Little Shop of Horrors

The Attic Productions has brought their first full musical to the stage with the effervescent and simultaneously ominous Little Shop of Horrors.  The small cast of only fourteen actors managed to fill the space with energy and optimism as the story goes from bad to worse for all of mankind.

Starting strongly with Chiffon (Draper), Crystal (Redman), and Ronnette (Hinton), the show grabbed your attention immediately.  Jade Draper and Sally 

Redman are leading ladies in their own right and Kylie Hinton completed the trio nicely.  These girls articulate clearly and are a pleasure to listen to.

Seymour came in and was as downtrodden and pathetic as you expect him to be.  Jesse Leese was well cast here as he also channels a lot of Rick Moranis, the poster boy of Seymours. Steve Goggin as Mushnik was entertaining, the voice of Audrey 2 was perfectly provided by Jacob Ramm and Steve Burchill filled the difficult and unpopular role of Odin, the dentist.

But the show belonged to Chloe McWilliam, a prodigiously talented young lady whose vocals, acting finesse and professionalism belie her 19yrs.  She is currently studying a Bachelor of Music Theatre at AIM and her portrayal of Audrey was stunning.  Chloe will be performing in professional theatre before very long if there is any justice in this world.

At interval on opening night the general consensus amongst the audience was that the cast vocals were being largely drowned out by the excessively loud orchestra. The audio balance was slightly better in Act 2, however no lyrics are redundant and a lot of the vocals were still being lost.  This is always a great shame and happens far too frequently in the community theatre space. Production teams need to always be mindful that, even though THEY may know every word, the majority of the audience will always be hearing the lyrics for the first time.  

The small but enthusiastic chorus did what they could with their limited stage time. Choreographer Emmakate De Henau did an excellent job with their movement and the polished moves of Crystal, Chiffon and Ronnette were a particular highlight.  Director Brett Perkins chose a fairly simple set design, which worked well for scenes within the flower shop but meant that all other scenes were set in-front of black tab curtains.  The orchestra was spilt with two keyboards visible and four other musicians hidden from view.  The sound was so full that it sounded like there were ten musicians too many which was unfortunate.  

Special mention for Melanie Gribble who was responsible for the props and puppets.  The various Audrey 2’s were very well made and often added much needed colour to the set.  Danial Martin was on hand to ensure that hairstyles were historically accurate and well styled.

There has recently been an explosion of entrepreneurial theatre groups who are all endeavouring to provide quality entertainment in a competitive market.  And herein lies the problem.  There are numerous groups on the Sydney circuit and the Central Coast who are still producing high quality musical theatre and plays with a price point of $40 or less.  This particular production had sub-standard audio engineering , a disappointing lack of scenery and a $60 price tag.  The cast, particularly the excellent principals, were therefore let down by mediocre production values.  Hopefully future productions will correct this imbalance for the sake of the sustainability of the group. 

3.5 Audrey’s out of 5.

Fiona Kelly