Belfast Christmas shows

Lyric, Waterfront, Grand Opera House

In spite of being without two of its major venues – the Lyric Theatre and the Old Museum Arts Centre, both closed for rebuilding – Belfast has an eclectic mix of performance on offer over the festive season.

In its temporary home at the Elmwood Hall, the Lyric has a contrasting double-bill. It kicks off with Grimes and McKee’s very adult comedy,

Howl!

, whose in-your-face physical humour may be something of an acquired taste but will no doubt pack in those audiences for whom Christmas would not be Christmas without it. Its children’s show, meanwhile, is

The Tale of the Beauty and the Tail of the Beast

, Paul Boyd’s musical adaptation of the elegant 18th-century French fairytale,

Beauty and the Beast

.

As with

Howl!, The Tale of the Beauty

’s central conceit is a play within a play – or, more precisely, a rehearsal within a play. The bumbling Monsieur Affable’s disorganised Troupe de Theatre is on a tour of provincial French towns.

During a brief pause, short of actors and material, the company launches itself into a rehearsal of Affable’s new oeuvre, whose jumbled-up script is missing some pages. This allows for deliberately dreadful performances, raucously bad behaviour and French accents of dubious provenance and articulation.

Slowly the familiar tale emerges, to the appealing strains of Boyd’s accordion and barrel-organ music. But Richard Croxford’s carefully crafted chaos, encased in Stuart Marshall’s delightful parchment-coloured set and Diane Ennis’s pretty costumes, proves confusing and complicated, not just for the children but also for their adult chaperones. By the end, the story we all know has fallen nicely into place – if only we could run it backwards.

Writer/director Simon Magill and composer/musical director Liz Keller have been giving Waterfront Hall customers a well-produced, value-for-money pantomime for quite a few years now. This year, they have returned to the rags-to-riches tale of

Cinderella

, which they last visited in 2004.

On this occasion, they have stripped the story back to its bare bones in order to allow for a thoroughly modern retelling, at the heart of which is Dan Gordon’s terrific dame, Nanny Magee.

Keller’s original score is fresh and catchy, there is magic, illusion and circus performance and loads of opportunities for the kids to have a good shout.

The biggest Belfast surprise, though, is to be found in the Grand Opera House’s Aladdin. Out has gone the tired old formula combining minor celebs, clumsy dancing, gratuitous audience participation and insults unlimited from dame May McFettridge. In has come a glossy, high-quality show worthy of gracing any big city at Christmas.

The story is clearly told and well sung, the set and costumes are spectacular and a stunning series of hair-raising 3D special effects truly does make this a night to remember.