Beauty and the Beast – Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton

Writers: Ian Adams and Tam Ryan

Director: Andrew Lynford

This year panto season in Wolverhampton gets underway with a choice that you don’t come across very often these days – Beauty and the Beast (not to be confused with the Disney musical of the same name, which this certainly is not). It’s a lavish affair, with a decent-sized cast, spectacular set and digital displays (thanks to Mark Walters, David Shields and Matt Brown) all adding up to a warm welcome and a good night’s entertainment at the Grand.

Unlike many pantomimes, this one actually has a plot and sticks broadly to the traditional storyline. This creates something that is not only funny but also dramatically entertaining—of course, we all know how it’s going to end, but that doesn’t detract from the entertainment value.

The team of Ian Adams and Tam Ryan are back as writers and stars, as Madame Fifi Fou-Fou and son Joey. Given their history of collaboration, not just contributing to the script but writing the whole thing, it’s no surprise that they’re completely at home with what they’re doing. Both are consummate professionals and skilled at their art. Every Dame character performer has their own style, and Adams avoids some of the usual tricks and techniques, audience interaction and so on, and leaves some elements of that to his co-writer. There’s no questioning his comedy skills though, as both a writer and performer. Alongside him, Ryan fills the usual comedian role with aplomb. He’s a pantomime veteran, and entirely at home with what he’s doing, working well with equally well with Adams, other cast members and the audience.

The pair also take part in the usual messy scene which drags on for too long, becoming simply a question of how much water and foam could be thrown over each other without even a suggestion of adding anything to the plot – and which started to look positively dangerous as the cast struggled to keep their feet on stage. Beware too – depending on the whim of the cast, you may find yourself getting VERY wet, and not just from a few splashes or sprays.

There’s more to a panto than this though, and here we have a generally excellent cast displaying a lot of vocal strength in depth. In the traditional Good Fairy role we have the excellent Jarnéia Richard-Noel, in great voice and perfectly suited to her character. She gets some good numbers to deliver, and she does it extremely well. On the other side we have a traditional bad guy – here called Gladius, played by TV Gladiator Giant (Jamie Christian-Johal). He is clearly skilled as a professional bodybuilder and in his TV role, but acting is not his forte, with a halting and stilted delivery to his dialogue. Fortunately, he has only a few lines, so this doesn’t detract as much as it might from an otherwise excellent cast and production but you have to wonder whether casting a TV star is always the best thing for a show.

Completing our main cast we have Tom Lowe as the selfish Prince turned into the Beast, with Olivia Mitchell as love interest Belle. The nature of the role means that Lowe doesn’t get as much stage time as some others, and his performance is necessarily constrained by his make-up, but he’s in good voice when he gets to sing. Mitchell is equally excellent, with superb vocal skills and a personable characterisation, and it’s a pity that we don’t get to see more from her.

Finally, and threatening to steal the show, is Timothy Lucas as Monsieur le Pratt, all pose and posture as he tries in vain to secure Belle’s hand. As he says, they might have called him Gaston but Disney have very expensive lawyers – so instead he’s called Bilston. He’s an absolute delight from start to finish, completing a mostly great panto line-up.

This is a panto with excellent illusions, good comedy and packed full of cracking and appropriate numbers that are very well delivered. Definitely worth a trip to the Grand.

Runs until 4 January 2025