Mrs Potts and son Chip in their unique Weta Workshop costumes.
Mrs Potts and son Chip in their unique Weta Workshop costumes.
Putting on a full stage production Disney-style of Beauty and the Beast, is a massive challenge for director Elijah Graham, cast and crew but it is a challenge being fully met.
First impressions of the characters are deceiving and the audience is taken on a journey as they evolve toshow their true colours in a two-hour production which will awaken all the emotions – love, hate, sadness, euphoria, tension and happiness.
The audience will learn to appreciate and love the Beast, despise and hate Gaston, feel sympathy for Lumiere, Cogsworth and their friends, identify with Belle as she tries to find her true place in the world and feel tension as the rose gradually loses its petals.
The show is fast moving with great backdrops setting the scene for the castle characters to interact, the villagers to develop from happy residents to an angry mob, the wolves to threaten in the forest and the aerial conflict finale to happen.
Graham cannot speak too highly of the leads, his ensemble, the backstage crew and his production departments which have produced strong characters, amazing choreography, powerful music and unique costumes.
He says the show is a visual spectacle which needs to be seen by the widest audience possible. He predicts the Dannevirke Theatre Company has produced a show which will be talked about for years.
The show opens on Thursday May 23 at 7.30pm and evening shows run on Friday and Saturday May 24-25 with a matinee on Sunday May 26 at 2pm.
It reopens the following Wednesday with evening shows from May 29–June 1.
