Tale as old as time

A very long time ago, when I was but a newlywed (see...it is a "tale as old as time") husband bought me Beauty and the Beast on dvd for Christmas.  It is a film I love and as a grownup still watch despite it being a cartoon.


Years passed.  Until my birthday coincided with Beauty and the Beast coming to the Grand Opera House...so we collided with it.  It was utterly fabulous.  The whole production was spellbinding, the costumes amazing and in the final scene grown women were subtly wiping tears from their eyes (while the grown men wept openly...perhaps they identified a little too strongly with the Beast).  Three things stood out vividly in my mind from that night.  Firstly, the amazing choreography of "Be our Guest".  Secondly the mob of little girls twirling around the foyer during the interval in yellow flouncy polyester.  Thirdly, but not entirely unrelated to point two, the collective gasp when Belle appeared on the staircase in, to my eyes, a "Big fat gypsy wedding" canary yellow ball gown.


We now have a little princess of our own, so when the GOH programme advertised Beauty and the Beast I booked tickets.

Our seats, in the front row of the circle Grand Circle were perfect.  This was not the first time Bea has been to the Opera House as we did see Peppa Pig there last year, but on this visit, I suspect she found it a little bit more magical.  So there we were for two hours of Disney drama, with Bea modelling Belle's red winter dress, with flashes of gold and glitzy netting.  The production was excellent, the singing delightful (despite the initial feedback problems Belle had which gave me a slightly uneasy "school prize night" feeling) and the costumes suitably OTT.  It was not quite as fabulous as our former experience, I suspect in a time of recession, it had less money flug at it, but it was still a magical experience, particularly for one three year old.


However...at a dreadful rendition of Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse at the Clarion Hotel last year (which no under 5 found dreadful)...at the end of the show, Bea got to shake Minnie Mouse's hand.  This has set up unrealistic expectations.  Add to this my foolishly showing her pictures of Darcey meeting the princesses at Disneyland and a mini monster / princess stalker has been created.  At the end of Disney on ice she wondered why Tinkerbell didn't come to see her, so our experience of the show was peppered with "Can I talk to Belle?"  "Can I touch her?"  "Will she say Hello to me?"  To each enquiry, Bea was told that "no, Belle will be too tired after all her singing and dancing...you can just wave to her from here"


The show ended.  We were asked, "Can I see Belle now?"  She was told "No" and we joined the que to leave.

This is the face of a little girl who has just had her dreams come true.

As we descended into the foyer, we spotted the cast at the bar.  Of course we joined the scrum to meet Belle.

Initially, Bea was happy to just be in the presence of a "Real Princess".  Then she summoned the courage to touch her dress (remind anyone of a woman and Jesus?).  Eventually, with a bit of a thrust from Mummy, Bea met Belle...and guess what....

...in typical Bea fashion, she didn't want to pose for a photo, she wasn't interested in the prince, she just wanted to HUG Belle....and that is exactly what she did.

See....dreams do come true.