IT was good to be back at The Anvil for their lavish sparkling pantomime written by Jon Monie.

Beauty and the Beast,

This well-known tale of a selfish Prince, cursed by a mysterious enchantress to spend his days as a grotesque monster until he regains his humanity by winning a young woman’s love, has an important message – don’t judge someone by their looks but by what they’re like on the inside.

We are welcomed to the French village of Waterloo by our Dame Polly La Plonk, a superb performance by Nick Wilton. His outlandish costumes are a delight.

Joining Polly is the effervescent

Chris Pizzey as Louis La Plonk who also directs. He quickly has the kids wanting to join his gang and skilfully established a cheeky rapport with the enthusiastic audience. They make a formidable duo.

Maria Coyne gives a captivating performance as the beautiful Belle and sings beautifully.

However, the arrogant self-centred chauvinistic Hugo (Michael Quinn, pictured below) is determined to woo and marry Belle and is our true ‘baddy’ who deserves the loud boos. Belle refuses of course.

Her father Clement (Marcus Knibbs) has hit hard times and penniless is forced to sell one of his paintings in the town but loses his way in a storm and ends up at the Beast’s castle and is taken captive.

Joe McFadden is outstanding as the Beast, fully embracing the role and totally convincing. He has a powerful singing voice and an impressive commanding stage presence.

Belle finds her father and takes his place and stays with the Beast in return for his release. Slowly, they both fall in love and in a dazzling transformation scene the Beast returns to being the Prince and of course there is a happy ending.

There are many magical moments in this family pantomime. The ghost sketch was a huge hit and the baking scene of baguettes hilarious and awful funny puns and jokes abounded. There is excellent support from the talented dancers (choreography by Sarah Louise Day).

This is a fun-filled festive feast of a production. Très bien!