View from the Green Room: Great fun on Mattie’s Hill
Presentation Secondary School's production of Beauty & the Beast. Photo: Joe Evans
It’s all hands on deck for the staff and pupils of Presentation Convent for their highly entertaining production of Beauty and the Beast. The school has been producing musicals for the last 50 years or so, and it’s great to see the baton handing on to a newer generation and a newer style of show. Transition Year’s 55 students are all involved somewhere or other, although mostly onstage. And it’s great to see Sound and Lighting using students for their production, including Caoimhe Scanlon, who recently won the Green Room Award for Best Youth Performance, on the spotlights.
Beauty and the Beast is a big, big show. It has lots of parts, makes great demands on lighting, costumes and props, and it’s a show that is really the sum of its parts.
Nothing works unless it all works. And the Presentation Convent production really delivers the goods. It’s a feel-good entertaining show, with characters that you immediately warm to, that works from start to finish and well deserves its standing ovation.
The story follows the adventures of Belle, a bright young woman who finds herself in the castle of a prince who's been turned into a mysterious beast. Well, of course, don’t you know that their love suffers through misunderstanding and obstacles but romance and warm hearts always find a way.
With the help of the castle's enchanted staff, Belle soon learns the most important lesson of all, that true beauty comes from within. It’s an appealing and timeless fairytale with an underlying wisdom to support it.
Holly Coogan is a very likeable Belle who sings and acts with ease and charm; Mary Jane McGuire is a sympathetic Beast who roars his way into our hearts, while Nessa McGrath turns up as the handsome Prince to assure us of a happy-ever-after finale.
There’s a riot of comic performances. Clara Trinogga as the talking candelabra Lumiére literally lights up the stage with a delightful performance and anchors the huge ‘Be My Guest’ number that is the highlight of the show.
Chloe Byrne and Ola Balant, as mother-and-son tea-pot-and-cup Mrs Potts and Chip, are great fun. Safia Aminudin is a tip-tock Cogsworth clock; Alessanda Gherca is an aloof Wardrobe-with-attitude, while Emily Sliwa is a coquettish Babette who would chase anything in a pair of trousers.
I loved The Silly Girls (Nicol Zupka, Kgale Diale, Sarah-Jane Farrell, Chloe Flynn and Amy Byrne) – the man-mad quintet who lift the story with their fun-filled appearances.
Charlie Lynch is hilarious as the preening macho-man Gaston who believes he’s God’s gift to the women of the world. Charlie is a self-appointed stud who is more than delighted to strike a pose and flex those biceps at the mere mention of his name.
Vivienne Rafter is great fun as the unfortunate fall-guy Lefou, the slapstick comic victim of Gaston, while Emma O’Donnell is the eccentric and loveable father to Belle.
Mark Scanlon does an excellent job as Director and Musical Director and I’m delighted to see Pat Grant involved as choreographer.
Beauty and the Beast was a busy show with lots of entertaining numbers and quirky characters to entertain a full house at Mattie’s Hill.
Well done the Pres!
