"Heathers The Musical"

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Here's another musical that I can tick off of the list of shows that I'd not seen before. I haven't even seen the 1988 film, but having the soundtrack, I knew a bit about what this musical was all about. And can I just say from the start; this show is fan-frickin-tastic!!

Like the film, the musical follows teenage misfit Veronica Sawyer (Eleanor Walsh) as she struggles to find her place in the stiff hierarchy at Ohio's Westerberg High - Home of the Rottweilers. The school is ruled with an iron fist by a trio of popular girls, known as the Heathers. Veronica infiltrates the Heathers' inner sanctum and becomes their "friend" to make her own life easier. Things take a dark turn though when she meets a boy named JD (Jacob Fowler), who reignites her hatred for the croquet mallet-carrying clique, but he takes plans for revenge to murderous levels.

Eleanor has a wonderful vocal delivery, matched by a wonderful sense of comic timing. The chemistry between Veronica and JD is very natural: they have a fair bit in common, both being outsiders. But that voice was literally off the scale. I know when a song, and singer, hits the spot as it gives me tingles, and Eleanor certainly gave me tingles. A beautiful performance.

Local musician and actor Jacob really brings home the sinister image with his long, black, Matrix style trench coat, menacing looks, creepy murderer vibes, and talking of "numbing his pain" with frozen slushies. I've known Jacob for a few years now, and know what a great voice he has, so knew exactly what to expect from Jacob on the vocals front. He has great range and utilises his singing ability with ease.

If performing to a home crowd, as he has done before, gives an actor another level of nerves, Jacob didn't show one sign of them, and the audience gave him, and the rest of the cast, one of the loudest shows of appreciation I've heard; it was like being at a football match where your side has just scored the winning goal.

The trio of Heathers, Chandler, Duke and Macnamara, are played by Verity Thompson, who completely owns the stage and obviously relishes her bitchy status, Elise Zavou and Billie Bowman respectively. Heather Duke and Heather Macnamara both in utter admiration of Heather Chandler's Queen Bitch role model. Both also wanting to take over the position, but wallowing in the shadow of Chandler. The trio of Heathers received applause even before they said or sung a word, showing the status these three characters have established from day one.

Kingsley Morton plays Martha Dunstock; the "invisible" girl, until she lets rip with her powerful vocals on "Kindergarten Boyfriend", a song with darker undertones than first expected.

Alex Woodward as Kurt Kelly and Morgan Jackson as Ram Sweeney, the two typical High School jocks. They create many of the comedy moments, not least when comparing their underwear at quite a crucial part of the musical. From this point, there are no costume changes for this pair, much to the delight of many audience members!

I'm not going to give anything away for anyone who has not seen this musical, and are coming to see it this week, but what happens at the end of the first act, creates an excellent opening to the second act, featuring Kurt and Ram's Dads, again extracting an amazing response from the opening night audience. Love their ties as well.

Ms Fleming, as well as Veronica's mother, is played by Maeve Byrne, oh and what a character! As the Westerberg High School counsellor, she has her own little musical section, also utilising an audience member - I'll say no more about that. But the "Shine A Light" section was hilarious, and I loved the jackets worn by the students in this bit. Anyone know where I can get one from?

The ensemble, in my eyes, were so much more than an ensemble in this musical, and each seemed to have their own little spot in the spotlight. And they all have incredibly strong voices as well.

Jay Bryce as Kurt’s Dad/Big-Bud/Principal, Conor McFarlane as Ram’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Coach, Tom Dickerson as Beleaguered Geek, Lizzie Emery as Midwestern Surfer Punk, Eliza Bowden makes her professional debut as New Wave Party Girl, Summer Priest as Young Republicanette, Liam Dean as Hipster Dork and Markus Sodergren as Preppy Stud.

Directed by Andy Fickman. I can't see that he put as much as a hair follicle wrong with this show. It was great fun, it was dark, it had childish humour and it was sexy as well.

Choreographed by Gary Lloyd. This is one energetic show, and it's the choreography that provides much of that energy.

David Shields' Set design is just perfect; the walls of the High School overshadow any prop changes that create the other settings, and with just subtle changes of lighting, get you to focus on the scene in hand, the scenes being enveloped by the walls of the set, rapidly moved and removed by the cast members.

Musical Director is Will Joy, and he has quite the apt name, as the music was pure joy. There were odd occasions when the volume was just a tad overbearing and swallowed some singers, but I am nit picking because nothing could spoil the enjoyment of such an exciting piece of theatre.

The songs for "Heathers" include many catchy earworms, especially "Dead Girl Walking", "Candy Store", "Seventeen" and "I Say No", not forgetting the creepy duet "Our Love Is God" by Jacob and Eleanor. Tender, but with that dark undertone never far from the surface, as if sung by a cult leader to his disciple, all the while enticing his victim into his dark web.

The Sound Design was by Dan Samson and the Lighting Design is by Ben Cracknell. What I loved about the lighting was that all three Heathers have a specific colour code for their clothing, and these were matched by the lighting spots for the trio, bathing them in their own soft spotlight, highlighting them and creating their own personal glow.

This musical was so worth the wait to experience, and I can see why so many people were raving about it. It had a feel of "Grease" but with menace. It had an operatic air in parts but with rap and an obvious musical theatre feel about many of the songs. What I am trying to say is that there is something musically for just about everyone in this show. There are uncomfortable comedy elements, as you'd find in "Book Of Mormon", and there are many childish comedy elements that teenagers will understand, as well as those teenagers who have grown up but still appreciate childish humour. I for one can not wait to see it again.

"Heathers The Musical" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 2 September.

 "Murderous Liaisons" by Brian Clemens.

Tabs Productions.

The Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

The third of four in the latest Colin McIntryre's Thriller Season is set on Spain’s Costa del Sol in the 1980's. Professional safe-cracker Larry has struck it lucky. Gorgeous Suzy picks Larry up at a beach bar asks him to steal the diamonds from her husband Alex’s safe and run away with her to Rio. At the same time Alex also employs Larry to murder Suzy for her life insurance policy. When Larry tells Suzy about her husband’s plans, deceit, double-crossing and dastardly murder plans ensue.

Brian Clemens is well known for writing the TV series "The Avengers", but I've seen enough of his stage plays to know that his twists are enough to make Chubby Checker dizzy!

Larry is played by Pavan Maru, his last outing for the Thriller Season for this year, but hopefully will be back with Tabs Productions in 2024. Each character Pavan has played has been completely different and this is his darkest character yet. The previous two have been like tasters of his acting skills, and here, his character is on a par with the other two in this play. Pavan plays a very confident safe cracker who has an eye for the ladies, and has the spiel to match. But there's a lot more behind Larry than what we first see; just how greedy is he, and will he be swayed by diamonds and money or the long-legged, curvy Suzy and Rio?

Suzy is played by Lara Lemon. As with Pavan, we see a completely different side to Lara's acting when she plays Suzy. We also see a lot more of Lara than in previous productions as well! Will she get her way and have her new life with Larry in Rio with Alex's diamonds, or will Larry do as Alex asks? In the first act there's also a hint that someone else may beat Larry and Alex to the job! Or is this just a coincidental fluke? I've said it before but with just a wig and different make up, a person can become quite unrecognisable - Sarah Wynne Kordas in the first of this year's plays - and Suzy was completely unrecognisable tonight with those 80's heels and that Whitney wig, and she gets to wear some great costumes as well.

Alex is played by Jeremy Lloyd Thomas. He's a bad one; he likes a drink and he likes to lash out with his fists, Alex, not Jeremy. He also likes diamonds! But like the other two characters, he is not all that he seems and has connections! Jeremy is one of those actors who can fall into any character and this week's is a complete contrast to last week's, and the thing is, you completely buy into the characters due to that tremendous acting skill. Jeremy also never seems to age!

Directed by Karen Henson, who can create any feeling that she wants you to feel from the stage. The tension in parts of this thriller are almost too much to bear, and when it comes to bringing in the twists, they come like a slap in the face.

The Set Design by Conal Walsh, assisted by Sarah Wynne Kordas and Duncan Hands, straight away places you in the 80's and with the Mediterranean oranges, and not just the ones in the bowl, you know that you are somewhere in Spain. The big leaved plants, decorations, furniture and paintings also leave you in no doubt of the era and area. A comfortably, colourful Casa, con su permiso!

Lighting Design is by Michael Donoghue, and, without giving too much away, I can say that along with the varied light settings for the apartment, there are also a couple of explosions of light that tell a story of events not too far from the property. As usual, a great light design throughout.

The Sound Design by David Gilbrook matches the lighting in excellence, once more with the spacial awareness of the sound effects painting another picture of the world outside the four walls we see on stage.

The costumes by Geoff Gilder place you right in the 1980's, especially with those for Suzy.

I don't think I've ever mentioned the stage management in the Thriller Seasons and I should really because they never fail to make sure that the sets are just perfect for the set's reappearance of the scenes for the acts. Everything is in just the right place; it's like watching a television scene with perfect continuity it's that smooth. Making this magic happen are Fran Buxey, Alison Willcox and Juliette Strobel.

"Murderous Liaisons", or "Inside Job", is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 19 August, and is one not to be missed for pure entertainment value and thrills.

 "Little Shop Of Horrors" by The Summer School.

Nottingham Playhouse.

The Nottingham Playhouse Summer Scheme is split into a one week and a two week course, producing the musical "Little Shop Of Horrors" this evening, showcasing everything the students, aged eight to eighteen, have learned.

"Little Shop Of Horrors" has everything going for it; comedy, great songs, romance as well as a dark, macabre man eating plant that lives on human flesh and blood, greed, murder, lies and deceit. And all this in less than a couple of hours!

It's the story of a nerdy florist shop worker, Seymour, who raises a strange and interesting but vicious plant, Audrey 2, that feeds on human blood. He falls in love with his co worker, Audrey, but obstacles, in human form, are placed in the way of his fame and his romance, not least Audrey's current sado-masochistic dentist of a boyfriend Orin.

This kind of show is also good for Summer Schools due to there being a large ensemble cast, allowing everyone a chance to perform.

This is the first time that I'd been invited to review a Playhouse Summer Scheme; and I would gladly accept again because this was very good, even including a character gender change in one of the main roles.

Seymour is played by Noah Baguley, and as soon as he walked, or should I say tumbled, on stage, I had a feeling that I had seen him somewhere before, and I still can't think where. This eighteen year old is just made for musical theatre as he has a stupendously good voice with power and control, and seems to know all about light and shade in a voice.

Noah is also a very good actor, capable of creating pathos and comedy in swift succession. Not only is he really good in this nerdy role, but I have a feeling that he would also be confident in romantic leading roles. Well, Seymour is a romantic anyway, but with his strong voice and confidence in his performance, I reckon the sky's the limit for this young character actor. If I haven't seen him on stage anywhere previously, I only have one other question. Why?

Ms Mushnik is played by twelve-year-old Sophie Snooks. Yet again, a very confident character actor who conveys comedy really well. One of the highlights for me with Sophie was in the "Mushnik and Son" section and the tango with Seymour and Mushnik. There was a lot of facial and physical comedy with this pair, which the audience really appreciated.

Audrey is played by eighteen year old Isabel Dyer. I really can't get over how so many talented young actors have all descended on the Nottingham Playhouse all of a sudden. Isabel is a wonderful character actor and you really feel sorry for her, and her relationship with her Sado masochistic boyfriend.

You believe every word she sings when she dreams about being "Somewhere That's Green" and injects real feeling into the lyrics of the song. Isabel and Noah are perfectly cast, and that chemistry between the pair is so lovely to see.

Audrey 2 is voiced by Cody McMinn (17), and it's been a long time since this character really made me sit up and take note, because this is possibly one of the most evil sounding plants I've heard. Cody really creates this scary sounding, demonic and quite aggressive piece of flora.

Audrey 2 is controlled, at various stages of the musical by Abigail Wheeldon (11), Louis Taylor (14) and Kush Patel (34) - well the age was in the programme, so I thought I may as well use it. All three quite adept at making this evil flesh eater look as if it could slither off the stage and gobble up the front row.

Orin Scrivello is played by May Morgan (13), and while I couldn't quite get my head around a bullying, sexist bigot of a dentist played by such a sweet looking young girl, May certainly looked like she was having fun in this brilliant role.

Chiffon is played by Zada Carty (11), Crystal is played by Charlotte McDonald (15), Ronette is played by Eloise Rees (14), plus we have extra Ronettes in Bea Robinson (15) and Sophie Parker (12). Boy, are these ladies good and what voices and attitude they bring to this show.

Loved Milo Rowe (11) as the US DJ who invited Seymour on to his show to talk about the plant. Brilliantly confident delivery in the style of an American 1950's/1960's DJ.

Milo, along with Harry Smith (13), Rubie Bonsall (15) and Ramona Rick (12) also acted as smaller plants towards the end when Snip, played by Sienna Batchford (11) came to make Audrey 2 "as big as hula hoops" as soon as every home had an Audrey 2 in it.

Harry also played the role of one of the customers along with Aether Ward (15), Rubie played the part of Bernstein and Beatrice Rowe (10) played the part of Martin.

Every young actor mentioned were impressive in their roles, making for a wonderfully entertaining show.

And no! I have not forgotten that awesome ensemble, either......

Edith Dell (9), Sophie Rees (9), Annie Turner-Morris (9), Leila Marr (10), Mylee Carr (10), Abigail Wheeldon (11), Beth Morgan (10), Sophie Tucker (11), Yuna Asano-Roberts (11), Lyla Paul (10), Martin Fulda (10), Lorelei Myers-Pigott (8), Amelie Myers-Pigott (9), Florence Hage (10), Martha Eltoft-Prest (10), Beatrice Crowe (10), Charlotte Swann (10, Milena Dora-Black (9) and Ivy Mae Hamlin-Adams (10). Where would any smash musical be without their ensemble?

The soundtrack is iconic with songs, beloved by musical theatre devotees, like "Suddenly Seymour", "Somewhere That's Green", "Feed Me", The Dentist Song", "Skid Row" and "Da Da" being among them. I was very surprised to discover from the programme that the big sound made by the band was from just three musicians including the Musical Director, Emily Kent, who has worked wonders with this large cast and ensemble.

Directed by Sarah West Valstar. there is absolutely nothing that I can find fault with. It was pacy when needed, and in the slower sections, everything had been timed to perfection, including the comedy; always the hardest to get spot on with such a young cast, but even that hit the spot every time.

There's a lot of choreographed pieces in this show, even just walking in rhythm, but again, the boxes were ticked here as well, and I didn't notice any of the ensemble looking at each other for direction in the larger choreographed sections. Amy Coggle whacked that choreography straight out of the ballpark!

Sound Designer was Ryan Raistrick and operator, with Sound #2 by Brad Hunt and Tom Codd. The acoustics in the Playhouse really lend themselves so well to musicals, and I've always felt that more musicals should be staged at the Playhouse. This show proved what a great sound can be produced with a musical show.

Lighting and Video Design is down to Rich Heappey. What can I say? Excellent job. the Video Content was created by Dave Clancy.

Loved the costumes all the way from Seymour's nerdy tank top and slacks, to the spangly outfits for Crystal, Chiffon and all of The Ronettes. designed by Emilie Carter and Bethan Keen; made by Niamh Ward and Alana Simms and assisted by Beshlie Seelochan.

I am not sure if they bought in Audrey 2, or if it was created in house but that Big Green Mother From Outer Space was enough to give you nightmares with those teeth!

The props were great as well and made by Nova Squire.

And the whole caboodle was produced by Tia Elvidge.

I'm hoping that if this experience were the first for most of these budding actors, that they will take this experience and run with it as they should all be extremely proud of what they did, and what they have learned in the last two weeks. Several, I am positive have acted before, because the confidence levels and singing and acting ability for some were off the scale. They have the talent to walk into any local theatre group and be stars, and I really hope I get to see the above names on stage again, sometime in the future.

And just before I go, please don't forget... Don't feed The Plants!!!

 "We Love Musicals" by The Summer School.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

Ok, let me prepare you: I may not be winning any votes with this review, but I always said that I would be honest.

The evening didn't get off to a flying start due to the show starting forty minutes late, with several parents and customers complaining behind me about the no access to the auditorium. I think this should have been acknowledged at the top of the show, but there was no apology forthcoming at the start nor the end.

The programme was like panning for gold in the Klondike; there was gold to be found but was messy. But don't worry, this will not be a panning review, the show just needed a bit of fine tuning in places.

I know how hard everyone who tutors these Summer School kids work, often twelve hours a day for the week, and Amy stated at the end, when the certificates were given out that, when this started up, she had twenty students. This week she had sixty students, also commenting that next year maybe there should be two weeks of "We Love The Musicals". That idea I think is a great one.

This Summer School is so obviously a big hit with everyone, that spreading the show concept over two weeks would bring more revenue into the theatre, as well as give the tutors smaller classes, which I feel would also allow more focus on the programme selections with smaller groups.

I also felt that, with many of the children being really young, a smaller programme would also benefit them. Believe me, you get your money's worth with the show choices, twelve sections, sub-divided into between two and five sub divisions. That is a hell of a lot of bang for your buck!

Anyway, let me tell you about the gold in my panning bowl. Molly Hanya's vocals on "Gimme Gimme", from "Thoroughly Modern Millie" were spectacularly good, as was her version of "Cruella de Ville" from "The Aristocats". That young lady has real powerful pipes on her and is a boon to any musical theatre production.

There were also some big voices in the "Les Miserables" section with Kayla Burgess belting out "I Dreamed A Dream" and the following Orange and Pink group version of "Do You Hear The People Sing". The young singer on the second mic from the audience left - down right stage position - absolutely felt every word she delivered and not only sang her parts but performed it.

Loved the "Wizard Of Oz" section, especially the choreography for the younger groups.

I also enjoyed Kate Russell and Kairon Wale's version of "Start Of Something New" from the "High School Musical Jr" section - which by the way is next Friday's production. With this particular musical, a lot of energy is needed and they all gave plenty of that, getting the audience to clap along with "We're All In This Together" to close the first act.

Act two started with one of the lesser performed sections from "A Chorus Line", but one of my favourites, "At The Ballet" which showcased Hermione Cumbers, Yara Johns-Ramos and Sophie Benner.

Then came the cute section with the Blue Group all dressed as Dalmatian puppies for the "101 Dalmations" spot - if you'll pardon the pun - on the "Dalmation Plantation".

Highlighting the choreographic side of the tutelage this week, we took a trip to "Hades Town".

After this came a selection of poems, and again, I know some people will disagree with me here, but I didn't see why a selection of children's poems fitted in with a show called "We Love The Musicals". I do acknowledge that the very young members of the Summer School really got their chance to shine in the spotlight, reciting these. There was one section where the empty stage time was actually longer than one of the poems! Anyway, that's for later on.

I love "Seussical" so there was no doubt that I was going to love this section from the Green, Yellow, Orange and Blue groups.

Anyway, talking about going out with a bang. the finale was "Grease"- which is a show that you can buy your tickets for now at the Nottingham Arts Theatre. Act One ended with "We're All In This Together" and Act two closed with "We Go Together" complete with T Birds and Pink Ladies.

Sixty young people all getting a taste of stage craft and giving everything that they had for our entertainment. There was plenty of sweat that went into the show, and even some blood - Billy Kiety, I think - and very nearly tears when the certificates were handed out, and we learned that one lady had reached the age where she could no longer belong to Summer School - but we can see her, and I apologise for not remembering her name, as Patty in "Grease". And it was lovely to see Dylan Whistance back again after last week, still giving his all.

Can I also mention as well a young girl who was small of stature, not sure if her name was Elizabeth - there was more than one - who had a belter of a voice, almost like a young Lulu. Wow! just Wow!

If I were an influencer, what would I change to make it a better show?

I would tighten up the stage management as there were many times when the stage was bare. With this amount of children to manage, that would need more than one person to make sure that the group or person was ready to go on as soon as the previous person(s) had exited the stage. This would also have reduced the time of the show, maybe only by five minutes or so, but would make sure that there was never a bare stage. That said, I wouldn't like the job because I can imagine it takes a person(s) who has a low stress level, so I take my hat off to you, Mark Russell.

There were several times that I couldn't hear what the young people were saying, or singing, and these were the times when the children were right at the back of the stage - upstage centre - instead of right at the front near the six microphones. I did bet a better view of the group stood at the back of the stage though by looking at the phone camera that the woman, who had previously been advised to stop filming, resumed her filming, just in front of me.

I'm also not sure why, when the young ones came on for their poems, that they used the microphones farthest right and left on the stage, instead of being centre stage.

Look, I acknowledge all the hard work of the tutors Amy Rogers-Gee, Kimberly George, Emily-Hope Wilkins, Danniella Stringer, Zoe Ellis, Alison Russell, Grace Deakin and Marie Rogers, but it didn't top last week's show for me. With a bit of a tightening up though in areas, it would have been a worthy match. That said, I also think they all deserve to wear blue and red T Shirts with a big letter "S" emblazoned in the middle.

And let's not forget, the kids that signed up for this Summer School have had an education in several areas of musical theatre and stage craft that they, hopefully, will never forget and possibly start them on a long yellow brick road to taking part in local theatre.

Lighting tonight was by Evie Webster and Sound by Oliver Read.