Friday, July 18

Review by Chris Hart

First of all, I have to declare a bias – I love this show!

The late 50s/early 60s is my era and this is such a good pastiche of the music and B-movie horror films of the time, as well as being a re-working of the Faust story, so I must admit to a certain amount of trepidation on Friday night, partly because I'd been told this was a schools' version, with a different ending.

But I needn't have worried.

From the moment the first wino wandered up onto the stage and the music began, I knew I was in for a good time.

The director, Steve Powter, had told the cast: "We don't do school plays, we do plays that we happen to perform in a school," and this was clear all the way through.

The stage facilities at Castle Manor have improved immeasurably since I last performed there, with lovely new curtains, an apron and state-of-the-art sound and lighting, which was handled well by the operators.

The head-mikes were particularly useful, as the score is pretty rockin' and the band occasionally took no prisoners!

The set was perfectly fine and the cast used it well.

Lee Mayes was marvellous as Seymour – a totally-committed performance with a powerful singing voice when he needed it, as had Alice Malyon, a revelation to me.

I only knew Alice as a dancer, but her performance as Audrey was lovely, very touching, with a dead-pan delivery of her funny lines which showed the work and thought which went into her portrayal.

I particularly liked Suddenly Seymour from Lee and Alice, with a strong back-up from the rest of the cast.

The Doo-Wop girls, Annie Powell, Chiara Marchesi and Catherine Dawkins, looked, moved and sang as if they really were Diana Ross And The Supremes, which was exactly right – maybe not quite all the harmonies that I remember from the show, but pretty much.

I enjoyed Dale Bennett's portrayal of Orin, the awful dentist.

It's a gift of a part, admittedly, but he brought a lot of panache to it.

Joe Craig was a very good Mr Mushnik: solid, dependable and funny.

I liked the singing of Matthew Wheeler's wino in Downtown, and the many parts played by Steven Ridpath!

Catherine Dawkins handled the voice of Audrey II very well, but for my taste, I prefer it to be a man's voice.

The music was very good and it was nice to see Steven Hewes coming back to play for his old school.

It was a most enjoyable evening, for which further congratulations need to go to Lee Mayes for keeping the show on the road while the director was ill.

I'm told next year is to be Shakespeare and I shall look forward to that.

Castle Manor had a long tradition of excellent shows and with the talent, both musical and acting-wise, that was shown here, I'm glad that Steve Powter and Ryan Lester are determined to carry that on into the future.