Last week St. Michael’s Theatre New Ross presented their in-house production of the very popular mock-horror show, Little Shop Of Horrors. This was an obviously crowd-pleasing show with a large and enthusiastic cast with some nifty tiny tots, a great set of man or woman eating plants, a functional motor bike, a dentist’s chair, a gorgeous leading lady, a rocking good pit.
However, the production values left a little to be desired. The set lacked functionality at times, the sound was patchy and often too loud and the type of face mic came across as whiskers rather than a slim aid to vocals. A Skid Row scene was too cleanly costumed with a central Chinese character in shirt and grey pants. A fine singing trio were, at times, poorly costumed and yet they sang with great style and impact.
Accents of principal characters were often patchy and there was a lack of motivational direction.
The finale was wonderful as they used the Mean Green Momma song from the movie and they rocked it to the roof.
Aaron Deegan was the Plant operator and Brendan Redmond was the Voice. Tom Reddy was the Dentist, Anthony Connaughton was Mushnik, James O’Connor was Seymour.
The three Ronettes were vocally fine as played by Lizzy Heffernan, Jean Hanrahan and Lisa Ryan. Catherine French was a posh and accurate Mrs. Luce.
Therese Canavan as the dumb blonde Audrey was the central star of this production. She shone in Suddenly Seymour, Somewhere That’s Green and the difficult, Sominex sequence.
The hairstyles by Treasa Dollard were quality work. Lorraine Cooper was a busy Choreographer and Philip Kennedy was Musical Director.
Design Exhibition
In The upstairs gallery, Danny Ahern had some interesting graphic work on display. The prints were a tad small for better impact but I liked the industrial architecture pieces best.
