The film, which was directed by the Muppets’ Frank Oz, has many differences in the storyline to the musical. Jim Henson designed the movie’s puppets.

Roleystone Theatre Inc are presenting this wild, tuneful and darkly funny, two-hour musical at the Roleystone Theatre, 587 Brookton Highway in Roleystone, each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening at 8.00 pm until 3^rd December.

This theatre has a large front of curtain apron area. The producers have removed a large central area and created an orchestra pit. The remaining area became the filthy streets of Skid Row in New York, with rubbish bins and homeless alcoholics. Props by Kathryn Ramsell included a dentist chair and other hard to source items.

Behind the front of stage, gauze drape was a well-furnished florist shop, with counter, buckets of flowers and a shop window. An easy set to manage – until the pod starts growing and then stage manager, Liam Tickner and his crew of Cassidy Bodenham, Montanna Tickner and Simon Walters have plenty of work.

Before the show began, an apology was made; the lead had taken ill at the last minute. Charlie Darlington was having to step in to this major part, ‘and so may have to carry a script’. This he rarely did, and even then, it was with minimal intrusion. As it happened, he turned out to be the best actor of the night.

       It is the 1960s, the flower power era. After a sparkling welcome from three of the local street urchins, Chiffon (Sarah Callahan), Crystal (Kimberley Harris) and Ronette (Niamh Nichols), the curtain rises.

       It is a new day, and miserable, grumpy, florist shop owner, Mr. Mushnik (Harry Olif) is ordering around his young assistant, Seymour (Charlie Darlington), whom he adopted – for slave labour – as a child. His other helper, nervous and distressed, Audrey (Alicia Walter) is late again. When she arrives, she has a black eye, the result of her brutal boyfriend Orin Scrivello (Luke Daly) a sadistic dentist who is hooked on nitrous oxide gas – laughing gas.

       One morning, Seymour finds an unusual plant in his stock. It is a cross between an avocado and a Venus flytrap. He calls it Audrey II (voiced by Paul Treasure) after his work friend whom he secretly adores. A wealthy customer (Molly Earnshaw) tries to buy the plant, but only has a $100 note, a rare thing in this depressed area of town. Later in the day, Seymour finds that the plant is wilting and only responds to fresh blood, constantly needing more.

       The word gets around about this unusual plant, now the size of half the shop. Entertainment impresario, Bernstein (Tyler Eldridge) is arranging a lecture tour, and a botanical news reporter, Patrick Martin (Luke Daly) pestering Mr Mushnik for an exclusive contract.

       Can there be happiness, or will the plant rule the shop?

I am afraid for the director, Lys Tickner and her assistant director, Brogan Smirke that there is good news and bad news. My main impression is that the show lacked subtlety. I know that it is a madcap experience, but some of the acting was well over the top. Certain musical numbers were powerfully belted out, but with an occasional loss of melody as a result. The quiet musical numbers were excellent, with a well-balanced, melodic band; however, there were one or two numbers when the drums totally took over, and even though I was near the front of the audience, the other instruments were drowned out and the lyrics of the performer could not be heard at all.

I understand that everyone wants the show to vivaciously, bounce along, but the music should be an accompaniment, and in a small venue that means holding back. This is not a reflection on the musical skills of the players, more an inability to adapt. Perhaps it is difficult to play the drums effectively without the volume, so perhaps electronic drums or muting mats could be used.

The Orchestral Direction was by Liam Gobbert and the Vocal Direction by Tyler Eldridge. The band musicians were Keyboard – Joanne Harnett and Jay Anderson. Bass – Hannah Fredriksson, Reed – Tara Oorjitham, and percussion – Alex Kent. The softer numbers were exquisite.

The choreography by Emily Botje was perfect for the era, with the well-known arm movements and hand gestures; but because of the robust song delivery, these movements tended to be dramatic rather than dreamy. Watch the Chiffons or the Ronettes performing – they are the groups these characters were based upon – and observe the soft vocal delivery of the day, and the wispy movements. The dance routines were very good, matching the tempo perfectly and well-rehearsed.

Gary Wetherilt’s lighting and Shannon Allender’s sound were particularly good. Linda Bickley’s costume design was excellent; she had everything from the flares with turn-ups, to the lavender, high buttoned Italian suit. The singers’ dresses were perfect for the 60s. The makeup by Yvette Drager-Wetherilt and Deni Mitchell was very good.

The ‘Audrey ll’ construction team was Gary Wetherilt, Jamie Thomas and John Barnes. They produced outstanding pods – plants. Molly Earnshaw and Montanna Tickner most convincingly operated them, with the plant’s mouth moving perfectly in sync with the dialogue. The tendrils at the foot of the plant flopped around giving an extra feel of a living creature. Although the plant was ‘real’, it is occasionally supposed that the voice of Audrey ll is an alter ego (or imagination) of Seymour and that he should actually speak all of the words – both his talking to the plant and its reply – however that is contentious.

When Audrey was about to go home she looked at the clock and said ‘Oh it is 6 o’clock’ – the dial had no hands on it. The trio were getting their photos taken – in the 1960s – with a mobile phone camera. Petty, perhaps but the quality lies in the detail.

I found Molly Earnshaw’s performance one of the most natural, and Luke Daly’s dentist delightfully horrendous and disturbing. Congrats to both.

As always, I am open to comments, but despite the fact that the whole cast and crew worked extremely hard, overall I left quite disappointed.

This updated show has had extra dialogue added by Michael Meyer, and lyrics modified by Andrew Lippa.

This two-hour, bright, lively, light-hearted spectacular is brought to you by a cast of young adult actors (14 – 20 ish), and is presented by the Garrick Theatre Club, at the Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford. The curtains go up every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8.00 pm, and Sunday afternoons 5^th and 12^th at 2.00 pm.

The Garrick has a three-hour class (TAG – teens at Garrick) once a month for youngsters who want to learn stage skills.

The set is a wonderful copy of the cartoon we all love. A background of blue skies, clouds, a path through the grass and a lone fir tree, all painted in primary colours (Nicole Tonkin, Cherie Tucker, Lisa Johnston). There is a big, red kennel with a flat area on the roof – for Snoopy to sleep. Each character has a wooden box, painted in their colour, adorned with their faces (artwork Annette Underhill).

The set construction was by Brad Hassett, Dave Stevens, Mirekle and Jennifer Bejr and Clayton Reichert. Amber Southall, who along with Celeste produced the colourful programme, also put a great deal of work into the foyer display of Peanuts cartoons and drawings.

       Today is a good day. Everyone seems to like shy, insecure Charlie Brown (Liam Gobbert), but is he really a ‘Good Man’? Most days he is obsessed with the red-haired girl whom he sees each lunchtime. Some day he may have the courage to sit next to her.

      Music student, Schroeder (Caleb Stevens) is obsessed with Beethoven, playing the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano, day in day out; but adoring Lucy (Brittany Isaia) doesn’t mind, she just watches him and drools – fanaticising about how, some day, she will become a Queen and marry Schroeder.

      Snoopy (Liam Borbas) does not talk much; he prefers to lie on top of his kennel, gazing at the clouds. Genius Linus (Charlie Darlington) – Lucy’s brother – wanders past clutching his security blanket. He may be intelligent, but he is a dreamer and child at heart. His schoolyard friends try to steal his blanket, but in a delightful scene, he sits and imagines all the security blankets coming alive and dancing.

       Charlie’s attractive but dumb sister, Sally (Tania Morrow) shows everyone her latest sculpture, made from coat hangers! Why did she only get a ‘D’?

       Snoopy dreams and fanaticises of the years he was a fighter pilot in World War I and how he defeated the Red Baron.

We spend a few days with Charlie and his friends, enjoying their adventures and ‘living’ many of his cartoon strips.

The costumes (Celeste Underhill, Fran Gordon, with wigs by Lynda Stubbs) were colour co-ordinated and beautifully finished off. Clayton Reichert and Brad Hassett’s lighting was well planned and operated. Ben Anderson and Alexander Fleckner capably operated Geoff Holt’s fun sound design.

The cartoon syndicate and copyrighters supplied the quirky, lively music. Krispin Maesalu, Karl and Christina Dietrich gave the cast vocal and singing guidance. The cast were all very talented singers, who could belt out the song perfectly whilst dancing and smiling. Amber Southall precisely taught the New York accents.

Even though the director, Celeste Underhill, is a talented dance teacher and experienced director, for this unusual show, she had to find a cast that could speak with an American accent, sing well, dance gracefully, and have good stage presence, whilst displaying exuberance and energy throughout the show. Finally, an excellent comedic delivery was essential. With young actors, having one of these talents is admirable, but to find half a dozen players with all of these talents is amazing. This cast had huge chemistry, and engaged the audience from the opening scene.

This is a feel-good show for all of the family. 6 to 96 year olds will love it. Great fun.

Presented by Stirling Theatre Players, 25 Morris Place, Innaloo, this almost three hour musical can be seen on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 8.00 until 26^th September. There are Sunday matinees on 13^th and 20^th at 2.00 pm. It is a long show but time flies.

There is little scenery as such, but there are numerous, wonderful props used in the dozen and a half scenes. Michael Stronach, Jack Gordon and Luke Morgan constructed the brightly coloured sets.

The quality lighting and sound came from the reliable team of Ian and Carole Wilson. Sadly the dreaded headsets weren’t quite so reliable, which wasn’t really a problem until the noise of the pelting rain, drowned out the unfazed actors for a couple of minutes, as the storm passed through.

With so many scenes, it was imperative that stage manager, Liz Pemberton and her crew, Cassidy Pemberton, Brad Albert and Christine Pattison perfectly drilled and organised. The changes were slick, silent and speedy; indecisive work could have killed the show’s excellent pace. Well done.

The stage had a deep apron, with a central walkway leading into the first two rows of the audience.

Some of the youngster alternated nights, so both actors have been listed below.

       As in the Vaudeville Shows of the early 1940s, the placards (Annette Underhill) on an easel at the side of the stage were changed before each act.

        A middle-aged, frustrated and failed actress, Rose (Claudia Van Zeller) is shamelessly promoting her beautiful, Shirley Temple-like daughter, Baby June (Bella Freeman, Phoebe Tennent), whilst cruelly ignoring her plain, shy, older daughter, Baby Louise (Caitlin Knock, Mia Martin). At Uncle Jocko’s (David Cosgrove) TV talent contest, Rose berates the other young talent – a young clarinettist (Charlie Martin) and a pretty balloon girl (Elle Simpson).

      Back at her Pop’s (Paul Anderson) house, Rose tries to borrow more money for June’s career, but when she fails, she packs up, taking the girls from Seattle to LA, along with some newsboys (incl. Bailey Jubb) that she meets on the way. They all perform in down-market theatres for several years. (There is a clever transition scene where the family grow up and we rejoin them as young adults.)

     Rose meets Herbie (Trevor Preston) who used to be a theatrical agent, but is now barely scraping a living together. Rose’s gang move in with poor Herbie. The youngest has now grown up to become Dainty June (Tania Morrow), and Rose has added a pantomime cow (Jamie-Lee Olson, Kimberley Hill) to the cast of her ‘new’ show.

      Miss Cratchitt (Liz Pemberton) is the kind receptionist of an impresario, Mr Grantziger. She gives Rose’s troupe a chance, however, the adult newsboys Pastey (Terence Oliver Smith), Phil (Steve Anderson), Little Rock (Alex Fleckner) and Georgie (Caleb Stevens) after years of the same act, are now disillusioned actors.

      June quits, and so realising that they are broke Louise, now an attractive young lady (Madeleine Shaw) – who is in love with Tulsa (Liam Gobbert) – offers to join Burlesque. She shares a dressing room with dim Agnes (Tracey Endelbrecht); gone are the attractive showgirls (Olivia Taylor, Simonne Matthews), now Louise is with the old, worn out strippers (Helen Marshall, Paula Sayers, and Janet Brandwood – good on ya).

      What will happen to Louise, her Mum and her siblings?

The limitations of this community theatre forced the orchestra into a side room, off the main body of the auditorium, and yet the Musical Director, Krispin Maesalu, miraculously managed to follow the stage action. It was a cold night and so some of the embouchures took a couple of minutes to settle in, but after that, the melodies flowed well. From the soft romantic mood of “You’ll Never Get Away From Me”, to the sleazy striptease music; and the old classics the “Everything’s Coming up Roses” and “Together, Wherever We Go” added to the pleasure. The musicians played beautifully.

The orchestra comprised on reeds, Jeni Stevens, Catherine Motteram, Wayne Griffiths and Talitha (Dunn) Broughton with the brass section Sandra McKenna, Paul Marion, Harry Josland, Jo Coveney, Vanitha Hart, Emma Mondy and Ben Harrison. Josh Haines was on Keyboard, Alfred Bangezhano and drums, KudaKwashe Mateta. The string musicians were Rey Lecciones, Kristy Hughes, Stephanie Hughes and Amanda Reynolds.

Never work with children or animals? The brave – or mad – director, Celeste Underhill and her assistant Cassidy Pemberton did both. Without exception, the children were outstanding; from the one metre of dynamite, Bella, and all of the others, we were fed a meal of magic. They gave us splits – front and sideways – polished choreography (devised by Amber Southall, assisted by the director), and powerful singing with beaming smiles all of the way. Tremendous performances.

Fran Gordon was the wardrobe coordinator – a massive job – but with her costumes team of Carol Hughes, Lyn Hutcheson and Machelle Tennent we had everything from Technicolored dream coats that would make Joseph proud, to the stylish dresses of Rose who seemed to  ‘instantly’ change into 5 outfits in mere seconds – and ended with ‘nothing’. You could hear the husbands asking their wives why they could not get ready as quickly.

Congratulations to Claudia and Madeleine for their extra special performances. Liam and Tania for their dance routines and to Trevor for his moving act. The animals? A veritable zoo, all perfectly behaved. Wow!

When it came to the singing, the leads were powerful and clear. This was a long show but the technical skills, along with the quality performances, made it a must for all of the family – but be warned, book in advance, this show was a sell-out on our night, with NO tickets at the door.

Incidentally, Rose’s ‘strip’ routine was sexy and skilfully performed, but still safe to take your 12-year-old son or Grandma along to see. Thanks for a fun, fast paced, proficient spectacular.

This intriguing two and a half hour mystery can be seen on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8.00 until the 29^th August.

The setting is London around 1960.

The chambers of Sir Wilfred Roberts QC were well furnished, with quality furniture and a fine selection of reference books. The gold, grand drape (stage front curtain) was an ideal backcloth to this scene.

The second scene was of a courtroom in the Old Bailey, most effectively furnished with inventive, cleverly sourced fixtures that gave quite an authentic setting (Stage managed by Vicky Williams).

   Young Leonard Vole (Alex Halse – very good) is an amateur inventor, happily married to Romaine (Helena Hillgaertner – wonderful). He met a rich widow, Miss French, whom he hoped would finance his latest invention. One day he learns that the widow has been murdered, and so he employs a solicitor, John Mayhew (David Cowell), as quickly as possible. Mayhew then decides that a top barrister is required, and so introduces Vole to Sir Wilfred Robarts (Peter Neaves – superb). Within seconds, Inspector Hearne (David Eriksen) is at Robart’s chambers to arrest poor Vole.

     Robarts, his private secretary Miss Carter (Diane Campbell) and her junior assistant, Emily (Michaela Graziano) are all sure of Vole’s innocence, but his only alibi is his wife. With Judge Wainright (Andrew Fairfoul) allotted to the case, and with the brilliant Mr Myers QC (Liam Gobbert) for the prosecution, Vole must find someone else who can prove his innocence.

       In court, Miss French’s Irish housekeeper, Janet O’Brien (Vicky Williams) is called to the witness box by The Usher (Daniel Bradshaw), shortly followed by Dr Wyatt (Michael Khouri) – things are looking bad for Vole. The Forewoman of the Jury (Diane Campbell) looks at another jury member (Teneeka Robinson) and they shake their heads. Surely, when things cannot get worse for Vole, an unknown woman (Tarryn McGrath) is called to the witness box. Finally, Romaine unbelievably agrees to be a witness for the prosecution.

Could a tart, Christine (Kayla Wynne), who calls at the chambers be Vole’s saving grace?

This is an impoverished, but very ambitious theatre group. The lighting rig consists of four medium powered floods on floor stands at the side of the audience. Last night – mid play – one globe exploded showering glass everywhere, luckily, no one was injured, but this left only three lights to illuminate a front apron scene and a full stage with 15 actors.

When the lamp blew, the actors on stage (Peter Neaves, Alex Halse, David Cowell) showed outstanding professionalism by continuing without a flicker.

There were two scenes, the first ‘a barrister’s office’, was in front of the stage curtain. It was built on a 20 cms dais, so that it would not block the next scene on the stage when the curtains opened, however, with all of the seating being on a the hall floor the eye line for the audience was at times tricky. Normally the stage should be at least 50 cms higher than the floor, or the seating should have every second row of seats rising on a 20 cms dais. Now sadly the group is working on a VERY limited budget, perhaps they could try the Lottery Commission and / or perhaps a few community groups may have old incandescent lamps or bio box equipment that they no longer require. This talented group need every little bit of technical assistance that they can get.

The main actors were excellent, but a couple of players with minor parts, struggled; in fact one actor had a couple of fluffs per line of his short script, the most I have seen in years – your fellow actors who were giving it their all, deserve better support from your cameo part. On the other hand, there was a young lady, still in Year 11, along with a few newcomers to the stage, who can be very proud of their performances.

Director Sharon Wigley (with assistant director Ben Robinson) proved herself last year with the zany, madcap ‘‘Allo ‘Allo’ and she has now turned her hand to an extremely difficult, dialogue based story, but has come out the other end with a most successful, serious play.

Sharon is generous enough to take on ‘virgins’ and hone them with care into giving wonderful performances. The cast has worked together immaculately in order that no clue will be given to the murderer.

I have not seen this play on the stage before, but with the lack of physical action, suspense relies upon crisp dialogue. Because a stage production cannot be edited like a film, a good delivery is essential. The courtroom action was gripping throughout.

Yes, this is produced by a community theatre on a meagre budget, but they succeeded in the main aim, i.e. giving the audience a wonderful and exciting night out. Congratulations.