Little Shop of Horrors - Shine Studios

Well, I was lucky enough to catch the closing performance of this charming little show last night and I couldn't let it go without saying a few words of congratulations to the cast and crew. My regret here is that the show has now closed, so if you didn't get to see it, it's too late :( My details re: who did what will be purely character/role based, as I left my program at home. I'm pretty sure I saw the same cast as Manuao though :) Okay, so the first part of this show that I experienced was the clever, innovative style of the program design - I felt presenting the material as a case file was simply ingenious and really set me up for the night. And then I walked into the Nexus Theatre and my jaw almost hit the floor. I've worked in the Nexus umpteen times throughout my 12 years at Murdoch and I can categorically say that Shine Studios utilised every inch of that space to create a believable and very atmospheric Skid Row. The mulit-level, revolving, highly detailed set was aesthetically interesting, dynamic and show-appropriate. By far the most effective use of the space at Nexus I have seen to date - bravo to the design team! The performances as a whole were quite strong. Special mention must go to Bri Williams and Emmet Nicholls as Audrey and Seymour. Bri brought a fresh, ditzy, almost manic energy to Audrey and Emmet was nothing short of totally lovable as the down-trodden plant enthusiast. Their voices had a lovely quality and blended well during moments of duet. There were a couple times when I thought either of them may have let their support drop and might not quite hit a note - but their true professionalism carried them through, well done. Crystal, Chifon and Ronnette had great characterisation and energy (thank you to the director for ensuring these characters were presented as the school aged children they are) and individually their voices were absolutely stunning - what instruments! I did feel that the balance when the trio sang together wasn't quite right though; I can't commend the girls enough for their talent, but more time needed to be spent on finding the right harmonic balance and blend amongst the three voices. To the rest of the cast I say simply - a wonderful, committed performance that drew me into your world - congratulations :) Now to 'the plant' - Oh! My! God! I am so impressed - most productions of this show that I have seen have not gone for that final step with the plant and it really did pay off. Audrey II's sheer immensity left my with the open mouth of a "wow". Kudos to the operator, you did extremely well as one man operating a HUGE puppet. The synch up with the dialogue from the voice artist was great. I also have to mention the hand puppet sized Audrey II that Seymour carried around as well. It left me stupmed for a few seconds as to how you had that puppet going when Seymour seemed to be holding the pot with both arms. I got there eventually, but this was really well done, congratulations. I felt the set was extremely well incorporated into the deirection of the piece. The revolve had a lovely organic feel about it, and although its movements seemed a little clunky (and I did see the odd hand here and there) it almost took on a character of its own. Finding out later that there was only one mechanist to operate it helped me to forgive those visible hands as well. I liked the multiple entry points onto set, but I did feel the balcony was underused. There are very few theatres in Perth with a balcony like the Nexus has, and the set design incorporated the full U-Bend, but I only had to look up a few times. Not a criticism per se - more of an "If I had done it..." kind of comment. Truly special points of direction: - the first dentist's chair - I didn't see it coming and it worked so well! - the bum under the newspaper - I figured there might be someone hiding there but still laughed when he joined in the song :) - the people getting dragged around by tentacles/vines in the opening sequence - I hadn't seen something like that done before and it really set the tone for me that this was not a happy story; fun and energetic, but not "happy" I have to agree with Manuao in regards to the audio. I'm not sure what brand the lapel mics were, but the distortion was very apparent and a little offputting (both to the audience and, I believe, the singers). One thing I did notice is that the pick up on most of the mics was set blow the performers' mouths and this limited the amount of the voice that was able to be amplified - try for having the pick up set in front of or just slightly above the mouth, you'll get more out of your mics that way. I thought the lighting design was very strong and worked well with the set, but the cues seemed to be a little late a lot of the time. Either that, or the actors were moving too soon, as on a number of occasions a performer would move and then be in darkness for a moment or two before the lighting state changed. In regards to choreography - I felt the routines themselves were well executed and clean, but in some cases I did feel that the choreography wasn't quite right for the song. This wasn't the case with all the routines - in particular "Ya Never Know" was very effective and tied into the whole production very well as did "The Meek Shall Inherit". I do agree that this show probably requires more in the way of characterised movement rather than full dance routines though. In closing, I would just like to congratulate Shine Studios on a very entertaining and well crafted production. I look forward to your next offering. DazzaB "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." Scott Adams