Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors had a big cult following when it was first released in 1986 and it is a great pity that there are not many more people wanting to see this show today. If anyone has not seen or heard of this show they should have gone to The Lamproom Theatre in Barnsley this week where they would have seen a first class production.

As people who have seen this show will know it is about a hapless young accident prone young man who discovers a new strain of plant which seems to thrive on human blood and indeed flesh. The part of Seymour, the young man in question is played perfectly by Ryan Howe; he was excellent both in his singing and his acting. I especially enjoyed his duet with Audrey who was also played extremely well by Holly Lees, “Suddenly Seymour”; this was really good and quite moving as we heard about their lives in the song.

As the show starts the whole company is joined by “The Ronnettes”, a girl trio comprising of Ellen Sidebottom, Emma Turton and Emily Kendall who appeared throughout the show to give updates in song. The songs were delivered in close harmony and well received by the entire audience, the whole company were very well rehearsed and able to deliver the goods to a very high standard which we have come to expect from this company.

I mentioned Seymour who is the sort of hero of the piece and is an orphan but is adopted by his boss Mrs Mushnik played with ease by Belinda Lindley and she was perfect for this with an almost perfect accent which is not easy to do and some people do have a tendency to go over the top so as not to be heard properly or slip back into a Yorkshire accent at times. Belinda did none of these and I was certainly able to hear and decipher every word she said and sang.

Audrey has a boyfriend who is not very good to her to say the least and I have seen this show several times where again the actor playing Orin has gone over the top, I am very pleased to say this did not happen here and Ashley Ironmonger was perfect in every scene he did and displayed a great comedic ability both in his singing and acting.

I am unsure whether the lead character of this show is Seymour, Audrey or in fact Audrey 2, the plant which grows and grows as the story develops and therefore needs to have actors both playing her and singing her songs, again this company as able to show the talent in David Cooper as the voice and Pete Mayson as the plant operator who was able to sinc the movements to the song.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening’s entertainment, many congratulations to all involved including Jonathan Cannon as Director, Robert Cooper as MD and Dani Sampson as Choreographer.

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