Little Shop Of Horrors

I was warmly welcomed at Front of House and met with Director Jayne Meek after the performance. I was pleased to also meet with a number of the cast who were keen to talk with me.

The set was designed and constructed by the society and was basically Mushnik’s  florist shop. Clever design provided good stage entrances including the shop front door which opened onto the side of the stage thereby accessing the street outside. A window at the back of the set provided the space needed to” grow” Audrey 11 There was a great puppet created as the exotic plant standing on the window ledge initially. Costumes were provided by the company with a fabulous outfit created for Audrey 11. Lighting was appropriate and the sound level was good with all the cast projecting well.

There was an excellent band led by Musical Director Francesca Goulding. Good support was given to the cast and the music was a pleasure to listen to.

As there are only eight main roles in the script the Director decided to expand the cast so there were a number of small niche roles and the chorus of three girls became two choruses of three girls with two Crystals (Joanne Martin and Ava Foster), two Chiffons (Gabrielle Tyler and Sophie-Megan Edwards) and two Ronettes (Alex Hooker and Phoebe Wiggett).  This worked very well with plenty of variety and movement on the stage and accomplished vocals. There were small and important roles for the ensemble too.

Jake Scales took the lead role of Seymour Krelborn the meek shop assistant who purchased the exotic plant. This could have been a risky casting as Jake had never performed on stage before but he was perfect in the role. His movements, actions and singing really brought the role to life and I especially liked his vocals in Suddenly Seymour, sung with Audrey and the chorus girls.. This was a superb overall performance from Jake.

Becky Foster impressed as Audrey, also a shop assistant. She was energetic and organised but was very much dominated and frightened by her boyfriend. She had a lovely toned singing voice and I enjoyed her singing Somewhere That’s Green which certainly suited her voice. A good performance from Becky.

Simon White was Mr Mushnik, the despairing shopkeeper on the brink of closing the shop. He was harassed and worried and Simon was most convincing in the role. He had a superb voice and I enjoyed his duet with Seymour in Mushnik and Son.

Orin Scrivillo, the dentist, was played by Joe Fusi. This was a challenging role as Audrey’s boyfriend and Joe brought a powerful and menacing interpretation to his acting.

There were three Audrey 11s, Kitty Partrick, Dominic Simpson and Katie Everett. The most ostentatious of these was Dominic who brought an enormous stage presence to the role as the fully grown Audrey 11. With a  powerful and loud voice, Dominic dominated the stage and was made for this role.

This was a challenging production for this talented society backed by a strong and creative team. I congratulate Director Jayne Meek, aided by Assistant Director Martin Goulding for their creativity and vision in bringing this musical to Brightlingsea.

Well done to everyone involved.

 

 

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