Beauty and The Beast at The Lyceum Theatre, Crewe Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by H Chan
My family and I were invited to see this year’s pantomime (oh yes we were) at The Lyceum Theatre in Crewe. It’s a beautiful little theatre, with lovely, genuinely friendly staff and good facilities. There are good parking links, and as well as snacks and drinks available within the theatre, the Market Hall next door offers some great options too. There is also a lift to all floors, which is one thing I usually check when booking tickets as we need accessible seating. My daughter, a full time wheelchair user, had no issues navigating the theatre and could see the stage well from her seat.
We had brilliant seats which gave us a great view of everything that went on stage without craning our necks or moving around to see. The sound quality was great, as were the live band, lighting, everyone involved really. It’s been a while since I have seen a pantomime production as good as this one!
I took my three children, aged 15, 12 and 9. They laughed all the way through, I don’t think my son has laughed like that at a show in a while!
It was everything that a pantomime should be! Energetic, hilarious and very silly in places. The storyline was good, I liked that it wasn’t just nonsense for nonsense sake, and that there was a plot that could bring out the personalities of the characters. One of my favourite things about pantomime, is when the actors struggle to keep straight faces! This tells me how much fun they’re having with the show, this show didn’t disappoint! I loved it, my favourite being when Sam Scrub-It was trying to make Gaston laugh and kept tossing his head Galinda style. We picked up on the Wicked references too, very well intertwined.
Sammy Scrub-It played by Ste Johnson was definitely a favourite! He was hilarious and reminded us very much of Peter Kay with his very quick wit when there were mishaps (there were a couple but they were so funny and well sewn into the panto that no one would have minded or barely noticed) and Ste was so on the ball the whole show. The kids and I loved him! I have no idea how he runs around the stage, whilst singing and acting. Malcolm Lord was brilliant as Cynthia Scrub-It, his outrageous outfits had my son giggling away and he was on the edge of his seat waiting for the next. Well done costume department. I think our favourite scene of the whole show was the Twelve Days of Christmas scene, which was so, so funny! Just perfect panto, but of course it needs the right people to pull it off, and Malcolm, Ste and The Chase’s own Jenny Ryan were amazing in this scene.
I tell you what, Jenny Ryan can sing! She has a beautiful voice! Aside from Sammy, I think my next favourite character was Gaston, played by Micheal Quinn. He played the role perfectly. James Wilkinson showed off his singing skills as the Beast, and Hollie Smith-Nelson was everything we could have asked for in a pantomime heroine. David Higgins who played Belle’s father was a great supporting character with, with a great range of facial expressions! The local children involved in the dances were adorable, and complimented a very talented ensemble.
If I had to pick at anything, it would only be that they didn’t spend longer within the Beast’s castle getting to know his character, but doing that would mean taking away from elsewhere and I can’t think of a single thing I would have cut. Everything worked really well.
Expect mischief, hilarious audience participation, singing, a decent plot and lots of belly laughs from the start. It’s great that the cast are so strong this year too, it really helps the show to flow from one scene to the next. I did notice that there was no booing of the villain, the villain seemed to be the Beast and the wolves, but after meeting the Beast he wasn’t portrayed as a real evil villain, and the enchantress’s commentary throughout helped to keep it less scary for the younger ones, this was actually really thoughtful.
If you’re thinking of seeing it, and it’s outstanding so I recommend you do, you can find tickets here and prices range from £20 to £36 per seat, depending on whether it is peak or off peak times. performance dates Sun 15th December 2024 – Sun 5th January 2025
We gave this panto 5 out of 5! It was a very easy score to give as we all loved it and highly recommend it! Go see it before it finishes on the 5th Jan! I think all age groups would get something from it. It was a great way to start our countdown to Christmas, and a lovely boost for the theatre to have such a fabulous show during the festive season.
Rating: 5/5
Photo credits go to Wes Webster Photography.