Little Shop of Horrors

How delightful was this??? Congratulations go out, as usual, to The Lyric in Atlanta, this time around, for their production, Little Shop of Horrors. For the avid readers please know that, after seeing this show, I have decided to go ahead and do a webpage for Theater Consulting. There's no excuse for bad theater.

At any rate, this is not the case. But let me start from the beginning: The Lyric is a wonderful space. The organization at the entrance probably needs a little help, as there was not a House Manager present for the ushers nor the audience. Special Audience Members were allowed to sit in the house before house opened and other paying guests tried to follow suit, but were told they could not come in yet. Kinda un-fair, when they can plainly see people already sitting inside. *shrug* Different houses, different rules.

Unfortunately front of House was not set up in time to accommodate the audience members, but everything ran without a hitch. Well done and with enthusiasm. The show, itself, had a good house for a matinee. One of Atlanta's famous Directors/Actresses was in attendance: Mrs. Barbara Cole Uterhardt. Her husband, the very talented and ever-surprising, Googie Uterhardt, was in the show and, as always, a delight to see. But we'll talk about him in a second. Miss Laine Binder manned the light board - and wow: is there nothing this woman can't do? I mean, really - the Diva of the stage, now donned all in black to run the light board? Talk about your Theater lover!

The set design was very good. Congrats to Mr. McKenzie for his work. The Costumes were appropriately designed, picked and coordinated. From the moment the street urchins hit the stage, the professional look of the entire show was set. Well done, Mr. Stefferud! The Lighting was a little dark, but perhaps that was what the lighting designer, Mr. Magursky, wanted. If so, it works. All of the music in the show was pre-recorded and the actors sang to it. Nothing wrong with that. I'd have loved to have seen the cast with an orchestra for this show, but with the space, there probably wasn't room. Props to Mr. Blocker, the new Artistic Director and Musical Director, for this decision.

This was really a fun show. Googie was hilarious as most of the extra characters. But when he came down the isle, dressed all in black leather, as the pain-loving dentist, Orin Scrivello- wow, that was it! Googie can truly transform with a minute's notice! Well done, Googie! Mr. Mushnik, played by OSA's "Urinetown" own Caldwell B. Cladwell , Robert Wayne, was hilarious as usual.

Didn't quite understand why the Artistic Director was in the booth the entire time, but, not knowing the circumstances surrounding the show or the crew, and, it is his theater, ...*shrug* Usually the only people in the booth run the show. Ah well.

The Choreography was flawless! The urchins were exact on every movement and all choreography in the show was extremely entertaining! And with no wonder! The fabulously talented Ricardo Aponte was on the scene for this one, folks! Brilliantly talented, Mr. Aponte has taken another musical further than they expected to go. And I'm sure he made everyone work hard to perfection!

Didn't quite understand the announcements before Act II, which probably should have been done before the show, but...*shrug* Oh well.

The Singing Plant, Audrey II, could have been a little better animated. The plant, itself, was pretty good, but mouth movements and motion with energy could have been better and more on point with the vocal styling of Mr. Bowden.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. This show is definitely worth a visit to The Lyric. It's been held over - last 3 performances are October 4th, 5th and 6th. It's a good evening of theater.

365 Days Plays - Week 44

Having studied Suzan-Lori Parks at the University of Florida under a very well-known instructor of African-American Literature and Theatre, I was kinda stumped at what I saw in this 45 -minute production. I was glad it was only 45 minutes, really. I guess I had expected something different, definitely with a message - not that they didn't have messages. Maybe something else came across. It was good to see Miss Kimberly Geter on stage again after so long. Her facial expressions were excellent - she should do more comedic roles in the future. Miss Rachel Bodenstein was very energetic and moved fluidly on the stage. Clary Martin was also a delight to watch in his all-black suit. Clay hasn't been on the scene a lot in Atlanta, so his presence was definitely welcomed. Miss Erin Weller's mask in one of the plays was so incredibly haunting that eyes couldn't look anywhere else but at her: she utilized the mask in with great physical expressoin that it made the scene that much more enjoyable. Weird, but enjoyable. Youth Creates was a apart of this ensemble piece of work and, while they were children ages 10-15 or so, I think they would have benefitted more being on stage with professional actors than being cast as ants. And ants don't really make noise. It was cute the first time they came out to do a scene change and clear the stage, but throughout the other plays - the "meeping" was kinda annoying - like the child out in the hallway of the apartment building where I live at. Her yelling echos. It's annoying. All in all, the evening could have been better. Really. I expected more from Ms. Parks' work and the use of children on stage. It's always so important to utilize talent at an early age and being ants was not something they could really expand on in front of an audience. Perhaps the other 51 weeks of Ms. Parks' work is better than this.