Beauty & The Beast - Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Friday 30th January 2026

"Beauty & The Beast: Pantomime"

Kaleidoscope Players

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 Stars)

It’s panto season! Oh no it’s not!

As soon as you walk into the theatre you are surrounded by villagers and you’re taken to France with their accents and theming.

The show follows the story of Belle who is desperately trying to avoid the self indulgent Jean-Claude and end up bumping into Prince Louis and his royal companion Jacques. The villain, Countess Cruella, does not like Jacques and casts a spell to change him into a beast. Belle takes the trek to the beasts castle to save her father and ends up falling in love with the beast which breaks the spell.

The cast for this production is rather large, made up with 27 main cast and 5 juniors.

The beautiful Belle, played by Alice Goodall, so gracefully yet so strong. With a hint to the iconic Disney princess, she holds her hair in a bow with a lovely blue dress. Her defensive nature against the bullying from her sisters comes across perfectly. Her singing was stunning especially when in harmony with Evie Barfield who plays Prince Louis.

Evie has a distinct playful side she brings to the character with a boyish charm. The banter between the Prince and Jacques, his right hand man, played by Shannon Smart, is impeccable. The friendship they have whilst still keeping the rank is great.

We then move on to the Beast, played by Jason Kramer, who we don’t meet until towards then end of act 1. The gruff sounds, the macho stance, the incredibly made mask, all come together to create this character, a complete juxtaposition to his ‘past life’ as a prince.

Chardonnay and Lambrini, the funniest sisters you will ever meet. Mikey Panichi and Tessa Raymond create the most perfect comedic duo. The wigs and costumes for these characters are loosely based off what seems to be the 80s, neon colours, animal print and tutus, very in your face but perfect to represent these characters. Both Mikey and Tessa have a rapport that makes an easy watch appreciated by every audience member there with lots of laughter.

Playing the delightful Dame Dolly is Paul Margett, each costume is bursting with colour and the comedic timing is great. Dolly is a funny role with lots to do.

Jean-Claude, played by Emily Mughal, is a character you wouldn’t want hanging around. A person who thinks everyone around him wants him, even when they don’t. Emily does a great job at portraying this and also does a great job at drawing on a beard!

The villain of the story, Countess Cruella, an evil, manipulative character, is well played by Lucy Cadney. She has a strong understanding of dynamics and uses her voice to create a scary atmosphere that most people will boo at.

And on the good side we have The Rose Fairy, played by Zoe Sheperd. A glittering French ball of joy. She waved her wand and you really felt like magic had flown through the air. A gorgeous and funny character.

Papa, played by Ron Murfin, a stereotypical Dad, listens to his wife and daughters and makes his own decisions anyway!

And then we have the rest of the cast: Gigi the horse, played by Jess and Charlotte, Madame Tricot, played by Josephine Walker, Madame Botox, played by Rebekah Street, Jean-Claude’s PA, played by Beth Margett, Tarquin, played by Caitlin Wright, Tiffany, played by Lily Rawson, Chelsea, played by Olivia Parker, Svetlana, played by Samantha Moss, Portrait, played by Lauren Victoria Wells, and then the accompanying ensemble made up of Hannah Bradford, Michelle Bradford, Amy Bradford, Freya Moseley, Julie Blackett and Rachel Robinson with the young company joining in for some scenes, Alex, Elise, Ava, Rosie and Madison.

The brains behind the beauty is Amy Bradford, who has clearly spent time thinking about where people should be, who should be in the scene and where those thigh slaps should go. The direction is on point, keeping the movement flowing and adding in those cheeky looks really does make a difference.

Each musical number was brought to life with so much energy in the dancing. Every person in the company had beaming smiles and took every step with purpose. The choreography itself was fun, modern and executed fabulously. The choreographers, Evie Barfield, Amy Bradford and Josephine Walker, clearly had a great time putting these dances together.

Tonight we had a stand in drummer - Angeline Masiwa, who slot in amazingly with the rest of the band, consisting of Josh Barber, Tony Gordon and Bethan Davies-Taylor on keys and Musical Directing. Including well known musical songs such as Dancing Through Life from Wicked and Come What May from Moulin Rouge kept the story relateable and audience members were singing along. Unfortunately there were a few moments where the band seemed a little out of time, especially in the song Material Girl but it was only a couple of seconds before they were back together.

The lighting, by Aaron Mace, throughout was full of colour, some abrupt colour changes and some spots weren’t quite lined up with each other so did look a little odd at times as it meant some of the cast were in the dark however on a whole the musical numbers included some colour chases and flashing lights to create a party atmosphere.

The balance between the band, the song tracks and the mics was great, a fab mix from Jack Clarke. There were a couple of crackles which seemed to be caused by costumes or wigs but they weren’t too distracting. The sound effects were timed well for comedic value such as the crickets in the awkward silence. The pre-show and interval music was perfectly on theme with Kiss From a Rose as the starting song, this was appreciated by the audience.

As mentioned previously, the costumes were very fitting with the characters. The villagers were all uniform with the black corsets and maxi skirts so they didn’t take away from the main cast. When headed into the ball scene, the dresses were stunning, all made from similar fabrics which looked beautiful as the cast moved as one in the dance. Brilliantly put together by Denise Brown and Debbie Weetman and special shoutout to Jason Kramer for the breathtaking prosthetics!

The set, designed and constructed by Dan Goodall, Barry Smith assisted by David Dilmore, Des Dunn, Ron Murfin and the cast, was made up of 2 sided trucks which moved around to create different spaces, one side was the cafe and the other was the castle, a great space saver! Other bits like the curtain cover ups in the salon filled the space to create a new location, simple but effective.

I have to mention the props! The UV tap dancing cutlery really stole our hearts, and I even got its own applause. The hair salon had a truck that the dame sat in with her head poking out where smoke came out as if something had gone wrong and she had shrunk, the doors opened and you see a tiny version of the dames body, however, the black curtain didn’t quite cover the actual dame costume and hands which did slightly spoil the joke. The massage bed where the sister’s legs were bent into various shapes was a great gag until they went a little too far then you could see the dip in the sheet where the space between her body and the fake legs were. Again, slightly spoiled the joke but still a good one!

This show was BSL interpreted by Sammie Vanterpool and done in such a way it’s not distracting. This meant that the people watching the interpreting got to watch the show almost fully without missing key bits. I feel this was a great way to keep the whole audience involved whilst still being able to enjoy it.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening out and my cheeks were hurting from laughing so much which is certainly a sign of a funny show. I feel like it could’ve been a little long and less understood by the younger audience but they clearly still had a great time. Well done to everyone involved for a fantastic show. I give this a 4 stars purely for the few mishaps but I still thoroughly loved it.

"Beauty & The Beast: Pantomime" at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton until Saturday 31st January 2026.

Written By Kiah Smith