Zombie Prom

With Halloween approaching, the young members of The Bunbury Players got us in the mood with their production of Zombie Prom.  I have never come across this show before and despite the title, there is no gore or horror in this show. In fact it was full of lively songs and good fun. 

The storyline is a bit thin (and rather silly).  Jonny (who was Johnny until the ‘h’ fell off the back of his jacket) falls in love with Toffee whose parents ban her seeing him.  The break up causes him to run away and after a mishap at a nuclear power plant loses his life. However, Toffee’s love for him is so strong he comes back from the dead after to rejoin his senior class, graduate and take his girlfriend to their high-school prom. There is also a neat twist at the end when he finds out he isn't, in fact, an orphan as he has always been led to believe.

Director Mandy Morrish and her skilful production team did the young cast proud. The fifties style costumes were super and the makeup exceptional.  The lighting design was very effective and the sound, although a trifle loud at times, was mainly on cue.  The set and props were well thought out and very imaginative. 

Musical Director Mark A J Checkley had obviously worked the young cast hard and it certainly paid off as they handled what was probably to them an unfamiliar style of music extremely well.  The show is mainly sung and the music is a challenge for young singers.   The choreography by Lacey Kiefer and her team was interesting and executed with confidence by all concerned. The whole show was obviously thoroughly rehearsed.

I commend the entire cast on their performances.  The twelve strong cast all certainly knew what was expected of them and came up trumps.  Alyssa Foster was pretty scary as the College Principal Miss Delilah Strict.  She handled her solos extremely well but I did fear for her vocal cords at times as she transferred her strong singing voice to a very loud dialogue delivery.  Jack Learoyd did well as Jonny and created a believable relationship with Chloe Gilbert who was impressive as Toffee.  Chloe like Alyssa handled her solos well.  Joshua Sulman as the strangely wonderfully named Eddie Flagrante, the not very pleasant media mogul, did a fine job although had a tendency to rush dialogue which could perhaps be put down to first night nerves.  

Musically, all the Ensemble numbers were terrific.  I loved the take on Jonny Don’t Go with Toffee (Chloe Gilbert) and her backing singers Candy, CoCo and Ginger (Lotti Routs, Billie Dawson & Leila Grace respectively), amusingly replicated in Act Two by Candy, Joey, Josh and Jake (Lotti Routs, Harrison Southgate, Michael Heslop & Callum Crane) with Jonny Came Back.  There was some nice multi-tasking by Georgia Ann Vargeson and Jake Collins both playing not only students but all the extra minor roles.  Those in the roles of Candy, CoCo, Ginger, Joey, Josh and Jake were all great: and well done Josh on not allowing yourself to be fazed by your erratic set of braces which were in danger of upstaging you and everybody else.

Just a couple of general points here, probably already made by your Director in rehearsal too.  Concentrate on slowing the delivery of dialogue.  Everyone speaks faster than they think they do.  If you speak too quickly you lose the rhythm of the lines and also inflection.  You work hard to learn lyrics, moves and dialogue and it is sad to overhear someone sitting close by say “I can’t understand what they’re saying” which means your efforts have been wasted.  Think too about how you make/receive a telephone call. You need to leave time to listen to the person supposedly on the other end before you push on with your dialogue.  The best way is to imagine their response in your head before you carry on with your line.

I have to say I did not quite know what to expect from this show but what I got was a very enjoyable evening full of good performances, fun songs and a couple more names added to my “watch list”.

Congratulations to all involved in Zombie Prom and you know which person to go to for your Hallowe’en makeup!

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