July 4, 2013

The Witches of Eastwick

Porirua Little Theatre's home is currently condemned so their performance of The Witches of Eastwick is in their pop-up home. I have never been to their usual home but if it's saved I hope to visit, the talent of their cast and production has convinced me.

I tired to read The Witches of Eastwick but a man writing about the experience of being a women didn't feel genuine to me. The stage production is a much less intimate portrait and funny too! I was pleasantly surprised that it was a musical and even more pleasant was the excellent singing (with the exception of one of the males who was occasionally flat). I got distracted thinking that some of those people should be on Broadway or actually injecting talent into one of those awful talent shows, easy to do when a couple of the songs were on the long side.

I found it difficult at first to accept Janelle Pollock as a woman in her 30's as the last role I saw her play a teenager! Katie Evans, her co-star from the same show, I only recognised from her photo in the programme as the costume and accent made her unrecognisable. I hope to see more from the other main actors; Eryn Street and David Bramwell-Cooke who respectively oozed innocence and sexuality. Look out for Tanisha Wardle who shines as busybody Felicia Gabriel, she fights it out with Janelle's sexy dance for best scene (you'll know which scenes I mean when you see them).

The scenery, including a projecting screen through which the audience could glimpse the musicians, created a New England town. I was impressed at the complexity. There were almost as many musicians as there were actors, they worked equally hard and well. The costumes were a time warp and included several ridiculous wigs, sadly they all stayed in situ during the dance numbers.

Director Stuart James (of Speakeasy Theatre) has bought the show together well, showing off the talents of his cast, crew and musicians all for the greater good of saving Porirua Little Theatre.

Performances: 19 June-13 July, 7.30pm (no shows Sunday-Tuesday)
Tickets: $24-26.50
You can visit Porirua Little Theatre on their website and Facebook.
Check out the Facebook support page Save Porirua Little Theatre

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