Beauty and the Beast On Ice, Newcastle Theatre Royal

9:55am Friday 18th April 2008

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HOW are they going to dance on ice on the stage?" was the anxious exchange between two elderly women discussing The Russian Ice Stars' chances of success with this colourful folk tale.

Well, there was not only dancing, but lifts, spins and the circus-style stunts of trapeze and fire juggling plus one of the Beast's servants bounces precariously around on spring-assisted stilts.

As a result the cast, despite offering a nightmare test for a humble wordsmith recording their names, produce a fascinating version of the enchanted Beast rescued by a beautiful girl which bears little relation to the equally appealing Disney versions currently on the stage and ice show circuit.

Plot-wise, the Wild Rose Limited story does take a while to bring the wiry but striking Beast (Andrey Chuvilyaev) and Beauty (Olga Pershankova in her farewell tour) together the whole of the first half to be exact. Over-lengthy Act One scenes, beautifully choreographed by Cavaliere Giuseppe Arena, elaborate the story of Belle's Father (Mikhail Stifounine) and his meeting with the Beast and what appear to be distant cousins of the Addams Family, complete with finger-click backing music.

We also find out that the rival to Beauty's hand is a bloke called Fred (Valdis Mintals) who the programme notes say comes to a sticky end, but actually slips away unseen. That may be because Mr Mintals has to whip off his moustache and goatee and transform quickly into the Prince, wearing a shiny white outfit. That's certainly a lot livelier than being torn limb from limb by the Addams Family.

Certainly, the busier second half of the show ensures that the large number of children in the audience go home wide-eyed with excitement. So there are frozen assets to bringing 14 tonnes of ice to Tyneside in the middle of a cold snap.

* Runs until Saturday. Box Office: 08448-11-21-21