Buhr : Beauty and the Beast
Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Gavin Sutherland
Eleven years ago, company director David Bintley gave serious consideration to replacing the Birmingham Royal Ballet's perennial Nutcracker production with something new for Christmas, and came up with Beauty and the Beast, to a specially commissioned score by the Canadian composer Glenn Buhr. It didn't fulfil its designated purpose - that splendid Nutcracker is still going strong - but Beauty appears to have stood the test of time, as it has had regular revivals ever since. This was, however, the first time I've had the chance to see it. I was reliably informed that there have been some tweaks since the original production - a revised prologue, notably, amongst other things - largely for the better, and I've seen enough of Philip Prowse's designs to be looking forward to this one, so it all sounded like quite a promising affair.
Indeed, it's a pleasant enough evening's entertainment. The story is clearly told, the sets and costumes are lovely, the music's agreeable - but as a whole, it lacks any real emotional punch. While it's evident that Bintley and Buhr collaborated very closely to put the whole thing together, there's no denying that the music is pretty superficial which, probably, impeded the choreography from acquiring true depth.
There are some nice ideas, both choreographically and in terms of design. In the prologue, we see the Prince (before he's cursed) out hunting with four courtiers, fierce and contemptuous, and that's immediately echoed in the first scene by the bailiff and his assistants as they remove Belle's Father's property, sneeringly ignoring his protestations. Belle is taken to the Beast's castle by a flight of ravens, an intriguing image, although the preceding presentation of the ravens is over-long. So too is the 'funeral' of the Beast, although the lamentations of the Wild Girl make clear that the Beast is indeed redeemed. The Wild Girl starts out as a Vixen being hunted by the Prince; she gets turned into a girl as he gets turned into the Beast, and that she should lament her former tormentor so feelingly is a strong indicator of how far he has travelled. I wasn't entirely happy with the basic concept of the plot being thus altered - that the Prince is being punished for crimes against Nature, rather than for being a massively arrogant jerk riddled with hubris and vanity. However, while the grand Ball at the Beast's palace was a bit of a miss for me, the prissy little gavotte that opened the Wedding scene (during which Belle returns home) was very amusing.
Visually, Prowse's designs were their usual delight, although in several scenes, the lighting was a bit too dim to truly appreciate them. Most enchanting, appropriately so, was the reveal of and transitions into the Beast's palace, panels of scenery unfolding outwards, for all the world like a child's pop-up book. The courtiers' costumes were an ingenious mix of splendid and ragged, giving full measure to the concept of "faded glories", and the decor held nods to the Cocteau film (while Bintley winked at Disney once or twice).
The evening might have worked better had we had a more persuasive Belle. Delia Mathews is a strong dancer, with plenty of character, but she was having trouble connecting with Belle in any way that could be projected over the footlights. She was light enough, but too calm, and lacking in tenderness. The worst of it was at the end of Act 1, and the first meeting with the Beast. Both choreography and music speak distinctly enough at this point; she's terrified and repulsed, and yet pitying, sure she's going to die, afraid and resigned at the same time. In a long, slow waltz with the Beast, her emotions are supposed to ratchet up until she simply cannot take any more, and passes out. There was none of that in Mathews, she was positively laid-back, and completely unable to suggest that shrinking of the flesh that was very obviously indicated in the dance. When she fainted at the end, it made no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, it had a knock-on effect on her partner, because Iain Mackay's Beast was never quite able, at this point, to articulate his reactions clearly, the moments of frustration which provoke gestures of violence in him seemingly random, because we weren't getting the fear from her. She did better in the second half, when Belle has become more confident, but Mathews still never quite convinced me of any of Belle's deeper emotions.
Mackay had the problem of performing most of the ballet with an imposing, almost full-head mask on, thereby rendering his face completely inexpressive. Everything had to be transmitted through the body, and on the whole, he did a pretty good job of it, especially in the confrontation with Belle's Father (very well played by his brother Rory), literally throwing him around to truly impressive effect. There were very nice secondary roles from Laura Day (Wild Girl) and Mathias Dingman (a very flashy Raven), while Céline Gittens as Vanité smiled with wonderful vacuity at the mincingly fatuous Monsieur Cochon of Oliver Till.
[Next : 11th October]
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