Review • NODA

I very much enjoyed my re-acquaintance with BROS having seen some of your productions down through the years and have always been entertained. The society's reputation is strong and this production did much to enhance that reputation. The Parkshot Studio Theatre is an ideal location for an intimate production such as LSoH and gave the audience the feeling of watching from their own room.

'Little Shop of Horrors' is a musical which now has cult stautus. A very popular film starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene and Steve Martin and does the music credit. A feel-good score and some outrageous characters make it appealing to many societies, especially youth groups but one could understand why societies with a more mature chorus may not be so keen.

I always advocate that the artistic success of a production is measured by the audience reaction and the entire audience thoroughly enjoyed this Rachel Moorhead production, as did I. This show fairly raced along from beginning to end. Pace is very important to maintain interest levels and I thought the right balance was achieved. Rachel, in conjunction with Set Designer Ian Nethersall, created a realistic set with plenty of staging interest. I did feel that the rostra, which contained the shop counter seemed unnecessarily cramped on many occasions. Another few feet of rostra would have been sufficient and the space was available. The creator of the plants (at various stages of growth) did a marvellous job. From a glove puppet to a full grown talking and moving plant, Audrey 2 was a star. At this stage I shall mention the excellent work done by Chris Storer and Mark Burgess as Audrey 2's voice and operator respectively. Some wonderful lighting effects kept the action and scenes vibrant. Lisa Rose's choreography was very appealing and pleasant on the eye. The sound was really good. It is nice to attend a show for once and not have to fight against feed-back etc. This type of music needs to be played loud to get the full effect, and was, especially when you have a band of the quality that Musical Director, Berni Messenger was able to assemble. Some of the music is well known, some less so but no praise is high enough for Berni and the band who were terrific and always together.

All other technical issues flowed smoothly and the costumes and wigs were of a very high standard and all in keeping with each individual character.

Director Rachel Moorhead assembled a strong cast who all immersed themselves in their individual roles. Tom Butler as Seymour and Clair Jardella as Audrey were the best I've seen in these roles. Both sang superbly and had obviously worked on their characterisation at great length. Tom had some lovely mannerisms and the highest compliment I can pay Clair is to suggest that she was as good as Ellen Greene. I have seen John Pyle in other parts and always enjoyed his performances but I never felt he really got to grips with the lovely part of Mr. Mushnik. Edz Barrett looked and sounded great in the part of Orin, the psycho dentist and possesses some great comedy timing. The singing trio of ladies who gel the show together were played by Lisa Rose (Chiffon), Fiona Hedger-Gourley (Crystal) and Victoria Butler (Ronnette) belted their numbers out with great confidence - no wall-flowers here!

The other three supporting actors all did very well in a number of different guises.

Congratulations to all at BROS for such an excellent show.

Stephen Macvicar
NODA Rep

Review • Richmond & Twickenham Times

A MUSICAL TO ENTHRAL THE AUDIENCE
The BROS production of the Little Shop of Horrors at the Studio Theatre in Parkshot last week was superb. From the outset we were enthralled, the music, the costumes and the set were all riveting.

Under the baton of Berni Messenger the band accompianied the performers excellently and with great panache. The acting moved at a pace under the masterful direction of Rachel Moorhead.

John Pye as Mr Mushkin, the proprietor of the flower shop which becomes the little shop of horrors gave a well controlled performance. Clair Jardella as Audrey acted and sang her role beautifully and with great emotion as did Tom Butler, Seymour who is in love with her. Edz Barrett was suitable nasty as Audrey's brutal dentist lover. The chorus made up of Lisa Rose, Fiona Hedger-Gourlay and Victoria Butler who led them was a great accompianment to the other players. The monster plant, known as Audrey II was skilfully operated by Mark Burgess and given a wonderful voice by Chris Storey.

George Hillier
Richmond & Twickenham Times