Sac Bee Review Of "Little Shop Of Horrors"

Left: Joshua Smith pleads for the Audrey II to grow for him in "Little Shop of Horrors." The show continues July 25-27 in Davis. (Davis Musical Theatre Company)


Jim Carnes gives it three-and-a-half stars!:

With a show as much fun as "Little Shop of Horrors" and a production as good as this one by the Davis Musical Theatre Company, it's a shame that the play runs for only two weekends. The community theater's summer offering opened Friday and will close next Sunday.

This offbeat and unassuming little play, with music by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman (who went on to collaborate on such animated Disney musicals as "Beauty & the Beast," "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin"), debuted off-Broadway in 1982 in the tiny WPA Theatre, where Ashman was artistic director. After a brief run there, it moved to the larger Orpheum Theatre, where it ran for five years. It remains the third-longest running show in off-Broadway history and the highest-grossing one.

"Little Shop" is based on the 1960 Roger Corman sciencefiction film "The Little Shop of Horrors" – famously low-budget, reportedly shot in two days, and known for giving Jack Nicholson one of his earliest acting roles.

Menken and Ashman crafted a score that incorporates the popular musical genres of the 1960s, doo-wop, R&B and Motown. A sort of Greek chorus – in this case a trio of Skid Row "urchins" – sets the scene, comments on the action and occasionally advances the plot through song. They are named after popular "girl groups" of the time – Ronnette, Crystal and Chiffon – played here with spunk and super harmony by Caitlin Humphreys, Casey Ellis and Sarah Duvall, respectively.

The plot involves a poor florist's assistant, Seymour (played by Joshua Smith, who puts the "neb" in nebbish), who makes a Faustian bargain with the devil in the form of an unusual plant with an even more unusual appetite – "Feed me, Seymour. Must be blood! Must be … fresh!"

This Venus flytrappy-thing turns out to be a man-eating alien from outer space intent on world domination. Once Seymour begins feeding it drops of his own blood, the plant and its appetite begin to grow. Before you know it, Seymour is anemic and scouring the scene for potential substitute sustenance ("That guy sure looks like plant food to me!"). As the cast dwindles, Seymour's fame grows and he gets the girl of his dreams, plant shop co-worker Audrey (an endearing Lauren Miller), after whom he has named the plant: Audrey II (given voice by the excellent Mike McElroy and manipulated frighteningly well by Scott Griffith).

Several things must be right for "Little Shop" to succeed, beginning with the relationship between Seymour and Audrey. Audrey must deliver on the achingly innocent and touching song "Somewhere That's Green," which Miller does; the couple must make the sweet "Suddenly Seymour" duet believable (they do); and Audrey must communicate the growth of character from unloved and undeserving of love to the heroic idea that "greater love hath no woman than to give herself as plant food for her man," which she nails.

It's important that the character of Audrey's boyfriend, sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello, be menacing – but not too menacing. Darryl Strohl seems to enjoy that tightrope walk between "Be a Dentist," explaining how he turned a youthful propensity for animal abuse into a rewarding medical career, and his farewell song, "Now (It's Just the Gas)."

As Mushnik, owner of the down-and-going-downer flower shop, Dustin White seems less invested in his character than others in the cast are in theirs.

All the singers perform without mikes – a tradition with this company but a refreshing change from most community theater productions – and do true justice to their lyrics. A five-piece orchestra (keyboardist-conductor Ray Fisher, keyboardist Jonathan Rothman, bassist Hal Wright, guitarist Ben Wormeli and drummer Steve Isaacson) provides excellent live accompaniment.

Isaacson also directs (with impeccable timing) and choreographs the production, and designed the set (appropriately low-budget, although the shop door could have used a little steadying on opening night). His stage environment includes garbage cans, trash and papers strewn upon the "street" and denizens of skid row who wander about and even engage the audience before the curtain rises.