Oliver! works its magic

The musicals just keep rolling through Perth - this weekend ICW Productions opened their season of Oliver! It was the perfect opportunity to take my son Matthew to his first musical. We finished reading Oliver Twist recently and Dickens' story of dark dirty London and the little boy who wanted more has captured his imagination.

ICW Productions (founded by Ian Westrip) aims to provide work for WAAPA graduates and bring high quality productions to the community. Oliver opened on Saturday night  at the performing arts centre at St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls and will run until the 27th August.

We couldn't make the matinee show so I braved a late night with my five year old and went on opening night. The thrill of being dressed up and out late, the sparkling foyer lights of the beautiful theatre, the folding chairs and the chocolate at interval were all part of the experience. And of course the music and dance worked their magic.

Westrip's daughter Charlotte made her directorial debut and her love for Oliver! was tangible. The story unfolded clearly and she allowed the personalities of her cast to flourish.

Lukas Steinwandel (Oliver) 

On Saturday night Oliver was sung by the sweet-voiced Lukas Steinwandel (star of The Snowman with Perth Symphony Orchestra last year). The Artful Dodger was sung by Jacob Miles who seems a confident stage animal and was well cast his wide grin and mischievous energy. The two boys were supported by a motley gang of orphans/street urchins who moved and sung with strong-voiced enthusiasm.

Phoebe Jackson (Nancy) and Jacob Miles (Dodger)

The adult cast included WAAPA graduate Phoebe Jackson who played a fiery, big-hearted Nancy with a well-rounded voice. Her rollicking rendition of Oom Pah Pah (wittily choreographed by by Lauchlan Edward Bain) was Matthew's laugh-out-loud moment. Her nasty boyfriend Bill Sikes was sung by an impressively menacing Tim Campbell who epitomised evil so effectively that his eventual demise was the talking point of the show for Matthew.

Fagin was sung with gentle humour by Jay Walsh, although the liberties he took with Reviewing the Situation threw the pit orchestra (conducted by Ian Westrip) into occasional disarray.  Mr Brownlow was performed by Ron Macqueen with the stateliness of Ian McKellen (Gandalf). Dean Misdale was a larger than life and slightly camp (not sure why?) Mr Bumble.

The sound operation (Alex Taubaland) and lighting (Chris Hastie) were the weakest link on opening night, but the glitches will iron out as the production team settles in the venue.

I'm grateful we have semi-professional companies like ICW to provide a platform for our talent and magical memories for a mum and her son.

Plant goes viral in Little Shop of Horrors

Perth is the final leg of the national tour for Little Shop of Horrors and the Luckiest/Tinderbox Production’s show is as slick, well-cast and entertaining as we had been promised. Director Dean Bryant dishes up the mix of creepy comedy for which this Ashman/Menken musical is renowned.

Three raunchy chorus girls (Josie Lane, Chloe Zuel, Angelique Cassimatis) introduce us to Skid Row. They dance and twitch with a desperate energy that pervades the show thanks to Andrew Hallsworth’s tightly wound choreography.

Seymour and Audrey II

The drab Mushnik’s Florist is the centrepiece of the set and its manipulative owner Mr Mushnik is Tyler Coppin in fine comic form (although his Czech accent occasionally slips). The shop’s fortunes are turned around when the belittled assistant Seymour discovers an unknown plant species and becomes an overnight media celebrity. Brent Hill’s Seymour is earnest and bumbling but capable of belting out a rocking Grow For Me and melting duets with love interest Audrey. Hill also speaks/sings the booming voice of his plant (named Audrey II) in an act of impressive ventriloquism that also hints at a Freudian subconscious connection between the two.

Esther Hannaford’s petite frame and timidity makes her the perfect Audrey. With her husky French accent and droll timing she is the most winsome comic in the cast, singing with soulful power in numbers like Suddenly Seymour. Audrey’s sadistic dentist boyfriend Orin is played with goofy cruelty by Scott Johnson.

Audrey and Seymour

Owen Phillips’ florist set is initially greyscale but transforms in Act Two into a riot of red. The chorus girls wear tropical frocks with floral hairpieces and tendril jewellery as Audrey II’s influence grows. The centrepiece of the set is the carnivorous plant and its Feed Me demands require Seymour to go to increasingly desperate measures to keep it alive. This is where puppet makers Erth work their gruesome magic. What starts as a pot plant soon grows into a monstrous mouth with fleshy cabbage ears and veined bulbous tentacles, filling the set and requiring the entire cast (behind the scenes) to operate it.

Andrew Worboys directs a powerhouse band in the pit with surging electric guitar solos and throbbing bass providing a ferocious heavy rock accompaniment as Audrey II devours her victims.

It’s the small touches that set this show apart from the clever use of projections to augment the storytelling to the use of SBS broadcaster Lee Lin Chin as narrator. And then there is Audrey II’s psychedelic rock dance party that kicks in after the final bows, prompting an iPhone filming frenzy from audience members. It’s just the #worlddomination kind of reception that Audrey II would’ve been hoping for.

Little Shop of Horrors runs at His Majesty's Theatre until August 14th. Tickets from Ticketek.

This review copyright The West Australian 2016.