Acorn Antiques The Musical

I doubt there will be many people who have not seen or heard of “Acorn Antiques” by Victoria Wood, which is loosely based on a well loved TV spoof. The story is more of a play with music which follows the fortunes of a row of shops on the high street in a place called Manchesterford. The owner of the shops has sold out to a property developer who in turn changes the more traditional shops into a Tanning Booth, Hong Kong Thong and Panty Shop, a Botox Shop, and the Antique shop into a coffee bar.

On a number of occasions I have come away from a show feeling that I could happily sit through it again and on this occasion I actually did!! I returned the following evening with a friend who I felt sure would love it and she did.  As for me it gave an opportunity to concentrate on other facets and members of cast, who were slightly overshadowed when competing with Michelle Shepherd-Ede as Mrs Overall, a full-on mind blowing personality whose performance ‘demanded’ to be watched whenever she was on stage.

Julie Waite and Justine Richardson as the owners of the antique shop were superb in their roles, both in their singing and acting. Julie’s efforts to catch her man were epic and will stay in my memory for a long time. Her man, in this case Mark Roberts as Tony, was convincing and so right for the part. Justine was also desperate to get her man singing ‘Remind Him’ with great feeling and passion. Her man was Tim Kimber as Clifford, who was suffering from memory loss. He gave a good, sound performance and his rendition of ‘Find Her’ was a show stopper. Ruth Roberts as Bonnie was memorable in the extreme as the baddy of the show, a brilliant contrast to her twin sisters. She looked every inch the ‘wicked witch’. Four others who deserve a mention are Barry Bastable and Melanie Short, the ‘pitiful adolescents’ whose transformation into civilised adults was very cleverly achieved, and Jonathan Groves and John Carroll, whose initial entrance with Audrey was wonderful and their rendition of ‘Gents Duet’ was very moving. All the other principals and chorus gave their all with some excellent singing and dancing making for a fun filled evening with lots of laughs.

The Musicians and sound department got the balance spot on so that every word could be clearly heard, the lighting was cleverly designed and the costumes came over well for the period. My congratulations to Chris, the director, for a really excellent production.

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