Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors
Book and Lyric by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Directed by Dan Roche
Starring Steven Lane, Michelle Allsopp, Ron Schneider
The Gramercy Theatre Company at the Plaza Theatre, Orlando, FL</strong>
High production values and excessive smoke effects made this a memorable opening show for Gramercy Theatre, one of Orlando’s rare fully commercial theatres. You’ve heard the story of Little Shop – the original film written and shot in 2 days on a bet by Roger Corman and eventually turned into a hit musical.
Down on skid row, Mushnik’s florist shop is dying. Mushnik (Schneider) is about to send the staff home permanently when put-upon Seymour (Lane) reveals his prize experiment in a pot, carnivorous Audrey 2 (voiced by Valens Sylvain and operated by Kerry Silson). Audrey 2 is an immediate pop sensation, and not only does the Mushnik’s trade pick up, but Seymour now has a chance with Audrey 1 (Allsopp). The only thing standing in his way is Audrey’s psycho dentist boyfriend Orin (Kevin Kelly) and Audrey 2’s insatiable need for fresh human blood. The two Audreys are like a co-dependent vampire crossed with the IRS and when Seymour makes a few bad Life Choices, everything turns to compost. But never fear, this is a musical, and we have only one option – a big blowout finish.
There’s everything to love about this polished performance, except the smoke. Jeff Schultz provides an impressively clever set, one of the best I’ve seen outside the Carr in a long time. The Urchins (Shonda Thurman, Tymisha Harris and Colecta Johnson) provided excellent backup singing, and keep the leads on the spot to out perform them. Lane’s Seymour feels a bit more clean-cut than a typical bowery refugee, but he needs that Zest look to justify sexy Audrey 1’s ultimate acceptance of whacko boyfriend Orin’s mysterious disappearance. Kelly’s Orin and his Sleazy P Martini hair style highlights the show. They make his over the top fetish of pain and Nitrous Oxide look more fun than summer camp in the wrong gender’s cabin. You might wonder what Audrey saw in him, but remember this – the scuzziest guys ALWAYS get the most chicks. Nice guys finish virgin.
The original film is one of Corman’s low budget classics, and the line “I want a long, slow root canal” is one of the great missing lines from the AFI’s top 100 lines. This musical version sticks close enough to the original, but parodies the whole sci-fi / mutant / horror genres, and works much better than the The Rocky Horror Show did on stage. Silson and Valensky were up to the technical challenge of voicing and animating Paul McAvene’s impressive Audrey 2’s. Director Roche appeared a little awkward during the preshow speech, but his work with this first rate cast is well worth seeing. Just bring your Primatene inhaler.
For more information on Gramercy Theater and the Plaza, please visit http://www.ThePlazaTheatre.com</em>
