10th Annual Jambiz Christmas Production is CUTIE & THE FREAK

A full moon sits on the horizon, an eerie wind blows. Mongrels howl. A solitary shack sits in the middle of nowhere … a flickering flame steals a peek through it’s make shift window. A mob armed with sticks, stones and torches converge on the shack. As they advance, the hideous creature inside cringes. The mob is unrelenting. They approach the shack, menacingly, singing:

When children hide their little heads
and mongrels howl in fright.
A grim and fearsome creature stalks
the shadows of the night.

The foregoing is the compelling opening sequence of Patrick Brown’s comedy with music “CUTIE & THE FREAK” – the fully Jamaican stage version of the classic fairytale “Beauty and the Beast”.

The central theme of CUTIE & THE FREAK is located around finding true love in the unlikeliest of places – in the warm soul of the accident inflicted, severely burnt body of Frank the Freak (played by Courtney Wilson).

Frank has been violently evicted from his home community, accused of terrorizing its citizens with his gross ugliness, and forced into an existence of a homeless, scavenging vagrant. A chance meeting with the lovely university student Cutie (played by Camille Davis), on the banks of the Gordon Town river unleashes a tale that winds its way like the idyllic river, through an exciting terrain of twists and turns. The plot is unveiled amidst delightful musical numbers from award winning musical director Jon Williams and exciting choreography from Barbara McDaniel.

The story is pure unadulterated comedy entrusted to none other than Jamaica’s two foremost exponents of the art of comic timing – Oliver Samuels and Glen “Titus Campbell. Oliver plays Tiny (Cutie’s father) – the old fashioned self-made social climber and strict single parent. His outrageous efforts to destroy the relationship between the Freak and his sheltered daughter is as hilarious and charged as the Freak’s magical friendship with his imaginary confidante Ben (played by Glen Campbell).

The cast also includes Sharee McDonald-Russell, Belinda Reid, Christopher Hutchinson and Megan Lewis. Directing responsibilities have been entrusted to Trevor Nairne and Patrick Brown.

CUTIE & THE FREAK takes us to the bowels of human nature and enforces the widely held notion that “if you see with your HEART, anything is possible”. That it does so and leaves a smile on everyone’s face makes it all that more worth the trip to the theatre.

The production will open as it customary at the Centerstage Theatre, New Kingston on Boxing Day (December 26) at 5pm, and will play throughout the holiday period and on into next year.

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