Friday, 7 February 2025 | Term 1 | Week

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Day | Views 2279

School Production 2010- Beauty and the Beast

If Mahurangi means to “reach for the heavens” then this production shot straight through the stratosphere. The new Mahurangi School auditorium was wonderfully christened by its first full musical production and it proved very well up to the task.

 

The Director Wendy Sutherland harnessed a fine crop of student talent and succeeded in enthralling the audience for over 2 hours with this warm, colourful and witty musical. Her project management skills perhaps will be desperately needed by the new Auckland Council. Her capable producers Craig Taylor and Jane Newby might also get a knock on the door by the new Mayor.

 

From start to finish the show band directed by Lyn Dashper provided a consistent performance that flowed sensitively with the cast. They were well supported by a technical sound team that gave the audience an acoustic delight.

 

The visual feast provided by the meticulous costume design and set design was second to none and rivalled Broadway in its audacity thanks to Pippa Hechter and Anna Davies and their teams Simone Maddren, Chris Hechter and a group of tireless parents, students and teachers.

 

Deborah Rabey rang true as a flawlessly cast Belle and her understudy Elspeth Free, who performed on the Wednesday matinee, gave a ringing endorsement of her hidden value.

The Beast was played powerfully by Joshua Free evocative of a schizophrenic “Jeckel and Hyde”.

 

Anthony Macleod gustily transformed and fully consumed the role of Gaston, clearly deserving the attentive squeals from the silly girls. His side – kick Le Fou provided entertaining visual comic relief by Reece Hunter.

 

Cogsworth was played with the precision of a Swiss watch by Bradley Mentor; somewhat reminiscent of Sir John Gielgud and he was wonderfully paired with Lawerence Rothwell who was incandescent as Lumiere, burning bright all night and never in danger of being snuffed out by the audiences’ voluminous applause.

 

Emanuelle Baur playing Babette and Alana Hathaway, Taylor Helliwell and Emmalene Lake playing the Silly Girls were outrageously flirtatious and displayed a salacious talent well beyond their years! Indeed their mothers may at this very moment be packing them off to a Swiss finishing school!

 

Lauren Vaughan brewed a delightful and very satisfying Mrs Potts and Chip played by Katie Wright made good with her youthful wise cracks. An operatic ensemble was eloquently performed by Madison Horton as the beautifully crafted Wardrobe and Joseph McAuley could have come straight out of the mad professors’ role in “Back to the Future” playing Maurice.

 

D’Argue was classic Edgar Allen Poe scarily portrayed by an eerily capable Thomas Usher and the Cronies were suitably bumptious played by Rikihana Connell and Liam Bates.

 

No less than 29 students made up the chorus and their voices and enthusiastic portrayal of the villagers gave the production a true 3 dimensional depth. The 18 dancers elegantly drifted through the many scenes providing an ermine mantle to an already fabulously rich ball gown production.

 

This was an epic undertaking by a secondary school no less extravagant than Ben Hur.

Unseen hands backstage and in sound, choreography, drama, make up and hair were all unsung heroes of the hour as too were the set constructors who gave up many late nights.

 

Perhaps a tour beckons!
contributed by Stuart Henderson