Little Shop of Horrors

Camden’s Little Shop of Horrors is a great production, of a professional standard, full of uber talent, and fun! An excellent time is on hand.

For those unfamiliar with this cult musical, the show is set in the late 1960s USA, where young, good-natured but unlucky Seymour Krelborn works in a flower shop owned by Mr Mushnik. The shop is in Skid Row: the poor, rough, low end of town. Seymour dotes on his fellow employee Audrey, but she is dating Orin, a psychopath dentist.

Seymour puts on display strange little plant he calls the Audrey II. The plant brings in customers. Seymour’s luck changes. The plant grows. And grows. So long as Seymour keeps feeding Audrey II then all goes well. But the plant only eats human flesh and blood.  The plant also sings and talks. It turns out the plant is an alien from outer space, come here to take over our planet. Much singing, screaming, and eating of cast ensues.

On the surface the show is a loving tribute to late 1960s pop culture, featuring ‘60s style music, fashions, schlocky sci-fi monster movies, and pulpy comic books, full of bright, lurid colours. The original design of the show was to look like a pulp comic book come to life and have the feel of a silly alien-invasion movie.

In this regard Camden have outdone themselves here. The show indeed felt like a comic book come to life, with the brick walls of Skid Row surrounding the central set, making it feel like comic book panels, and the manual revolve adding cleverness. There’s even a poster on display of the old Steve McQueen monster flick The Blob, to remind us of the show’s roots. The ‘60s costumes added to the feel.  And the Audrey II plant is AMAZING! You just have to check it out.

But it’s the local talent of the cast where the show has struck gold.

Kane Hudson amazes us as cranky Mr. Mushnik. Kane’s only 22, but he totally nails the older man. He is aided by some effective ageing makeup and costuming, but it’s in his voice and body language that he convinces us he’s much older than he is. His East Euro / Bronx / Jewish accent is spot on too. And just wait until you hear him delight us with singing ‘Mushnik and Son’. I must confess to some of my own internal paternal mishigoss, since Kane began his theatre life doing my shows, and it’s great to see how far he’s developed his talent since then.

As the dentist, it's hard to believe Corey Harvey is making his amateur stage debut. The young man sings and performs as though he’s been doing this for years. He doesn’t play Orin Scrivello (DDS) as a comic book villain. The way he flips from being a charming sweet rogue to an abusive sadist is quite realistic. He commits to his DV scenes and plays them at the right level to be believable. You fear him. He is one of the – if not the – scariest dentists I’ve seen in a Little Shop show. And he totally convinced in a later cameo that it wasn’t the same actor.

Emily Boardman as Audrey was beautiful and shone in the role. There was a dignity and grace to her performance that made you feel for her character. She also has a lovely lyrical singing voice, and her rendition of ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ was one of the most moving and sincere versions I’ve heard.

Zach Moses as Seymour is another rare find and he is full of talent. He gives Seymour a semi-permanent toothy grin that is a powerful effect, because it only comes off in key moments. His big Act 2 soliloquy, where he sings about whether or not to give in to the plant’s tempting offers, is a knockout and tour de force in acting and singing.

One thing that made this cast so special was that none of them copied their counterparts from the successful film adaptation with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin. These guys had their own vibe and chemistry going, and in every scene they had chemistry with their fellow cast. While they also had right the level of silliness and froth this show needs on the surface, they also brought out the show’s more dramatic and serious moments. All these four became their characters.

The three narrators, doubling as do-wop girls and street urchins - Bianca Annetts, Hayleigh Burman, and Tiana Giampolo - were just fabulous, and had the outfits to match. Their Supremes-style harmonies were a delight to hear and they totally charmed me. I would have liked to have seen them have more sass and bounce in their performance. These three were very prim, proper, and reserved, whereas I felt they should pounce, and “own” that theatre.

Alfie Walker as the voice of the plant holds back a bit on the menace and authority, playing Audrey II more like a demanding, conspiratorial friend, at times mirroring Seymour’s insecurity. Purists may disagree with this interpretation but I felt it worked in the context of this production. And it’s refreshing to see a different take.