Little Shop Of Horrors
Theatre by
the Sea's third show of their 77th season is the
musical "Little Shop of Horrors" which is based on
the 1960 Roger Corman film. The musical had its
world premiere on May 6, 1982 and opened
off-Broadway on July 27, 1982. The show was
critically acclaimed and won several awards
including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award
for Best Musical, the Drama Desk Award for
Outstanding Musical, and the Outer
Critics Circle Award. It closed on November 1, 1987,
after 2,209 performances, making it the third
longest running musical and the highest grossing
production in off-Broadway history. It is the story
of Seymour Krelbourn, a meek Skid Row florist who
makes a pact with a tiny plant to win the heart of
Audrey, the girl he loves. Soon money pours in
because of this strange and unusual plant, making
Seymour into a celebrity. But behind the glamour and
fame lies a secret Seymour can't reveal. The plant's
favorite food is human blood. The plant might have a
hidden agenda in this boy meets girl, plant eats
world campy musical comedy set in New York in the
1950's. Amiee Turner directs the show wonderfully,
adding new twists and turns to the familiar tale on
a fun filled journey to Skid Row.
Theatre by
the Sea owner and producer Bill Hanney, Producing
Artistic director Amiee Turner and Managing Producer
Joel Kipper spare no expense to make this a
wonderful show with the Nazo puppets as the
plant. Amiee directs and blocks this show
wonderfully on the splendid set designed by Bert
Scott. She gives her cast a lot of shtick to do as
these comical characters. Musical director Tim
Robertson not only conducts his 5 piece orchestra
but plays lead keyboards for the show and taught the
cast the wonderful harmonies throughout the show
which include doo wop, rock and roll and early
Motown type numbers. I last reviewed Tim's work at
TBTS in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum in 2007 and Anything Goes in Pawtucket
in 2004. Ann Cooley recreates many of the dances of
the 60's including calypso, tango, cha-cha, the swim
and an Elvis type dance The funniest is the tango
between Seymour and Mushnik. Guy Olivieri is comical
as the nerdy, klutzy Seymour. His portrayal wins the
audience over from the start of the show, keeping
you entertained all night long as he struggles to
win the girl of his dreams while trying to control
this monster of a plant he created. Guy's voice
soars in his songs including "Grow for Me", "Don't
It Go to Show", "Mushnik and Son", "Closed for
Renovations" and "Suddenly Seymour". Katerina
Papacostas is wonderful as Audrey, a ditzy red
head with bad taste in clothes and in love with a
semi-sadist dentist. She is a gorgeous gal with a
beautiful voice which she uses in "Closed for
Renovations", "Suddenly Seymour"' and the wistful
ballad, "Somewhere That's Green". The latter song
describes how she wants to escape Skid Row into an
ideal sitcom setting and find a home with a chain
link fence. Her line about wearing cheap and
tasteless outfit got the biggest laugh in the show.
The three
urchin girls are played by Angela Williams who I
reviewed in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat" as the Narrator at TBTS in 2000, who
sings the lead in "Don't It Go To Show", Rheaume
Crenshaw and Kerri Alexander. They are like a Greek
chorus set in Brooklyn who comment on what is
happening in the show with their many songs in
fantastic three part harmony and their dances are
reminiscent of the Supremes. These three girl's
powerhouse voices are heard in "Skid Row",
"Da-Doo", "Ya Never Know" and "The Meek Shall
Inherit". They also have many one liners and
interact beautifully with the other characters, too.
The voice of the plant, Audrey II is Donovan James
Carey. His fabulous baritone voice sells the
rollicking duet "Feed Me" with Seymour as well as in
the menacing "Suppertime" where the plant wants to
eat everyone in sight. Nazo Puppets designed the
four different size plants with the largest one
operated by a hydraulic lift. As Audrey II's
puppeteer is Evan Price who operates the plant while
it is singing, dancing or chewing up one of its
victims and is quite a sight to behold. Evan
provides many humorous moments as Audrey II. Joel
Briel is dynamic as Mushnik, the plant shop
owner with a humorous Jewish accent. He mistreats
Seymour until he realizes the value of the strange
and exotic plant, deciding to adopt him as his son
to collect all the money pouring in. Joel shows off
his terrific voice in "Mushnik and Son" doing a
hilarious tango with Guy. He also shows off a few
Tevye type moves in the dance section of this song.
The sadistic dentist and girlfriend beater is
played by Trinity Conservatory graduate Timothy John
Smith. He is funny in the "Dentist" number as this
Elvis type character complete with black leather
jacket, black pants, black boots and white dental
shirt. The dentist's death scene is hysterical when
he can't remove the gas mask. He also plays three
other characters including Mr. Bernstein, a NBC
agent Mrs. Luce, the owner of Life Magazine and Skip
Snip, a William Morris agent using different voices
and accents while singing "The Meek Shall
Inherit"."Don't Feed the Plant" is sung at the end
of the show by the whole company where Timothy with
a Russian accent and an eye patch tells the three
urchins to take clippings of the plant to be sold
throughout the world. Press night isn't complete
without the sumptuous buffet at Bistro by the Sea
prepared by Duane Crowe and his lovely wife Carleen.
The goodies included meatballs, pasta, salad, bread
and better with assorted desserts including carrot
cake. Be sure to catch this musical treat before
Audrey II devours the world.
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (14 July to 1 August, 2010)
Theatre by the Sea, 364 Card's Pond Road, Matunuck,RI
1(401)782-TKTS or www.theatrebythesea.com