{"id":1914,"date":"2022-06-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:49:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:49:16","slug":"little-shop-of-horrors-noda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/little-shop-of-horrors-noda\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Shop of Horrors – NODA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Review URL<\/strong><\/td>NODA<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Date<\/th>10th June 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Society<\/th>Hayling Musical Society<\/td><\/tr>
Venue<\/th>Station Theatre, Hayling Island<\/td><\/tr>
Type of Production<\/th>Musical<\/td><\/tr>
Director<\/th>Zoe Fisher<\/td><\/tr>
Musical Director<\/th>Helen Castle<\/td><\/tr>
Choreographer<\/th>Zoe Fisher<\/td><\/tr>
Reviewer<\/strong><\/td>Mark Donalds<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alan Menken and Howard Ashman\u2019s Little Shop of Horrors<\/strong> is billed as a \u201chorror comedy rock musical\u201d, and it certainly fulfils every aspect of that brief! It is pretty much sung through with great music and lyrics, and moments of high comedy punctuated by some quite dark moments of horror. Zoe Fisher has assembled a very strong cast for this production which, along with many others, had been delayed for two years by the pandemic. It was well worth the wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The down-at-heel neighbourhood scene was set well by street urchins Ronnette (Amy Sackman), Crystal (Abbey Bensley), Chiffon (Lauren Elkins) and Rosa (Holly Fisher), who popped up regularly during the show, commenting on the action. They, along with the rest of the ensemble provided great vocal support and interpreted the choreography with precision \u2013 essential with such a big cast on a relatively small stage \u2013 and helped keep the show moving along at a cracking pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean Ridley was perfect as nerdy flower shop assistant Seymour, who unwittingly unleashes a man-eating plant on the world. We felt his pain as he longed for fellow assistant Audrey and his anger at the plant taking over his life, through every word of his songs, which were rendered so passionately. As Audrey, Grace Campbell was every inch the victim of her dentist boyfriend and although she wished for better things, could not see a way out. She has a beautiful singing voice, especially when duetting with Sean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duncan Hobbs provided a solid, fatherly counterpoint to Seymour\u2019s innocence, all too willing to ignore the \u201clittle red dots on the linoleum\u201d in return for the success of the shop. Lucas Bradshaw was outstanding as Audrey\u2019s abusive dentist boyfriend, Orin Scrivello, switching in a trice from warm and friendly to completely insane. A very assured and believable performance of a difficult character. Although unseen until the very end, Matt Sackman imbued Audrey II with great character and sassiness. His deep, rich voice perfect for the role. We mustn\u2019t forget the plant operators (Katie Fiddaman, Megan Fisher, Colin Fisher and Matt Sackman) who made the puppets come alive under probably very difficult and sweaty circumstances!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the subject of the puppets \u2013 the plants are key to this show and they were of excellent quality, as indeed was the rest of the box set, dressed realistically with good props. Scene changes were managed quietly and efficiently while action took place in front of the curtain and the clever lighting highlighted the plants well. Costumes throughout were excellent and appropriate for the 1960s setting, and Audrey had some fabulous shoes to totter about on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The eight-piece band, under MD Tom Davison, hidden away backstage, produced a great sound which was mixed well with the mic\u2019d cast so that hearing the lyrics was not a problem.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What a triumphant return to the stage for this talented group! The packed house really showed its appreciation at the end, and we went home humming the catchy tunes and feeling elated after a great evening\u2019s entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Little<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The eight-piece band, under MD Tom Davison, hidden away backstage, produced a great sound which was mixed well with the mic\u2019d cast so that hearing the lyrics was not a problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[433],"tags":[440,438,435,436,434],"class_list":["post-1914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showreviews","tag-md","tag-musical","tag-review","tag-show","tag-theatre"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/LittleShop.jpg?fit=1165%2C899&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2jmMR-uS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1910,"url":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/we-will-rock-you-youngpart-noda\/","url_meta":{"origin":1914,"position":0},"title":"We Will Rock You Young@Part – NODA","author":"Tom Davison","date":"12 April, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The eight-piece band under MD Tom Davison produced just the right \u201cQueen\u201d sound and, thanks to good control from the sound desk","rel":"","context":"In "Show Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Show Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/category\/theatre\/showreviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WeWillRockYou","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/WeWillRockYou.jpg?fit=900%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/WeWillRockYou.jpg?fit=900%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/WeWillRockYou.jpg?fit=900%2C300&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/WeWillRockYou.jpg?fit=900%2C300&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1981,"url":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/i-love-you-youre-perfect-now-change-m-coates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1914,"position":1},"title":"I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change – M Coates","author":"Tom Davison","date":"27 November, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Tom Davison\u2019s perfectly balanced sound and SFX offered a professional edge.","rel":"","context":"In "Show Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Show Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/category\/theatre\/showreviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I love You Youre Perfect Now Change Banner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IloveYouYourePerfectNowChange.jpeg?fit=1186%2C574&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IloveYouYourePerfectNowChange.jpeg?fit=1186%2C574&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IloveYouYourePerfectNowChange.jpeg?fit=1186%2C574&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IloveYouYourePerfectNowChange.jpeg?fit=1186%2C574&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IloveYouYourePerfectNowChange.jpeg?fit=1186%2C574&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2134,"url":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/singing-in-the-rain-jr-noda\/","url_meta":{"origin":1914,"position":2},"title":"Singing in the Rain Jr – NODA","author":"Tom Davison","date":"20 February, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Soloists and chorus alike produced a beautiful sound and, with head mics and Tom Davison on the sound desk, we heard every word.","rel":"","context":"In "Show Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Show Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.thebigbluehouse.org\/site\/category\/theatre\/showreviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singing in the rain Jr - 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