Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus

Royal Albert Hall, December 9, 2017

The latest screen adaptation of the tale as old as time gets the Live Orchestra Treatment at the iconic London venue.

I’ll begin with a confession. In fact, two. Firstly, I’ve never seen Beauty and the Beast before, in any format. Not the Disney animation, nor the Linda Hamilton live action version nor this latest, Emma Watson vehicle. Secondly, this is because I was never a Disney kid. Name a Disney classic and it’s more than likely I’ve never watched it, much to the general bewilderment of most who know me, my wife included.

I think it’s important to highlight this, because I went into last night’s performance with no expectations at all. I couldn’t compare this latest version of the story to its animated ancestor, and I couldn’t tell you how Watson’s performance holds up to Paige O’Hara’s. What I can tell you, unashamedly, is that I had a thoroughly wonderful time.

As far as the movie itself goes, it’s a simplistic story of love finding a way to see past the exterior and find the true value of a person. It almost rushes its way from the initial encounter to the growing affection between the titular characters and its villain is as caricaturishly bad as it’s possible to be.

But it’s told with such simple sincerity that you can’t help but be charmed by it. Watson shines in a role that nobody could possibly have expected for her back when she was Harry Potter’s messy-haired, bossy friend all those years ago. If there’s been a little assistance of the electronic kind with her singing, then it’s hidden well, and she commits to a role that must have been doubly difficult when you consider that she’s mostly talking to inanimate objects or people in mo-cap costumes. Dan Stevens gets to spend most of the movie in one of those mo-cap suits, but his performance is still heartfelt and serious – nobody here is playing for laughs, not even Evans with Gaston, who plays the character with a truly sinister edge to it.

What really added the extra dimension to the film though, was the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the choir standing up with them. It’s a varied piece, this film, with a Credenza and Accordion to add to the usual mix of strings and woodwind, and the choir being there to provide the background chorus added an extra edge. Like all the very best of these performances, it was quite possible to get entirely lost in the movie itself, barely noticing that a full orchestra was in the room with you, but the performance was magnificent. Signature pieces like Be Our Guest and Gaston really popped, and though it was obviously an audience of fans, there was not a murmur of singing along from the crowd, so obviously enraptured were they by the combination of the images on the screen and the musical delivery on the stage.

The return after the interval was punctuated – as is the custom – with a brief flourish from the orchestra along the theme of Be our Guest before the film continued, and the end delivered a rousing standing ovation for the players and singers which was more than deserved.

Verdict: Even to a non-Disney kid, it’s clear that this was the best way to see a film such as this. Disney became the huge success they are for a reason, and this film reiterates that with every frame. The live orchestral and vocal accompaniment is the icing on a perfectly made cake. It made me want to go home and start watching more Disney films, and you can’t say fairer than that. 10/10

Greg D. Smith