the line-up and they all complemented each other beautifully.

Principal girl, Belle, was played by Karen Roberts who brought a gentle side to her portrayal of the character.

Clare Nash (the traditional principal boy) as Jacques, her brother and hero of the piece, showed excellent stage presence and looked perfect for the part.

Carl Hughes came into his own as The Beast and he too displayed some good vocal talent.
A supporting principal line-up was completed with the traditional Pantomime Horse.

We were treated to a performance of The Teddybears Picnic and The Bare Necessities from the young chorus which was a huge hit with the audience. It is good to see so many young people on stage who are indeed the future of our societies.

The music was performed by a live band, under the musical direction of Michael Evans and this added greatly to the performance and helped to enhance the vocal talents that were on display.

This traditional story was portrayed by a talented cast ably supported with a line-up of dancers and chorus members who, after the run is completed, will have presented 11 performances.

The scenic artists and stage crew have been very busy and presented excellent settings to enable the story come to life.

Graham Cohen