Little Shop of Horrors

A warm Saturday evening in April saw a queue waiting to enter March Community Centre for the final performance of this cult classic show. It is sometimes daunting to produce a show that is so well known that most of the audience know what to expect of this man-eating plant. They weren’t to be disappointed.

The set comprised a box set showing the inside of Mr Mushnik’s florist shop, which remained on stage throughout, although the tabs were closed to provide the backdrop for other scenes as required. This set was well designed, suitably ‘decorated’ with a nice curved window at the side of the set adjacent to shop door which enabled stage right comings and goings through the door to be seen and indicate passers-by coming into the store. The layout becoming obvious as the plant continued to grow, as the rear of the set was needed for the eventual appearance of the fully-grown Audrey II. This set benefitted from well-designed lighting throughout the show greatly helping the changes in mood. The society had made a great deal of effort to obtain period pieces to dress the stage, telephones, till and Dentist chair. Make-up and hair were suitably period and looked well in character.

All the plants were made by the company, from the small potted initial plant and as they grew, however the piece de-resistance was the final Audrey II revealed in all her glory. This really was the star of the show, she filled the stage, rising up and down opening wide her gigantic jaws and more than capable of eating her victims, this was a wonderful piece of construction and design and worthy of an award in her own right, thank you for showing me her design and operation after the show. It is so important for a society to get the plant right and this you did excellently.

The costumes were appropriate to the characters right through from the Wino, Mr Mushnik, Audrey in her blonde wig and sixties inspired clothes to Seymour’s suitably nerdy clothes. The five girls were also attired appropriately in character although as a personal aside I would have liked to have seen the girls attired in matching outfits a la Greek chorus. 

The pace of the show was good, the story line needs to keep moving along and the ease with which this all rolled along was a tribute to the direction and tight choreography of the show and the way that the cast of this show worked together to give the audience a good experience. Diction and sound were good throughout the typical 60’s sound was brought out well and well done to Amy, Ellie, Kerry, Della-Marie and Jennifer for their prologue and Skid Row where it needs the voice of The Wino, Derek Wisbey, for this iconic number. 

I wished that Orin, Martin Lightburn had been a bit darker and a bit more maniacal in his portrayal of the abusive and sadistic Dentist.

Stewart Bettles was a suitably seedy shop owner, his number Mushnik and Son with Billy Garner was well played, a needy orphan Seymour needing a father who is only too happy to shout at him was a nicely played and sung scene, Stewart understood his character well.

Eleanor Pettet played Audrey with style, remembering that Audrey’s fashion sense is a bit tacky but she took the role to heart, bringing out the humour with Billy in their duet ‘Call back in the Morning’ which was well sung and acted, also the sadness and the optimism of ‘Somewhere That’s Green’. If I remember rightly some of the singing was by Claire as Eleanor was suffering, this didn’t show at all.

Billy Garner’s portrayal of Seymour was one of the better portrayals of a Nerdy and needy, young man that I’ve seen, he looked right and sounded right with good singing strength throughout the show, from his solo of ‘Grow for Me’, his duet with Muchnik, already mentioned, his ‘comedy’ routine with Orin the Dentist in ‘Now (It’s Just the Gas)’ and his two duets with Audrey at the start of Act II. Billy’s performance was good throughout and had the essence of Seymour. 

The voice of the plant as always is associate with the words ‘Feed Me’ and this was sung with feeling and force and Audrey II was well manipulated by the puppeteers Adrian Casey and Hannah Furlong.

Altogether a well-cast, directed and performed production with good technical work and a brilliant plant, well done, I hope this was a successful production for you.

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