From Tuesday March 18th to Saturday March 23rd three Bears were part of the show band for LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS in Congleton's Daneside Theatre. Richard wass MD for the show, Dave and Ron also featured.
They were joined by David Lilley
on bass and Beckie Morley on keyboards.
The show was wonderfully well staged, the set was superb with now fewer than four Audrey 2's putting in appearances tp show the plant growing from a small potted plant to a voracious man-eater.
The voice
of Audrey 2 was provided by Simon Hoffman who had a great time getting down on "GIT IT" and "SUPPERTIME".
Another Simon, Matthews of that ilk, played the manaical dentist Orin Scrivello. His big numbers "BE A DENTIST" and "IT'S JUST THE GAS", were delivered
with panache and verve.
Mark Cooper was Seymour the hapless horticulturalist, whose showcase number was "Grow For Me", and he had some great moments with Audrey 2 on "Git It" for instance.
Seymour of course is smitten not
just with Audrey 2, but also with the original Audrey beautifully played by Beth Matthews. "Somewhere That's Green" was a winning song, and the duet with Mark Cooper on "Suddenly Seymour" was outstanding.
Mr Mushnik, Skid Row's curmudgeonly florist
whose shop Audrey 2 saves from bankruptcy, was played by Tim Pemberton. He had two terrific numbers "YOU NEVER KNOW" and with Mark Cooper a duet of "BE MY SON".
The songs were all belted out with great vivaciousness and the three female delinquents
Chiffon, Ronette and Crystal (Sasha Tadman, Krysiie Hammil and Jayne Holford) provided brilliant back-up vocals as well as tearing up the title song.
If you missed it, "TOO BAD" as Audrey 2 might say.