Little Shop of Horrors was first performed off Broadway in 1982 and has been a meteoric success ever since.
Librettist Howard Ashman described it as a show “which satirises… science fiction, ‘B’ movies, musical comedy itself and even the Faust legend”. It is the science fiction aspect, expressed through the music and dance, which makes it a joyful and particularly entertaining evening in the theatre. But the show also has the potential to encourage an audience to reflect more deeply on what the show implies.
The plot introduces us to Seymour, a despised and downtrodden worker in a failing flower shop. His employer, Mr Mushnik, bullies him and uses every opportunity to criticise and demean him. Seymour loves the beautiful Audrey, a fellow worker in the shop, but she is unable to free herself from a relationship with Orin, a sadistic dentist. A weird plant is introduced into this setting by Seymour and everything changes.
Director Amy Hodge has made some significant decisions in bringing this scenario to life. It is not set in downtown New York but in an equivalently rundown suburb of a British city. Seymour has a magnificent Brummy accent.
More significant is the presentation of the plant as it increases in size. While puppetry is an important feature of the realisation of the plant, now known as Audrey ll, the plant is never one huge puppet with a recorded voice but made up of cast members representing its various limbs.
This has the advantage that Audrey II can grow exponentially and become really huge, and also that the component parts can engage in choreographed group dance sequences. Sam Buttery is the voice and increasingly threatening presence of Audrey ll, but delegating him to an upstage glass telephone box when at rest is not convincing.
The production has a strong cast, all of whom sing well and contribute effectively to the dance sequences. The three narrators, Lizzy Rose Esin Kelly, Paige Fenlon and Charlotte Jaconelli, start the show with a bang and make valuable interventions throughout. Georgia Onourah gives a promising performance as Audrey at an early stage of her career.
It is heartening that Michael Matus as Mr Mushnik, Colin Ryan as Seymour and Wilf Scolding as Orin have biographies which include considerable experience in classic and modern stage plays. The three actors offer a depth of experience which is evident in their technical skills, effective characterisation and ability to interact creatively with other cast members. I was thrilled by the subtlety and effective comic timing of Matus and Ryan in act I’s “Mushnik and Son”. Scolding’s first entry suggests a delightful and charming young man, until this impression is dispelled by his humiliation of Audrey and sadistic tendencies. It is clearly important to avoid the dentist’s chair.
Setting and costume is effective throughout and contributes to the comedy. Musical director Chris Poon leads an orchestra bursting with energy and foot-tapping rhythm, which provides ample support for the performers.
While there is much to admire in this production, the mystery and malevolence of Audrey ll might have been better represented by one large puppet rather than a group who were clearly human. The mystery of the unknown gives rise to speculation and reflection, and in this case we meet a group of characters overwhelmed by greed and punished for it; or a force which, once out of hand and beyond control, could destroy the planet.
Reviewer: Velda Harris