Little Shop of Horrors
My thoughts on Little Shop of Horrors or…it’s not easy being green.
This is my fifth trip to Little Shop of Horrors since 2019 and thought nothing could surprise me in a production of the darkly comic Alan Menken/Harold Ashman musical. However, the Hopeful Theatre Project’s inaugural “After Dark” mounting, directed and choreographed by Joshua Sherman with music direction by Rachel Davies, did just that, making this trip to Skid Row great fun.
The big surprise here is that Audrey II, usually a huge puppet or mechanical creation with a person operating it and another giving it voice, is replaced by two actors in spectacular green make up and costumes designed by Jessica Holt inside a giant potted plant. Ensemble members manipulate its deadly tentacle-like vines.
How awesome it is to be inside Audrey II and to see and hear all the plant songs interpreted by actors. And LaMar Staton and Essence Chicoine with their soulful, sexy voices and undulations make Audrey II an unforgettably sensuous, demanding, and lethal botanical seductress.
Conor Clark’s clever set consists of Mushnik’s Flower Shop and a doorway with a stoop through which the denizens of Skid Row often enter and exit. Branson White and Hank Baldree provide the lighting with Kate Kimmis and Miles Johnson in charge of props. The intimate space at MainStage222 enhances the production and gives Sherman’s Little Shop an immediacy that stagings in traditional theaters cannot achieve.
Our hosts and narrators for the evening are the Urchins. Crystal played by Asaysha McKenzee, Ronnette played by Jennise Streaty, and Chiffon played by Ursula Villarreal are sensational singers and dancers and handle all those sassy lines with ease as they guide us through the strange happenings on Skid Row.
Seymour Krelborn is the nerdy loser who buys the bloodthirsty plant. Dakota James captures the character completely and endows him with a powerful voice and nebbishy charm. James has strong solo moments and is especially good singing and dancing with his boss, the grumpy Mr. Mushnik, played with skill by the always superb Dan Servetnick. Servetnick manages to make Mushnik abrasive yet loveable simultaneously.
Krelborn’s main interest is, of course, Mushnik’s other employee, the perpetually downtrodden. hopeless, and abused Audrey. The petite powerhouse Jessica Holt is Audrey. In those skintight, revealing outfits, Holt’s Audrey is a girl from the gutter with no self-esteem but desperate to be loved. Holt, with her dynamite mezzo-soprano makes “Somewhere That’s Green” a heartfelt, plaintive dream of a better life that brought tears to my eyes. And when Holt and James team up on “Suddenly Seymour” it is chill inducing. Holt breaks the cookie cutter Audrey mold and also proves definitively that Audrey does not have to be a blonde.
Audrey’s boyfriend is the sadistic, nitrous addicted dentist Orin Scrivello played with show stealing swivel hipped swagger by Alfredo Tamayo. Tamayo, clad in tight black leather, belting out his anthem to pain “Be A Dentist” is the Elvis from hell and a major highlight of the show. Oh, if anyone is doing Bye Bye Birdie soon, Tamayo is your man.
Little Shop is also blessed with a tireless, talented, terrific ensemble. They are almost constantly on stage singing, dancing, and playing small roles with flair. The ensemble includes Mimi Adams, Bryson Beavers, Teil Marks, Karl Martin, Zachariah Medina, and Keah Young.
Director Sherman’s Little Shop is inventively staged, energetic, and always entertaining. There is a comic book vibe to the show that makes the familiar territory fresh. I would recommend for you to get a ticket to Hopeful’s Little Shop of Horrors immediately, but the entire short run is sold out. Check Hopeful’s website to get on the waiting list for this new look at a modern classic.
Delaney Rain Photography
