Theatre review: Beauty and the Beast: My Life balances raucous panto and poignant personal reflection

Niall McNeil’s new play draws on his love of Disney’s fairy-tale flick and his life as an artist with Down Syndrome

By John Lucas

Billy Marchenski, Niall McNeil, and Sophia Mai Wolfe in Beauty and the Beast: My Life. Photo by Tim Matheson

The Cultch presents Beauty and the Beast: My Life at the Historic Theatre until April 6

IT’S A TALE as old as time…with a twist.

Niall McNeil’s Beauty and the Beast: My Life is a panto-style retelling of the titular fairy tale (inspired mostly by the Disney version), but the fantastical scenes are interspersed with McNeil’s personal reflections on his life as an artist with Down Syndrome.

McNeil is no newcomer to the local theatre scene. A graduate of Studio 58’s acting program, he also has two Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards under his belt, for co-writing Peter Panties and King Arthur’s Night with Marcus Youssef. Beauty and the Beast: My Life (or BBML, as he calls it) might be his most personal work yet, including the author’s poignant observations of the challenges of daily existence in a world that’s not equipped to fully understand him.

McNeil’s non-standard syntax can be tough to parse at times, but when it’s delivered in the form of lyrics via the recorded voice of Veda Hille (who also composed all the music) it lends an unexpectedly impressionistic quality to the show.

BBML is also a lot of fun, thanks in large measure to its cast. Billy Marchenski (also the show’s choreographer), Sophia Mai Wolfe, Kate Franklin, and Peter Anderson each throw themselves into multiple roles, going full-bore into a script that leaves plenty of room for raucous improv, and embracing the silliness inherent in playing a living teapot or a ghostly Gaston who carries his own tombstone around with him.

Photo by Tim Matheson

The play grew out of McNeil’s love for Disney’s 1991 animated take on Beauty and the Beast, which inspired him to create a series of abstract-expressionist-style paintings. A number of those ended up being integrated into Paula Viitanen’s set design, but they’re not just there for decoration; the canvases have handles on the back so the performers can incorporate them into the action. 

There are some ingenious bits of staging. The second act opens with Belle (Wolfe) and the Beast (Marchenski) on opposite sides of the stage, getting dressed for their (extremely awkward) first dinner, each attended by members of the household staff. We see them only in silhouette through backlit screens, which allows the actors, in particular Marchenski and Wolfe, to show off their impressive slapstick chops.

The same technique is employed later on, albeit with a much darker tone, when the Beast fights off wolves who have ambushed Belle. As any current or former Disney kid will tell you, the wounds he sustains in this melee are the first step on the path to true love for the pair. 

And what would a Disney fairy tale be without a happy ending? At the March 28 premiere of BBML, this took the form of an audience sing-along in honour of McNeil’s birthday. This was followed in short order by an on-stage dance party underscored by a thumping remix of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond". If that seems like an incongruous choice, well, you’ll just have to go see Beauty and the Beast: My Life for yourself, and it will all make sense. Sort of. 

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