Walking into the Bord Gáis this week was like stepping into a magical land. Little girls were dressed up as Belle and big kids, like myself, were buzzing with excitement.
As soon as the overture started playing and the lights dimmed I welled up. The air was electric as a hush fell over the crowd and the iconic opening began. The musical follows the same plot as the film, a cruel prince is cursed after he turns away an old woman who asks him for shelter.As if I wasn’t overwhelmed enough, the musical opens with Angela Lansbury’s voice, just as she did in the 1991 film as Mrs Potts to narrate the tale.
I wasn’t sure how they going to create this magic right in front of our eyes on the stage. Would it be just as magical as the film? Or would we, the audience, have to use our imagination?The transformations from the set changes to the Beast going from a monster to a human left me wondering how on earth they managed to do that. I am still Googling the behind-the-scenes secrets to figure out exactly how they did it.