1948/49 LTM NATIONAL PANTOMIME
BEAUTY
AND THE BEAST
The
Story
Once upon a time in the land of Morraine, there lived a handsome
Prince, he did all the things a Prince should do and one of the
royal duties was the crowning of the Beauty Queen. That year the
contest was won by Beauty, the daughter of a local merchant. Beauty
was not only pretty she was a very nice young lady too - the same
couldn't be said of her two sisters Grease and Spray. But back
to the love story, Prince Florian soon fell head over heels in
love with Beauty, and she with him. But their love was put in
jeopardy by the wicked Witch. Many years ago, Prince Florian's
father had banned her from Morraine and the Prince had upheld
that ban. The Witch cast an evil spell on Prince Florian - she
turned him into a beast! But a good Fairy Queen tempered the spell,
the Beast would be transformed back to his former self if he found
true love.
Chased by the townsfolk, the Beast ran away and went to live in
a castle surrounded by beautiful flowers, and there he waited
for love. One day, the Beast found a stranger in his garden taking
a white rose. The man revealed that he was only taking it as a
gift for his beautiful daughter who waited at home for his return.
The Beast soon realised that the daughter was his beloved Beauty.
He offered the merchant a chance to save his life - but only if
he sent Beauty to stay with him in the castle. The poor merchant
returned to Morriane and told Beauty of his promise to the Beast.
Beauty so loved her father that she went to stay with the Beast,
although all the while she worried about the missing Prince Florian.
For many years, the Beast and Beauty stayed at the castle, and
despite his fearsome looks, Beauty soon grew to be very fond of
the Beast. But Beauty also missed her family very much and asked
the beast if he would allow her to return home for a short visit.
She promised she would be back before the next full moon. Beauty
made a happy return to her family, but found she missed being
with the Beast. Soon enough, the moon grew full and Beauty made
her way back to the castle, but her progress was slow. The heartbroken
Beast - thinking that Beauty had run away for good, lay in his
garden dying from a broken heart. Just in the nick of time, the
Fairy Queen transported Beauty into the garden and when she revealed
that she indeed loved the Beast he was once again transformed
into Prince Florian and they of course - lived happily ever after.
Cast of Characters
Sergeant: Lloyd Hosang
Mayor: Henri Hendriks
Merchant: George Clough
Beauty: Jennifer Bourke
Grease: Bill Blakely
Spray: Clinton Nunes
Ferdinand: Petra Browne
Prince Florian of Morraine: Kay
Clayton
Pickles: Nev Campbell
Mopsey: Jean Blake
Topsey: Barbara Blake
Hook O’Crook : Barclay Hosack
Fairy of the Rose: Florence Reid
Ammonia: Doris Duperley
Esmeralda the Cat: Michael Wickers
The Beast: Keith Sasso
The Beast’s Guard: Emile Hamaty
Ranny & Lee: Themselves
Cascara: Louise Bennett
Dancers
Jennifer Bourke, Gloria Taylor, Mary Thwaites, Cherry Huggins,
Barbara Taylor,
Elaine Zaide, Jenny-Lind McIntosh, Anita Newton, Helen Langley,
Joyce Francis,
Millie Chinyee, Judith Verity, Carol Kalphat, Maureen Casserley,
Ginette Nicolas,
Cecilia Innes, Margaret Cover, Carol Issa, Sheila Desnoes, Thelma
Verity, Mary Thwaites.