Little Shop of Horrors

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS: Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menkin and based on the film (starring Steve Martin and Rick Moranis). The shop is a florist, on Skid Row, and the horror is an alien plant, nurtured by nerdy Seymour and is named Audrey II after Audrey, his fellow assistant and secret love. The show is full of wacky twists and turns, imaginative songs and great choreography as well as a fantastic special effect, in the form of Audrey II.   

The set was practical and made good use of the stage as well as use of the floor in front – almost in the round.  It was representative of a florist with warm colour decoration. The props were numerous and amazing especially the plant, ‘Audrey’.  Simple representations of various household items and furniture were used to great effect including washing machines, television sets as well as artistic interpretations of teeth to symbolise dentistry. There was great attention to detail and I noticed dollar bills poking out of a begging bowl in one of the scenes on Skid Row.  

The costumes were many, impressive and were well suited to the characters including the Urchin Singers in the guise of biker gang groupies (with plant motif on the back of their black leather jackets), the Stoop girls in their High School uniforms and dentist’s coat for Orin.   Everyone looked their parts and seemed comfortable in their outfits.    There were top notch costumes for Audrey II – influencers infiltrating society via the rise of the insta/tik tok genre

The lighting was effective throughout, well controlled and various colours used to enhance different scenes such as red for death, pink for romance and a soft orange when Audrey sings about her hopes for a future of domestic bliss.   There was also good use of spotlights to highlight solo performances.     The sound was excellent with voices strong, clear and tuneful.    Musicianship of the orchestra was first class and blended seamlessly with the cast.   

This was a very polished performance from the opening scene and the whole evening was an exhilarating journey. The show was a really entertaining musical which was gruesome in parts and yet congenial.  It covers serious subjects such as addiction and physical abuse.  At times emotions were so real, we forgot that we’re watching a spoof horror comedy.    The principals played their parts to perfection with Joe Cantor as Orin showing considerable comic skills.  This was an astonishing achievement from a group of incredibly talented young performers and the dedication and hard work of the Creative and Supporting Team is to be commended. The staging of this show was a mammoth challenge   for Marilitsa Alexioiu as Director/Producer and Sam Blackwell the Musical Director and the large supporting team. They all rose to this challenge magnificently.  With a huge cast, impressive and well-rehearsed choreography from Megan Coates and the puppetry skills of Owen White (who was also the vocal coach) , all elements of this show combined to give us a hugely enjoyable evening we won’t forget.  

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