Love good music? Like quirky performances? Just want something to do this weekend? Opening tonight (October 18th) at Risley Theatre is Little Shop of Horrors, a story about a boy on the down-and-out and the man-eating plant that changes his life. Technically, all seats have already been pre-reserved, but trust me: this is a show worth lining up at the stage door to see.
For those who don’t know, Little Shop of Horrors is a comedy horror rock musical starring a boy named Seymour, a girl named Audrey (who he’s not so secretly in love with), and a plant that only eats human flesh and blood. Seymour and Audrey both work in Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists, a shop that is struggling to keep afloat in a lousy part of town. This all changes, however, when Seymour puts a new type of plant in the window: called an Audrey II and resembling a large venus fly trap, the exotic plant immediately attracts clientele for the shop. Almost overnight, Seymour is hailed as an experimental botanist of the first degree and offered numerous lecture opportunities, publicity deals, and options for commercialization of the new species. The drawback? The Audrey II cannot thrive and grow without human snacks, and the bigger she gets, the more she demands. Throw in a sadistic dentist boyfriend for Audrey and three street urchins who double as fabulous divas in the chorus, and you’ve got all the basic elements for a rocking musical.
And Risley’s production certainly does rock! Right from the very beginning, the performance was just plain fun. Before I went to see it, I’d heard the music described as “doo-woppy,” and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But the chorus of divas [Lili Esparza, Ashley George, and Kaiya Provost] stole my heart in the first two numbers, pairing simple 1950’s rhythms with sassy choreography and powerful solos. The music of Little Shop is the kind of music that never should have gone out of style, because it makes you just want to jump up and dance. And with the band visible above the set on a platform and the intimacy of Risley Theatre, it almost feels like you should join in. Even my photographer, who describes himself as someone who doesn’t really like musicals, had to admit that this one was really enjoyable.
Of course, it’s not all so upbeat: it’s comedy horror, after all, and driving the plot is a massive man-eating plant. But the cast does that well, too. Audrey [Emily Walker] is a convincing victim of an abusive relationship, and her sadistic boyfriend’s dentist scene is a chilling combination of very funny and very disturbing. The divas are fabulous, but it’s also apparent that their street urchin doubles are never going to escape the dreary life on Skid Row. Most importantly of all, the relationship between Seymour [Ben Elling] and his plant, Audrey II, is twisted and destructive enough to make us worry about him.
The individual performances were spot-on. Emily Walker [Audrey] was dazzling: though she is sometimes overpowering in duets, no one can simultaneously make Risley Theatre feel six times its size and make you feel like the only person in the audience the way she does. Ben Elling [Seymour] fit his part wonderfully, managing to be at once awkward and charming, and spicing things up with some truly great dancing. (I loved his tango with Mr. Mushnik [Steve Jenks].) Audrey’s boyfriend, Orin Scrivello, DDS [Chandler Waggoner] was marvelously creepy, though I did find myself wishing his lovely voice had been less muffled by his gas mask during his final scene. And Danielle Warren excelled as the voice of the plant, successfully managing to be sexy, soulful, and terrifying without ever setting foot on the stage.
Of course, it was not a perfect performance. There were times when I felt that the balance was off between ensemble, band, and soloist, and I couldn’t always make out lyrics or dialogue. There were moments, too, where the divas’ dances were sassier than they were synchronized. But since I was present for a dress rehearsal, I was unsurprised to witness a few little kinks and slip-ups that still needed to be ironed out; and, ultimately, I was glad I got to see them. It kept me aware of the cast as a group of my fellow students, who have somehow been balancing work and sleep with hours upon hours of rehearsal over the past several weeks. This is a cast that has worked very hard – and the result? Yet another Risley show we’ll be talking about for weeks!