Little Shop of Horrors
Something that occurred to me as I came home after seeing the Stratford Theatre Festival’s production of Little Shop of Horrors is that musicals transcend the qualities of most stage plays. It begs the question: What’s Great about Stratford Festival’s Little Shop of Horrors?
Okay, hear me out.
I like musicals. Musicals are a cool, fun way to tell a story through an unconventional sort of medium. Because of constant singing, there’s an emotional disconnect of sorts. So long as the characters are singing and dancing, you can tell even a grim, morbid tale with glee and joviality.
This dissonance is the core conceit of Little Shop of Horrors, a musical comedy about a killer plant. The show is set around Mushnik’s, a run-down, wildly unpopular florist run by Mr Mushnik, his adopted protégé Seymour Krelboyne, and his friend Audrey (Gabi Epstein), who all live in the poor New York neighbourhood of Skid Row.
One day, Seymour (Andre Morin), ever the experimental botanist, showcases his latest pet project: a flytrap of unknown species that won’t bloom no matter what Seymour does for it. While Mushnik initially dismisses the weird plant as useless, the instant the plant, christened “Audrey II” by Seymour, is put on display in the window, a customer buys $100 worth of flowers. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Mushnik advertises the living daylights out of the thing, while Seymour tends to Audrey II’s strange needs.
The plant expectedly gets out of hand fast once Seymour accidentally discovers Audrey II’s one and only food: human blood! (Oooh, scary!) Meanwhile, Audrey (the human) tries to defend her relationship with her sadistic boyfriend Orin, whose poor treatment of her infuriates Seymour, which makes him a tempting treat for Audrey II (the avocado?) now that she’s four feet tall and can talk… and sing, of course. Don’t tell me you already forgot this was a musical?
The set of the play is a cityscape with Mushnik’s front and centre. The whole shop opens and closes like a dollhouse, with lights and smoke setting the scene outside. Visually, the show is stunning, with the background changing to reflect the current events of the story, and electrifying lighting as the actors sing their hearts out about capitalism and killer plants (roughly speaking).
Half the characters talk with the cheesiest sort of Noo Yawka hey-I’m-walkin’-‘ere accent. The songs are all sorts of cheery, peppy melodies that make you want to get up and sing, (but please don’t, that’d be quite rude) which altogether gives the production an intoxicating vigour. All the same, Skid Row is miserable and characters bite the dust, so don’t fool yourself into thinking this is all roses and carnations.
This is the ironic juxtaposition that sells Little Shop of Horrors as a cheeky comedy when its plot is much better suited as a monster b-movie. Sometimes, an unconventional approach can be just the thing it takes to make something special. Heck, the original 1960 movie that became the Broadway show wasn’t even a musical in the first place! The most amazing things can come from the most unexpected of places.
Before I end this off, I’d like to point out some interesting tidbits about the play (a couple of notable points about what makes Little Shop of Horrors great) :
- Dan Chameroy, who plays Orin, also performed the lead of Rocky Horror show last year.
- The voice of Audrey II (Matthew E. Brown) is a fantastic singer, but I also noticed he plays a (notably silent) police officer in the first act of the play. Sneaky!
- The three back up singers are named for 1960 girl groups: Ronnette, Chiffon and Crystal
- Near the end, Audrey II whistles the melody of the song “Floral Fury” from the 2017 video game Cuphead. A cheeky little gag only I got!
Plays truly are something special, and Stratford’s vibrant performances are a thing of beauty. This is probably one of their most impressive productions yet! I look forward to the inevitable delights that await us next season. Until next time, ciao!
About the author: Hayden is 18 and a big fan of the Stratford Festival. He has written other reviews for the blog and continues to be a fan. This year’s plays were Othello and Little Shop of Horrors. You can read more reviews for To Kill a Mockingbird and Twelfth Night.
Reviews of past shows
- What’s Playing at Stratford in 2023
- One of the Best Plays at Stratford this year: Much Ado About Nothing – 2023
- Watch past productions of Stratford Festival online – Stratford@Home – 2020
- Richard III – 2022
- Little Shop of Horrors – 2019
- To Kill a Mockingbird – 2018
- Twelfth Night – 2017
- Theatre Do’s and Don’ts – It’s Simple Etiquette: Leave your candies at home
Hayden Ibbott is a second-year Game Design Student at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. With an established love of gaming, he also has a strong interest in live theatre. He often writes guest reviews of productions at The Grand Theatre and The Stratford Festival. You can read his most recent reviews of the Stratford Festival on DownshiftingPRO.com
His attention to detail is what makes his reviews authentic and fun.