Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the Bruce Mason Theatre

The costumes are a highlight of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Children can be so cruel and so fickle. Literally, hundreds of members of the North Shore Music Theatre have worked around their day jobs to bring Disney's Beauty and the Beast to the Bruce Mason theatre.

The show's pedigree is good, having won Academy and Tony Awards, and it was a hit on Broadway. And although this Auckland show is an amateur production it features impressive Weta-designed costumes that are special effects in themselves.

But my test audience of one, young Mister Six, was underwhelmed by the story, describing it as "quite good" but not funny enough. At two hours and 20 minutes he felt it was too long and, overall, decided that he wouldn't tell his friends to go see the show.

On the positive side he enjoyed the songs and the performances of the actors and singled out James Mackay's Beast and Aaron Tindell's fool as his favourite characters. Other highlights were the special effects with pyrotechnics when the Beast was first transformed.

From an adult perspective, I tend to agree with my young nephew's insights on the show's strengths and flaws.

The cast is excellent with strong voices throughout. Susan Edwards is not only a beautiful Beauty but she also has the right level of spunk for the production's more modern take on a fairy tale princess. Mackay is a good match as the Beast although his tendency to deliver his lines to the floor meant the full effect of his beast costume was diminished.

Steve King commanded the stage as the baddie, Gaston, and created some enjoyable scenes of physical comedy with Aaron Tindell's Le Fou as his foil. Also enjoyable were the cast members playing servants slowly turning into household objects - adults John Hellyer, Ian Fenwick, Elaine Vaughan and Julie Maude and child actor Michael Greenop, who is 12.

The scenes with the entire cast of 43 on stage had the right level of spectacle and the scenes with special effects were a hit with young and old audience members, but some of the more intimate scenes seemed to drag.

More imaginative lighting was needed in the scenes where the set was sparse and in some of the scene changes stage-craft was lacking. The eagle eyes of my companion spotted the crew's legs shifting the forest and was quick to point it out.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the Bruce Mason Theatre has some lovely moments and is a nice introduction to the magic of theatre but its length means some careful planning and plenty of snacks are needed to keep younger audience members going to the end.

* What: Disney's Beauty and the Beast
* Where: Bruce Mason Theatre, to Sep 23