Nothing beastly about TMS show
The Tullamore Musical Society's 57th annual production of choice - Beauty and the Beast - was staged this week. Indeed you still have a chance to catch the show if you haven't seen it already, with performances scheduled for both today (Friday) and tomorrow in the Tullamore Court Hotel. I couldn't help but wonder at the tale that makes up the Beauty and the Beast story. In brief, a handsome prince is turned into a horrible beast after refusing to give an old hag shelter for the night in return for a rose. The same beast agrees to the beautiful Belle's offer of switching places with her imprisoned father to guarantee his freedom after he stumbles into the beast's castle to escape a pack of wolves. Beauty and the Beast fall in love, gaining the Beast back his good looks of old and everyone except Belle's underhand suitor Gaston lives happily ever after. The same tale would never stand up today. Quite frankly if someone rolled up to my front door at dead of night concealing their face behind a cloak and hood looking to be asked in I'd probably be unlikely to welcome them with open arms and no questions either, and I wouldn't be expecting to be turned into a beast for my safety conscious actions either. Fast forward to Belle agreeing to take her father's place as prisoner in the castle in return for his freedom: I'm pretty sure that's against basic human rights and would never stand up in a court of law. Both Belle and her father would be freed, and no doubt the Beast would have to pay compensation too for the ordeal they'd been through. Belief suspended however, Beauty and the Beast Tullamore style was really quite delightful. The songs the cast broke into regularly (it is a musical after all!) were note perfect to my ears, and the costumes were fairytale perfect. Dare I say it, but my favourite character was possibly the villainous Gaston, played by Stephen Rabbitte. His voice and general acting skills were both great, but it was his moves that really made me giggle. You'll understand when you've seen it. Both Belle and the Beast were wonderfully portrayed by Audrey O'Meara and Eoghan Fingleton. If I were Belle I would have worn a different frock to their romantic dinner, but by the end of the show they both looked positively Disneyesque in their fairytale happiness. Songs were in safe hands with the two too. Belle's singing in particular was exquisite. Another voice of note in the performance was that of Mrs Potts, played by Aoife Fitzsimons. In fact she and her colleagues in the castle - Niamh Sammon as Madame De La Grande Bouche, Kenney Heffernan as Chip, Nigel Sammon as Cogswoth, Jayne Louise Kelly as Babette and John Coss as Lumiere - added entertainment to the production that can't be ignored. The silly girls played by Fiona Goulding, Natalee Kelly and Marguerite McDonnell also added merriment to proceedings. Beauty and the Beast is perhaps not as over the top as some of the musicals of the past. Some great vocal performances and a clear cast camaraderie made Tullamore Musical Society's Beauty and the Beast a very worthwhile and entertaining show to see.