Little Shop of Horrors, Regents Park Theater

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Best production of this show I've ever seen. It's really brilliantly done, breaks new ground and is a real joy to watch. If you're around London, check it out before it closes on 9/22.

 

https://openairtheatre.com/production/little-shop-of-horrors

 

https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/little-shop-of-horrors-review

[bostonman]

Benjamin - any specifics on how you feel it breaks new ground? (Save the way Audrey II is played, which may have been done before.)

 

I still have fond memories of the original production in Boston in the mid 1980's, a sit-down "offshoot" of the NYC original. It played at the wonderful Charles Playhouse, which has a long and vibrant history of both local productions and small-scale tours/sitdowns - which unfortunately has all been given up now, as it's the permanent Boston home of Blue Man Group.

 

But, the reason I bring that up is that the Audrey in that production was played by a young, then unknown Carolee Carmello. The cast was uniformly great, but there was something about Carmello that even then, made you sit up and notice. She still may not be a household name after all these years, but theatre people certainly know who she is - and I feel lucky to have seen her so early on.

 

Such a great show in general. And it really introduced us all to Menken and Ashman - we'd of course lose Ashman all too soon after that, but Menken has gone on to have an amazing career. But there's still something absolutely genius about Little Shop.

[foxy]

One of my all time favorite shows. I saw the original production at the Orpheum Theater in the East Village around 1982. Ellen Greene for me will always be the ideal Audrey. She reprised the role at an Encores concert staging with Jake Gyllenhaal as Seymour. I’m sorry I missed that. Jake as Seymour would have been fun to see. Happily I caught up with him when he was in Sunday in the Park With George. There was a production with Hunter Foster as Seymour around 2003. They were doing a Broadway Cares fund raiser at the time and for a $20 donation I got a photo taken with Foster and Kerry Butler who played Aubrey. Just as the photo was being taken I snuck my hand onto Fosters back who I found very attractive at the time. Still do. I’d love to see the show again. Maybe this London production will come to Broadway. It has the most wonderful music. Suddenly Seymour!

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Benjamin - any specifics on how you feel it breaks new ground? (Save the way Audrey II is played, which may have been done before.)

 

The two leads were solid. Seymour had a bell-clear, strong voice. Their Audrey had West End cred, but she didn't have the belt to make some of her songs really soar. Her acting on the other hand was tops. She didn't carbon-copy Greene (which was smart). Made her own Audrey.

 

Vox as Audrey II was fine. He played a lot to the audience and much like any drag queen who was working a room in a gay bar. The choice to give him a non-functional hand mic was an odd one (he was wearing a lavalier). Vox's voice was fantastic, but it did feel like he was just mimicking Levi Stubs from the film at times.

 

The Dentist was a known member of a once-popular boyband in the UK. He was played as a bisexual, which made the book scenes between himself and Seymour interesting, odd and very different from what I've seen before.

 

Mushnik played it like a camp film noir. Lots of arched eyebrow. Very fun performance. Good accent and sang the patter songs well.

 

The groundbreaking: Ronnettes who truly danced (contemporary, pop-lock style, all while keeping perfect, belted harmonies). An ensemble who was also brilliantly choreographed. A set that went from a very creepy black & white to color throughout the show. Interesting 'skyscraper' set pieces that spun, moved and illuminated to serve multiple function.

 

Also, my biggest love of this show came from the prop designer: Everything (plants, flowers in Mushnik's) were recycled other objects (toilet brushes, plungers, trash, dildos). Very interesting concept and it kept you looking for all of the interesting little pieces scattered around the set.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

One of my all time favorite shows. I saw the original production at the Orpheum Theater in the East Village around 1982. Ellen Greene for me will always be the ideal Audrey. She reprised the role at an Encores concert staging with Jake Gyllenhaal as Seymour. I’m sorry I missed that. Jake as Seymour would have been fun to see. Happily I caught up with him when he was in Sunday in the Park With George. There was a production with Hunter Foster as Seymour around 2003. They were doing a Broadway Cares fund raiser at the time and for a $20 donation I got a photo taken with Foster and Kerry Butler who played Aubrey. Just as the photo was being taken I snuck my hand onto Fosters back who I found very attractive at the time. Still do. I’d love to see the show again. Maybe this London production will come to Broadway. It has the most wonderful music. Suddenly Seymour!

 

Kennedy Center is doing a short run of this show with a solid cast. That cast is much more likely to transfer.

 

http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/TTBCA

 

The Regents production in London has a better shot of getting a West End run, but I think they would shuffle the cast a bit if that happened.

[bostonman]

The Kennedy Center cast looks awesome - particularly with Lee Wilkof returning to the show as Mushnik.