Shop offers blood, sweat and music, without any tears
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Cast your minds back to the spring of 1998 and the first High School Project at the Grand Theatre, West Side Story. The part of Anita was played by Amber Cunningham, then a student at Saunders Secondary School. She recalls being thrilled to get the part and grateful to Michael Shamata for casting her.
Cunningham is about to appear on the main stage again, this time as Chiffon in the season opener, Little Shop of Horrors.
When she was still in her teens, her music teacher asked her to think carefully about whether or not she wanted a singing career, and instructed her to wait a week before replying. For seven days she considered her future very seriously and in the end decided that she could not imagine doing anything else.
After high school Cunningham, who is now 23, studied at the Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario for one year. Then, after careful consideration, she decided (with the approval of the Dean) not to go back, but to pursue her music via more practical channels. She joined a folk trio with Donna Creighton and Joanne Lawton. Sirens, the group, has travelled extensively in Canada and the United States. Sirens won an award for Favourite Folk/Celtic Group at the 2003 London Music Awards.
Cunningham comes from a performance-oriented family. Her parents met when they were both students at the Faculty of Music; her father plays the trumpet and her mother is a vocalist and pianist. Her sister Stephanie is a dancer, but she also has a music background, both girls having sung for eight years with the Amabile group. While with the Amabile group they had the exciting experience of singing at Carnegie Hall. Cunningham thinks of herself first and foremost as a singer. She still considers it a bonus if her acting gets good reviews.
Unlike some performers who leave London to pursue their dreams elsewhere, Amber Cunningham has remained London-based. In addition to her day-job and the folk group, she volunteers at her church, teaches young students in voice, and she is working toward being an Associate with the Royal Conservatory of Music. She is one busy young woman!
After interviewing Cunningham this writer sat in on a rehearsal for Little Shop of Horrors. The title song and dance number was impressive, and the illusion of extreme chaos very well done.
Little Shop of Horrors was created in 1982 by the team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and it became one of the most successful Off-Broadway musicals of all time. The plot focuses on Seymour, a nerdy flower shop clerk, who finds a strange genie-like plant that promises him everything his heart desired—and delivers! The price Seymour pays for the ensuing fame and fortune is a small bit of blood. When the time comes for the account to be settled… well you’ll just have to see for yourself.
Little Shop of Horrors is directed by Valerie Moore (who brought us Dancing in Poppies last season), the musical director is Stephen Woodjets, with Allan Wilbee in charge of set and costume design. The show is described as groovy, outrageous, deliciously irreverent and very funny.
The songs range from Broadway lush to Motown hip, with the lyrics being subversive and oozing with bite.
If after seeing Little Shop of Horrors at the Grand you want to hear more of Amber Cunningham’s remarkable voice, you can. The Sirens will be performing a little number on November 28 at the Wolf Auditorium in the Central Library where you can hear three voices, two guitars and one Celtic drum. Or visit the group on line at www.sirens3.com.