B & B

Just wondering if anyone had seen the production of Beauty and the Beast that opened in Sydney last week. We are doing it in Newcastle in September, and wondered if I should make the trek down to Dee Why to see it.

I saw it on Sunday.My opinion?... keep in mind that NOTHING qualifys anyone to be a proffesional critic,SO,this is just the opinion of a "seasoned theatre go-er". With the exception of two,the principal cast was very strong,particularly the boy playing Gaston..he had it perfectly and quite easy on the eye! The girl playing Belle was very strong vocally also very pretty and had a good stage prescence.Also worth a mention,the actors playing Lumiere and Cogsworth,both more than competent and a good sense of comedic timing.What a hard show to do technically,so a 9/10 for trying to this company.My biggest pet peeve was the appearance of the chorus girls.No wigs and no idea how to apply stage make-up.I really believe these two things help with the theatrical illusion of a show,and little or no effort was put in here.Anyway,i want to keep it short,so,should you go see it? Yes,i think it is worth the effort.Apologies for the spelling errors.

was told it wasnt worth the money. Very poor standard

Maybe you should have gone to see it yourself - it was well worth the money! I saw it twice! Very entertaining and strong performances (by most of the cast!) Does anyone know what show Joshua Atha are doing next?

Hey Walter Thankyou for coming to see our production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. JOshua Atha travel around a lot, So for all the latest on When and where JOshua Atha will be next please visit our website, www.JOshuaAtha.com and subscribe to our newsletter.

I was actually quite dissapointed by the production. Unfortunately I (personal opinion) don't believe that the standard of the production was worth the $35 I paid to see it. I enjoyed Cogsworth but that was about it unfortunately. Belle did sing well but Cogsworth was the only one who had the presence and diction to hold my attention. I felt voices were well below par and some numbers were out of time with the orchestra. (This is not written to attack or invite attack I am just sharing my opinion)

is this ticket price of $48.20 for adults and $43.20 for children too much for an amature production? This is the price offerd by newcastle dramatic art club. So I ask ... Should people pay $48.20 to see amature performers, amature musicians, amature theatre? AND Lets also be constructive.... What is an acceptable price range for amature theatre?

Walter, you said - "is this ticket price of $48.20 for adults and $43.20 for children too much for an amature production? This is the price offerd by newcastle dramatic art club. So I ask ... Should people pay $48.20 to see amature performers, amature musicians, amature theatre? AND Lets also be constructive.... What is an acceptable price range for amature theatre?" Ok, it is a higher price than you would pay to see most "amateur" productions, but we charged the same amount to see Les Mis two years ago, and we played to 80% capacity houses. We will be spending in excess of $230,000 to mount this production so while we are non professional the standards that i demand as a director are not by any means "amateur". I understand where you are coming from with your comments, but as i have already said the costs involved are extremely high. We will be using professional musicians, and we are performing in a professional venue. The cost of the theatre alone is $3000 per day. So if after reading this you think our prices are too high please let me know. Regards Carolyn

YES ... no matter what the justification $48.20 to watch amatures onstage is too expensive.

hey Walter. Learn to spell Amateur will you. And your opinion i guess i understand, but we have already sold nearly two performances this far out, so i suppose we just have to respect the fact that we have differing opinions. Regards Carolyn