THIS was a performance by teenagers who sang and danced their hearts out for the children of their home town.

However, this was no worthy effort of amateurs but a full-on performance that felt just shy of a real, professional production.

All the actors were students at Stockton Riverside College, who had been given the chance to perform big songs in a big Disney show in a real theatre and they really went for it.

The college has taken on a long-running, much-loved musical adaptation of the Disney film version of the classic fairytale replete with elaborate costumes, impressive choreography, full-on dance routines and big numbers.

Not simple and not easy but a success.

Some of the performances were outstanding. In the production I saw Luke Roopchard played Lumiere, a servant cursed to be a candelabra until the spell on his master, The Beast, was broken.

Rebecca Tebbett played Belle, the heroine, and Matthew Williams played Gaston, the good-looking but conceited and wrongdoing suitor for Belle. Their singing voices were all excellent as was their acting.

Forget the big West End show. Give me local children with serious talent giving it all they’ve got for their own people any day.