Reviews

Centenary Theatre’s final offering for what has been one of their most successful years in history, should see them continue their success with this audience-pleaser by Ron Bernas. A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody won the 1991 Community Association of Michigan New Plays competition and has since become a staple on the community theatre circuit in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

Phoenix Theatre’s The Addams Family is an immersive experience - from a heavily and impressively decorated foyer, to a playing area that extends through the auditorium.

Phoenix Theatre has a notoriously small stage, and this production accommodated its cast of 25 by extending the playing space, via catwalks, forming a ‘pit’ to house the strong 13 piece orchestra.

The music was very precise and the sound levels of the band were well controlled - although it was difficult to hear individual solo lines within the big production numbers.

Reefer Madness may not be the best musical ever written, but it is quite possibly the funniest. Inspired by the deathly serious, church backed, film of 1936 on the perils of Marijuana, it’s a marvellous satirical melange…or perhaps a blancmange: guaranteed to send you right round the twist into lunacy! (The drug and the show.)

The best things about Villanova Players’ Rough Crossing were the musical numbers. Performed either by piano or to a synth backing they captured the period and brought life to this dull, inconsequential play by Tom Stoppard.