Little Shop of Horrors

SOD’s production of Little Shop of horrors was a full-on, full throttle version of the well known and well-loved musical about a plant, Audrey 2, who ultimately takes over the world…. well, to Peoria anyway. Director, Katey Flaherty, has refreshingly challenged our view of this great show from the get go with a soft opening that was anything but soft! Skid Row drunks and homeless folk were strewn about the theatre, alarming some audience members with their antics. It was great to see so many of the society included in the production right from the start. As Katey said, she wanted the cast and audience to enter the world of downtown New York as soon as possible so, by the time the action started, we were all thoroughly immersed. The cast were present throughout the show as a nod to where the shop was located. At various times gun fights broke out and underwear was thrown about but it was a lovely busy stage involving all the cast whilst enhancing the feel of the Bronx.

The set had been augmented with an upper level which was used very effectively for the plant and his ingestions. The scaffolding platform enabled the actors to look down on the main action below and appear as narrators or commentators.  I was so relieved to see that the plant still took centre stage, ably manipulated by Charlie Evans Rouse in all three manifestations, but had been supplied with a parallel human actor right from the smallest plant with Freddie James , to the middle-sized plant paired with Mark James , to the giant man-eating version which is where Josh Handley stepped into the role. This was Josh at his most extrovert best. He mirrored the plants actions from above, lit with red and green hues, and vocalised the plants dialogue whilst hammering out the fabulous songs from Audrey 2. ‘Feed Me’ was amazing, energetic, full of character and what a fabulous voice. Our introduction to him was when Seymour was discovering the plants favourite food. This was a lovely piece of comedic timing by both actors but Josh continued, even through the interval, with a wonderful interpretation of the plants character.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We need to start with our narrators, the Ronettes. Natassha Semain as Chiffon, Scarlett Reeve as Crystal, and Femi Olajugbagbe as Ronnette were perfectly harmonised, moved like a dream and embodied everyone’s idea of New York sass. These ladies’ voices were strong and tuneful with a fantastic edge to their delivery and they narrated the storyline with personality and confidence. Despite some incredibly fast costume changes they injected authority and energy into every aspect of the commentary with wit and giant-sized helpings of stage presence. I loved ‘Da Doo’ and especially ‘Some fun now’ and ‘Suppertime’ where their harmonies and synchronised moves were perfectly displayed.

We were soon introduced to Mr Mushnik, Joe Drury, Seymour, Michael James and Audrey, Mary Robinson. The audition panel deserve a round of applause for casting this trio. Joe was a perfect Mushnik who maintained the cunning of a man intent on making money with a great ‘Noo Yoik’ accent. The song, ‘Mushnik and Son’ perfectly illustrated these calculating and cunning thoughts that travelled across his face and the delivery of this song with Seymour and the cast was great fun. Michael and Mary, as Seymour and Audrey were beautifully portrayed. Michael, as the downtrodden but grateful shop assistant who, initially, found the strange but interesting plant during an eclipse of the sun, and Audrey, as the warm, loving coworker under the influence of her nasty boyfriend. Michael was so loveable, but bewildered and clumsy, his voice was powerful and strong and we were all on his side from the first note. Mary, as Audrey, was fabulous. We first caught sight of her up in her boudoir in a box combing her beautiful blonde hair with an air of disarming innocence. Her song, ‘Somewhere that’s Green ‘was sensitively sung against a dream sequence being enacted on the opposite side of the stage which worked so well. She was soft, warm and engaging and the connection between her and Seymour was obvious. All the costumes were really well thought through from the Ronettes day time to sparkly numbers, to Audrey 2’s embellished waistcoat and fur coat, to Audreys fabulous ‘tacky but tasteful now’ outfits!

I must mention Orin Scrivello, (otherwise known as ‘Doctor’) the sadistic dentist played by Matt Bacon. If ever a part was written for anyone, this was it! His hip swivelling and thrusting perfectly complimented the sadistic humour in his enjoyment of delivering pain to others and his love of nitrous oxide. It was clever of the director to play down any humour in his abusive behaviour towards our lovely Audrey but, instead, focussed on his sadistic attitude towards others. Coupled with a fantastic voice he really made this part come alive. The long note at the end of ‘Son be a dentist’ was quite an achievement. Seymour’s delivery and facial expressions during the fast section of ‘It’s just the gas’ and the dentist’s demise was great and culminated with Seymour dragging off the dentist to be reduced to a bucket of bones discretely.

One of the numerous highlights in the second act must be the delivery of Suddenly Seymour involving Audrey, Seymour, and the Ronettes. What a powerful delivery and a huge congratulation to Ben Page as the musical director for crafting these very talented vocalists into such a stunningly powerful result. All the casts’ harmonies were spot on and the band was great. Are musicians very bashful people? I rarely see the band members these days and I really think it would be lovely to celebrate your talents. This show certainly demonstrated those.

I have to say that all the minor roles were delivered so well and I’m left marvelling at the pool of talent that SODS have within their society. Every time a new character came onto the stage I witnessed another confident and assured performance.

Congratulations to the lighting team for some great lighting effects and to sound and set management for a very efficient production.

Choreography by Hannah Bartlett was fabulous. Fun, modern, original and refreshingly not placed in lines. Each cast member was in character and obviously enjoying every minute of this production. The party, complete with confetti cannons at the end, gave a glimpse into the fun that this society obviously had when putting on this show.

This was Katey Flaherty’s directorial debut and it marks a formidable start to many more carefully thought through and original, witty interpretations as  a director. I am really looking forward to many more.

Congratulations SODs, this was a fabulous show and thank you for looking after me and my guest so well.

 

 

 

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