Little Shop Of Horrors

Based on Roger Corman’s 1960 low-budget movie which was itself inspired by H.G.Wells’ hugely successful sci-fi  novel ‘The War Of The Worlds’. The ‘Little Shop…’ musical was first performed Off Broadway more than 30 years ago which, like Audrey II, dominated the world adopting a cult following and hugely successful film version crammed with celebrities who all wanted in on this musical romp which ultimately marked a cornerstone in the marvellous world that is musical theatre!

By splitting the trio of girls into 6 - 3 glamorous Supremes-esque girls with the teenage dropouts who reside on Skid Row played by the other 3, gave opportunity for some ‘pretty’ costumes inspired by the 60’s girl group era whilst also being able to double up on harmonies in certain parts of the show too, making them stronger. Musically, Kimberley Holden hadn’t gone easy on the girls making sure every ‘ooh’, ‘ahh’ and ‘doo-wop’ was where it should be, and this show (particularly with the newly revamped score) is packed to the brim with backing harmonies. Well done for not taking the easy option and for persevering with what are some rather tricky lines!  

The sound department is my main feedback point, first and foremost this is a quality of equipment issue and not a reflection on what the musicians were doing. The majority of the band were too quiet in the auditorium, sounding muffled, with some instruments being missed entirely in many parts of the show which is such a shame and makes it near on impossible for me to judge the quality of the music! The volume was not powerful enough for this score, a musical like this needs to create a robust wall of sound to really do justice to the wonderful music of this show.

Some of the tempos were on the leisurely side which effected the pace of the production - particularly with some dragged out playoffs, scene change music and Audrey’s Death for example. A fair amount of the staging didn’t marry with the score as the cast had often finished what they’d been told to do during the piece of music and were simply stood still, waiting for the music to finish (which did feel like a long time) before they could progress with the next part of the script. 

Making an impression was Eve Rowan as ‘Ronnette Jr’ who demonstrated a very proficient singing voice and laid back, un-pushed delivery, an approach I always favour over the stagey ones!

Each principal had their shining moment; As is so often expected with Audrey, it was ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ for Kathryn Stephenson’s portrayal as the tarty but hearty florist assistant, beautifully sung! For Sam Bate’s Seymour, it was his “I don’t know….” solo during “Feed Me!” which he impressed with. And as the Jewish floral entrepreneur Mr. Mushnik, Aiden Burgess really came into his own during the show-stopping ‘Mushnik & Son’. 

The action in Audrey’s Death scene happened very quickly; she died, Seymour put her in the plant so swiftly we were then left to wait for the remainder of the music (which accompanies this scene) to wrap up with nothing actually happening on stage. It’s a shame we lost a poignant, tear jerking moment here.

This show is written for a small principal cast and no chorus making it quite an odd choice for a group as huge as MMY. To give some of his gigantic chorus something extra to do, Dan Jarvis had mimicked the cameo (improvised) scenes from the musical film version to offer more principal opportunity. We got John Candy’s Wink Wilkinson’s scene as well as Bill Murray’s masochist character as the Dentists patient! Although he wasn’t credited in the programme for doing so (I think it was Philip Sharpe?) the masochist patient was superb, one of the shows highlights! Now, back to the scripted cameos; Having twins share the role of the customer was a novel idea which paid off, really sweet, comedic and demonstrated the perfect understanding of the style of humour this show requires!

A lot of favourable choices were made. I regularly see this show time shifted to the present day but I really do prefer it ‘retro’ playing up to the B Movie parody with far greater results. The chorus was huge and they did overcrowd the space but once I got over the initial impact of them swamping the stage I appreciated some clever ideas to keep them engaged and offer them some purpose which was well thought out. Prosceniums set has seen better days but their plants looked suitable and worked with proficiency but did have limited scope for movement.

The choreography stood out, I wasn’t quite sure what moves the glamorous trio were supposed to be doing half of the time (and I’m not convinced they did either) with some bizarre, almost awkward movements which seemed to be influenced from pretty much every genre other than 60’s girl group! Rather than enhancing scenes, the trio were positioned in some odd places at times which masked what we were supposed to be focused on. On the flip side, Matthew Rawcliffe’s staging redeemed itself with his full company numbers in act II with some quirky and original movement which the company evidently enjoyed performing.      

I appreciated some nice touches, in particular the news broadcaster singing the finale’s first verse - a lovely idea which added a nice take on the number. In fact, ‘The Finale; Don’t Feed The Plants’ was without a doubt the shows vocal highlight, it was the most impressive piece of choreography in the show and most inspired segment from the director too. Also taking stimulus from the film which won an Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’ for a tune which doesn’t feature in the stage show (it’s not supposed to anyway); “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” – was performed as an encore. The full cast, led by Chris Wagstaff (who marvellously provided the vocals for Audrey II) performed the triumphant number which was really well received by the crowd - it is a terrific song and created the perfect ambiance to send a happy audience home!

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