HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-08-31, Page 23I
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1988. PAGE 23.
David Scammell [left] plays the dentist who loves to inflict pain while
Greg Lawson plays Seymour, the nice guy who finds himself owner of a
blood-loving plant in “Little Shop of Horrors’ ’ the musical comedy that
is the final production of the season at Huron Country Playhouse in
Grand Bend. The play runs until September 10.
Author shows sensitivity
Continued from page 22
Even theyouth’s nervous body
language, as portrayed by Mr.
Bundy, is absolutely authentic, as
any long-suffering parent of an
adolescent male can testify.
This writer did not see Border
town last year, but it is difficult to
imagine that the 1987 Maxine,
played by Blyth Festival veteran
Lorna Wilson, could have done any
better than actress Donna Farron’ s
depiction of the role today. Ms.
Farron comes very close to stealing
the show as the brassy, loud
mouthed American-born grand
mother who, as her daughter
points out, calls “everything not
normal, Canadian.’’ Maxine’s
grating boldness in the first act of
the play brings many a guffaw,
while in the second act, faced with
her own crisis, she softens into just
as vulnerable a human being as any
of the rest of us.
Jerry Franken, an accomplished
director (“Fires in the Night’’) and
fine actor, is also excellent as the
taciturn Canadian grandfather,
Jim, who holds the family together
through good times and bad. Mr.
Franken gets fewer lines than the
rest of the cast, but far more
punchlines, many of them memor
able: at one point he tells Jimmy
that “maybe your Dad’s ready to
quit playin’ the man and start bein’
one - before his son beats him to
it.”
If there is a weak spot in
Bordertown, it is the performance
turned in by Laurel Paetz as
Marlene, Jimmy’s harrassed and
often uncertain mother who has
sacrificed her life to the family
business, just to make ends meet.
At times, Ms. Paetz seems just a
little less than convincing in her
demanding role, but only in
comparison to the accuracy of the
other characters.
Playwright Kelly Rebar has
shown a great deal of sensitivity
and insight into human nature in
creating Bordertown, as does
director Katherine Kaszas in
bringing it to the stage. Allan
Stitchbury a nd Carole Klemm’s
sets are delightful and authentic,
complete to the last detail (with
many thanks to props master
Deborah Ratelie), at times taking
reality just about as far as it can go
by allowing the smell of a real
breakfast cooking to waft over the
first few rows of the theatre.
Bordertown Cafe plays at the
Blyth Festival until September 17
before leaving on an Ontario tour
which takes it to several southern
Ontario theatres, including to
Toronto’s Factory Theatre,
throughout the last two weeks of
September and into the first week
in November, when it completes its
run in northern Ontario with dates
at both Blind River and Kapuskas-
ing.
For tickets and more informa
tion, call the Blyth Festival at
523-9300 or 523-9225.
The family of Lloyd and
Mary Walden wishes to
invite friends, neighbours
and relatives to an Open
House on Sunday, Septem
ber 4, 1988, 1:30 p.m. - 5:00
p.m. at Blyth United Church
basement in honour of their
50th wedding anniversary.
Your presence only, please.
Theatre Review
Blood-thirsty plant star of musical
BY KEITH ROULSTON
You can havq a lot of fun at
“Little Shop of Horrors’’ the
musical comedy that’s the final
production of the year at Huron
Country Playhouse in Grand Bend
but as long as you’re in the right
frame of mind.
If you go expecting a Rogers and
Hammerstein kind of musical, you
may be disappointed. If you go
looking for a message, you’ll
certainly be disappointed. But if
you go looking for a campy,
off-the-wall kind of fun night,
you’re in for a good time.
Little Shop of Horrors is a
reverse of the usual patterns where
good plays are made into bad
movies. WPA Theatre took an old
Roger Corman movie and turned it
into a play that was filled with every
cliche in the books. The play has
the kind of high energy and
sassiness however, that’s made it a
comedy hit around the world.
Seymour (Greg Lawson) is a
lowly worker in a skid-row flower
shop until one day he buys a
strange plant from a street vendor.
When it’s put in the window of the
shop it is such a curiousity it brings
customers flocking in and saves the
store from bankruptcy. Seymour
and the plant become famous, the
shop prospers and the happy
ending seems guaranteed.
But there’s a problem. The plant
doesn’t seem to be doing well and
Seymour can’t find any plant food
to make it healthy until one day he
pricks his finger and the plant gets
a drop of blood and begins to grow.
The more it grows the more blood it
needs and pretty soon poor
Seymour can’t feed its appetite.
The plant needs whole people to
keep growing.
It isn’t hard to figure out who
some ofthe candidates for plant
food will be. Seymour has a crush
on the gorgeous Audrey who also
works in the shop but she’s going
out with a motorcycle-riding brute
who keeps beating her up. One of
the funniest moments in the show
is when this bum who loves to
inflict pain is revealed as ... a
dentist (at least it’s funny to all
non-dentists in the audience).
W.C. Fields hated dogs and
kids, probably becausethey up
staged any adult actor but how are
you supposed to compete against a
talking, man-eating plant? The
cast of Little Shop of Horrors gives
it a valiant try. Greg Lawson is
suitably nerdish as Seymour.
Susan Gattoni is lovely enough to
make others other than the plant
want to nibble on her and David
Scammell as the dentist and a
half dozen or more other roles is
often hilarious. All show good
voices in the singing but the trio of
Heather Cherron, Renne Rogers
and Maddie Willis with booming
voices tend to overpower the others
at times. Nicholas Rice as the
dastardly owner of the flower shop
TO THE
“TERRIBLE TWINS”
“THE FAMILY
The family of Fred and Mary
Howson wishes to invite
friends, neighbours and re
latives to an Open House on
Saturday, September 10,
1988,2p.m.-4p.m.,7 p.m. -
9 p.m. at Blyth United
Church in honour of their
50th wedding anniversary.
Best wishes only.
may be too nice. Little Shop of Horrors isn’t the
But the star of the show will ' kindofplaythatwillsendyou outof
always by the plant, Audrey II.
From its first entry as a humble
little potted plant to the time when
it gets so big it dominates the stage
and starts demanding to be fed,
Audrey II is the dominant person
ality on stage. The plant is
manipulated by Terry Todd while
Ted Pearson provides the voice.
That amplified voice is one of the
problems of the show along with
that fact the orchestra is situated in
front of the stage and off to one
side. Too often the singers get
drowned out by the orchestra and
by Audrey II particularly if they’re
back on the stage and not out on the
apron. In some cases essential plot
elements are lost, even to those
sitting near the front of the theatre.
the theatre thinking of the eternal
verities; it won’t even send you out
humming its memorable tunes;
but it will give you plenty of
chuckles tobrighten the last nights
of summer.
i
Still, given the limitations of
producing musicals as part of a
summer stock season Sandy Mac
donald, the Playhouse’s artistic
director has done a solid job
bringing life to the play. The crew
at the Playhouse has done a super
job as well, producing Audrey II
and making it work without
dragging down the rest of the
timing on the show.
PIZZA 'PIZZA PIZZA
OPENS 8:00 P.M. CLINTON
F.RST SHOW AT DUSK
HOLIDAY WEEKEND
FRIDAY ■ SATURDAY - SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 2-3-4
H — PLUS 2nd FEATURE —
"BEVERLY HILLS COP 2"
-------------------------------- , COABM LAHOUAOBZ’ZZl'ZZ.'.. )
— ADDED 3rd FEATURE SUNDAY ONLY —
"TEEN WOLF TOO"
Jetton Bateman lAF*ntHT«l|
John A.tln |9SU!.oan5»|
EDDIE MUR P H Y
COMING TOAmer.w A
COAMf LANGUAGE
BrunHi Ont
THURS., FRI., SAT.
5P.M.-12A.M.
BLYTH INN
EAT IN OR TAKE OUT
523 9381
I
I
Phone 357-1630 for 24 hour movie information
Playing from Friday to Thursday, September 2 - 8
Showtimes: Friday and Saturday at 7 and 9p.m.
Sunday to Thursday One show each evening at 8 p.m.
The family of Doug and
Wilma Hemingway invites
friends to an open house in
honourof their parents’ 50th
wedding anniversary at
their home on Maple St.,
Brussels, September 11
from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Best
wishes only please. In case
of inclement weather it will
be held in the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Commun
ity Centre.
1
1
1
1
I
I
When he pours,
he reigns.TOM CRUM
1
I