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Geeky, quirky, snappy, wacky.... and every other cookie adjective you
can think of ... I mean its crazy, who has ever heard of a man eating
plant? Ridiculous! However, after two hours in the company of Audrey
II I was ready to believe anything! Henley Amateur Operatic and
Dramatic Society (HAODS) have done it again with their production of
Little Shop of Horrors. They have branched out into the exotic and
potted up this horticultural horror of a show for us with their usual
style and panache. With a clever, clever set and an atmosphere that
left us in no doubt that we were in an alley in Skid Row in the late
50?s.
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical which has enjoyed several
re-pottings over the last fifty years. It began life as a low budget
black comedy film in 1960 but composer Alan Menken and writer Howard
Ashman turned it into a musical in 1982 and continued to amaze and
delight off-Broadway audiences for a staggering 2209 performances and
was awarded the New York Critics Award for Best Musical. Little Shop Of
Horrors then made history when the musical, based on a movie, was then
shot as a movie itself starring Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene,
reprising her stage role as Audrey and Levi Stubbs, of the Four Tops
as the voice of Audrey II. The music is in the legendary style of the
60?s with rock and roll, doo-wop and early Mowtown combining in
irresistible toe-tapping numbers, including Downtown, Somewhere That?s
Green and Suddenly Seymour. Musical Director, Alan Lineham says that he
has sold his soul to rock and roll and that surely comes across in the
terrific interpretation and discipline of this hot-showadi-wadi
all-singing cast. The timings and musical cues were effortlessly
accurate, demonstrating just how hard this small cast has worked. The
musical backing is provided by a sizzling trio of on-stage, back-combed
beauties, Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette, played respectively by Claire
Wallis, Lucy Potter and Daisy O?Halloran, who also turn their hands to
a little dentistry, bribery and composting.
Somewhat of a cautionary tale, the plot centres on hapless Seymour
Krelborne, played with such accuracy by James Gwynne that I really
believe that he has to be that hopeless in real life. He is an
assistant at Mushnik's Florist Shop on Skid Row, but times are hard and
desperate not to lose his job and be parted from his secret love, sales
assistant Audrey, he tries to boost sales by nurturing a strange house
plant that he has stumbled upon during a total eclipse of the Sun. He
names it Audrey II after his secret love and finds that it grows faster
if it is fed with a few drops of blood?and subsequently human flesh.
Audrey is played by Sally Rowlands ? who has to be the most vulnerable
heroin in history, she is a delight to watch and listen to. In true
Faustian style ? Seymour continues to feed the man-eating vegetable in
return for good luck and fortune, however, things rapidly get out of
hand for Seymour as the monster plant?and the business?thrives,
eventually devouring just about everything and anyone in sight.
Mushnik, played by Greg Stack gave us a suitably despairing failing
shop owner, and once again his timings were immaculate, although he did
have a tendancy to shout just a bit too loud and I lost one or two of
the words, but hey, that may have been first night nerves and I am
green fly-picking here!
One of my favourite parts of the show was the hilarious visit to
Audrey?s woman-bashing dentist boy-friend, sadomasochist Orin, who is
hooked on laughing gas. Tim Harling as Orin had me holding my stomach
as I laughed at him so much that it hurt - and promising myself I will
go regularly to the dentist to avoid the need for any work! With his
slick-back hair and Elvis-the-Pelvis-like rubber legs as he OD?d on
nitrous oxide, this was one cameo part to die for ? literally! Another
moment that was outstanding for me was the duet with Audrey and
Seymour, Suddenly Seymour, with the voices of the two actors combining
sensationally, sending shivers down my spine.
This is a small cast musical with just nine actors, ? but there were
seventeen characters listed, eight of them being played by Ioan Havard
? or Dani O?Harva ? or Aaron Divah ? or..... Just as well there were
only eight as I think they may have run out of anagrams ! Well done
Ioan! But we cannot miss out the star of this show... Audrey II
herself. She is such a big operation that there have to be two people
working in sync to bring her alive. In this case, the back-breaking job
of operator was awarded to Richard Evans and the voice of Audrey II by
a startlingly James Brown-like Mark Khutan, who gave us that wonderful,
deep throated long anticipated ?Feed Me!? These two worked really well
together as I am sure that there was no way that they communicate with
each other.
The Alan Titchmarsh of the show, director Lloyd White, has to be proud
of his propagation as once again, HAODS has grown a sturdy example of
fine theatre that will live in memory of the Kenton cloche for a long
time. It is a shining example of theatre at its best.
I apologise for the gardening analogies but I, like Seymour, just could
not resist!
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