Acorn Antiques - The Musical

Photo Credit: Alan Martin/AMSI

Reviewed by: Patricia Connor on 11 July 2013
Venue: Little Theatre Southport
Type of Production:  Musical

Producer/Director:  James Hughes- Alty
Musical Director:  Paul Williams
Choreographer: Mandy Evans

‘Acorn Antiques – The Musical’ is an all-singing extravaganza about a struggling antiques shop in a mythical town called Manchesterford. The musical is written by Victoria Wood and follows the story of sisters Miss Babs’ and Miss Berta, who are finding it hard to keep their antiques shop solvent, after the shop rents are raised and as shop after shop on the High Street closes and sells out to a franchise. They are aided in their campaign to hold on to the shop by their friends including Mr. Clifford who was once engaged to Miss Berta who does not remember this fact due to a blow on the head, and their cleaner, Mrs. Overall.
They discover a third sister, Bonnie who is initially scheming and devious, for instance she is planning to sell the shop to ‘The Guilty Bean’, the world’s second largest chain of coffee shops. She later fires Mrs. Overall, even after finding out she's her mother. The plot unfolds; the sisters are faced with financial woes, and family secrets.

The show ends with the triumphant return of Mrs. Overall, a windfall, and the marriage of Miss Berta and Mr. Clifford. Now all is well in Manchesterford. The show is based on five minute soap opera type sketches of the same name by Victoria Wood which formed part of her television show for the BBC called “Victoria Wood- As Seen on TV”. ‘Acorn Antiques’ premiered in the West End in 2005, and starred Julie Walters and Celia Imrie. The musical won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical and was also nominated as Best New Musical.

I have had mixed feelings about this musical in the past for various reasons, such as misgivings about its transfer to the musical stage from its television format, and concerns regarding some of the subject matter and some of the language used within the script having the potential to offend, meaning this type of production needs to be handled with great care and expertise. I have also felt that some productions were more like a tribute act to Julie Walters, Victoria Wood and Celia Imrie. However after having said all that I found I really enjoyed this very good accomplished production and there were some really outstanding performances from the cast.

Nicky Williams gave a super performance as Mrs. Overall, she had some facets of Julie Walters’s interpretation of Mrs. Overall at the heart of her characterization, but she also appeared to include her own personality as well. Nicky also had a very cheeky smile at times which was infectious. There was some outstanding acting from Jacqui Padden as Miss Babs’ using her attributes and very good comic timing to great effect. There were  good strong  performances from Amanda Shaw as Miss Berta, Deborah Bloom as Bonnie, Stephen Hughes-Alty as Mr. Clifford and Graeme Hunt as Tony. It is very important that all the above characters worked well together in order to make this production work which was accomplished with great success on this occasion.

There were good performances from Robbie Fletcher-Hill and Rebecca McPoland as Hugh and Mimi the two young people on work experience, and there were nice performances from Nathan Colman as Derek and Andrew Carroll as Mr. Watkins who gave us a very tender version of the Gent’s Duet. Tom Hornby, Hilary Thomson and Suzanne McDonald as Mr. Furlong, Christine and Miss Willoughby the other shop keepers were very funny at times delivering their lines well and appearing to be up for anything costume wise. Matthew Green as Minchin’s lad, Rob MacGegor as Postman, Marilyn Fletcher-Hill as Miss Wellbelove and Elaine Cox as Miss Cuff gave strong supportive performances and also delivered comedy lines well.

The backing singers and customers also gave good strong supportive performances and were a vital part of this show. We should not forget Chris Baker as father although we did only see him on a television screen which was supposed to be via a video. There appeared to be no weak links in this cast everyone appeared to play there part with enthusiasm and confidence, although on a few occasions there was a tendency to speak a little fast which meant a little of the dialogue was lost.

Choreography by Mandy Evans was enjoyable particularly the tap routines and the orchestra conducted by Musical Director Paul Williams supported the cast well and was not too loud. Well done to the stage crew, props and the technicians who did a very good job although there was some slight interference from the microphones at the very beginning of the performance, however this did not detract at all. Costumes were in character and very colourful, the gold outfits at the end were very striking

Congratulations to the Director James Hughes-Alty for a very enjoyable accomplished show and well done to all involved in this production I really enjoyed my visit and thank you for inviting me.