"The Little Shop Of Horrors" by Spotlight Theatre Group (Seniors)

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

I was sure that by now everyone would, or should know, the story of Little Shop Of Horrors, but there were a few people in the audience who hadn't seen this musical before! Then again I've never seen "Frozen". Anyway, here's just a quick rundown of the plot. Mr Mushnik owns a flower shop on Skid Row and employs two assistants, Audrey and Seymour. The shop isn't doing too well until Seymour introduces a strange and interesting plant into the shop, which at first doesn't show much sign of blooming, until Seymour discovers what food Audrey 2, the name he has given the plant, thrives on. In order to keep the plant thriving and attracting customers to the shop, Seymour goes to extremes to keep this special plant fed! And while Audrey 2 thrives, Seymour's star continues to rise. But, oh the cost!

When Mr Mushnik finds out that it's not Potash and Miracle Gro that is making the plant branch out, Seymour has to take swift action! Throw in, quite literally, Audrey's boyfriend, a sadistic dentist, who does not treat Audrey as he should, and a blossoming love for Audrey by Seymour and you have one of the most beloved of dark musicals.

Seymour is played by Hemi Lewis. Hemi, away from the stage could be described as a shrinking violet, but on stage she blossoms and is right at home. She provides Seymour with an almost cartoony style, and is the geekiest I've seen Seymour portrayed as, and I loved this animated geek who goes from zero to hero.

The ditsy Audrey is played by Charlotte Wright. Have I seen Charlotte before? I can't remember but I won't forget her now. Slightly under-played the dumb blonde image but by doing that I think Audrey was given a more human face, and we felt even more sorry for the character.

The voice of Audrey 2 is provided by Louis Barnes-Cupitt. I bet Louis had an absolute ball in the wings voicing Audrey 2. How can you tell? Because his voice acting ability. The plant's cocky personality came out well through Louis' vocal ability and I twigged that he was performing with a smile on his face, even without seeing him. I also noted that Louis' singing sounded as strong as ever. When he did come on to take his final boughs, sorry bows he had the biggest grin on his face as he started to leaf the stage.

What the programme does not credit is who the puppeteer for Audrey 2 is, and it would have been nice to mention them as the synchronicity of the puppetry to Louis' delivery was practically perfect; something that is not easy to do convincingly.

Dan Duckworth plays Mr Mushnik, and it was hard to tell Dan's age in this. Again, another I don't think I've seen before, and if I had, not in a leading role. Now, the only reason I say that is because accents can be difficult to master and Mushnik is Jewish. It may have been a decision at directorial level, not to have an accent for this character, which is fine. It's better to not have an accent than to have a weak accent. That aside, the role is one that you can get your teeth into and Dan did that. Dan plays older characters really convincingly, which is really good when it comes to character acting, which I feel Dan will do well.

Isaac Ahearne plays Orin Scrovello, the dentist with a penchant for pain. Isaac was due to appear in Oliver, two years ago for Spotlight but due to Covid, that production was cancelled, so as far as I can remember, this is the first time that I have seen Isaac in anything as a lead. I really enjoyed Isaac in this; Orin is one of my favourite character roles in this musical and Isaac I felt also enjoyed playing Orin. My only grumble was that with the "gas" mask on, it was a little hard to hear the words of the song "Now It's The Gas".

The ensemble that make up the vocal quintet were Tilly Wishart (Crystal), Scarlett Coleman-Smith (Ronette), Erin Hanby (Chiffon), Madelyn Pritchard (Martha) and Emily Holder (Angel).

The rest of the show's ensemble were Tom Blakely- who has a really good bass voice, Alannah Kight, Lucy Grieg, Lucy Horton, Sophie Benner, Darcey Adams and Mia Krostrzebski, who played various roles throughout.

Directed by Liam Petruccio-Hall, he brought out the minutae out in me. This is because I was enjoying everything so much that I started to become a bit picky, so here goes. At the start when Mushnik stated it was 2 o clock, the clock actually said 9am. He then stated that it was 6pm, but the clock showed 5pm. When Seymour offered Audrey a Kleenex, Seymour did not produce one - well an invisible one - a paper hanky could have been used, and the only thing I could find in my very picky "would be director" mind was the face slap was hesitant and unconvincing, plus there was no sound of "impact". This particular action can be difficult to look convincing when the actors are young, as timing is the key. If the show wasn't as good as it was, I wouldn't even have forced myself to look for such small actions. Well, apart from these three things, that probably no one else would have even registered with, Liam has done a brilliant job with his great cast.

Sam Griffiths is the Musical Director, and it's great to see how busy Sam is as a Musical Director, proof of his great talent. There are so many catchy songs in the soundtrack for this musical, "Skid Row", "Suddenly Seymour", "Somewhere That's Green", "Dentist" and "Git It", and the sound from the nine-piece band was as good, if not better, than any backing disc. A great sound which complemented the vocalists on stage.

Choreography for this musical was done by the very experienced Sophie Petruccio-Hall, and I love the choreography for "Mushnik & Son". It's fun and the cast presented the choreography with great ability.

The set doesn't need to be anything flashy and I particularly loved the "makeover" from the downbeat shop of Act One to the more upmarket appearance in Act Two.

Absolutely nothing negative to report on the sound and lighting front, because you know I love to comment on this specialised area. Oliver Read designed the lighting, and I especially noted the blood red blinding lights when Audrey 2 devoured his prey in Act Two, a nice contrast from the green lighting.

The sound design, by Rob Kettridge, was also spot on with no missed cues and the mix between band and vocalists was just right.

As I mentioned earlier, I've seen quite a few versions of this show with various versions of Audrey 2 - some played in human form, and some with just twigs of foliage, and have enjoyed every one; that's because I love this show. It's a really good night out with a fun cast and a catchy soundtrack.

"Little Shop Of Horrors" is only open for business until Wednesday 6 July so get your tickets fast. And please remember, DON'T FEED THE PLANTS!!