Little Shop of Horrors

This show has had a cult following for as long as I can remember, so I was a bit surprised by the relatively small audience at the performance I watched.  This is such a shame as the entire cast did an excellent job of performing this show.

It is a small cast show and Dunmow Players have gathered a very strong group together for this production.  Shane Sykes played Seymour and his performance was perfectly balanced and very well played.  Jessica Daniel played Audrey, and this was also a very good performance.   Both Principals have excellent singing voices which they used to great effect.   Chris Cray played Mushnik with great confidence, especially as it was his first appearance on stage.  His singing was strong, but it was a shame that he did not maintain the Jewish-American accent through the show.   Kris Tyler played dentist Orin Scrivello, a really great part and one that you just cannot overplay.  I would have liked to see him even more over the top than he was, but it was still a good performance.

The three urchins, Emily Robshaw (Crystal) Mollie Blake (Ronnette) and Faye Kelbie (Chiffon) were all good; excellent singers and great characterisation.  Faye used a very strong accent which, coupled with her speed of delivery, made it a little bit difficult to understand.  Mollie and Emily played their accents down enough to be effective but understandable.  All three looked good and performed well.

It was also unusual to hear the plant with a female voice, but I loved Aylin Cetinkaya’s performance.  Marenka Dynia was the puppeteer making the plant an all-female team.  The Ensemble performed a range of supporting characters, well done to all of them, especially Richard Aspinell and Eddie Davies.

The show worked well although I would take issue with having the urchins watching the action.  It is expected that no-one apart from Seymour knows what is going on.   So, to have the three girls watching, and reacting, from the thrust was disconcerting and did distract my attention away from what was happening on stage.  They do need to be there, as they sing the backing for the songs but, in my opinion, they should be immersed in an activity that shows they are not paying attention to what is happening in the shop.

I would also take issue with them being centre stage for Da-Doo.  This song is the pivotal moment in the show, when we learn the back story from Seymour, so to have the three girls centre stage meant we could have missed the significance of Seymour’s story.

The scenery was fine, its always tricky in this venue with limited space.  I did wonder if the plant was not made to go into, as both Mushnik and Audrey were not ‘swallowed’ by the plant.  Audrey’s ‘swallow’ was well done and if Mushnik had gone into the plant, before that, we would not have noticed.  But we did!

The costumes were also fine, mostly in period and appropriate.  Although Orin’s wig needed the sideburns stuck down as they seemed to be flying away!     Lighting and sound were all fine.  The band performed well, supporting the singers and with a good sound.

Overall an entertaining and enjoyable evening, thank you for inviting me and for your excellent hospitality from the lovely Front of House team.

 

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