Stage Door: The unkillable 'Little Shop of Horrors'
Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 5:30PM 'Stage Door' is our new theater column. We'll review plays and musicals and, because this is a film site, we'll end each column with related movie recommendations. - Editor
Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon, the doo-wop chorus of Little Shop, are still a major highlight
The October 2019 Off Broadway revival of the singular scifi-horror-comedy-whatsit musical Little Shop of Horrors is still going strong at the West Side Theater in NYC. Well, minus 18 months off for the pandemic of course. The production has been through five Seymours now in its run (Jonathan Groff, Jeremy Jordan, Gideon Glick, Conrad Ricamora, and Skylar Astin) with a fifth on the way; Rob McClure takes over on July 12th so this is your last chance to see Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect) in the role. Curiously its original Audrey (Emmy winner and Tony nominee Tammy Blanchard) and Orin (Tony winner Christian Borle) are still recycling their sadomasochistic relationship every night in this iteration of Skid Row. Why can't the show keep a Seymour!?
Well, it is surely an exhausting role even if the anemia and sore fingers from feeding the bloodthirsty plant is fictional...
For those who are unfamiliar with the show -- though really that would be something at this point, given the two film versions and multiple revivals -- set in an unspecified time (with 50s/60s kitsch vibes) it's the story of a clumsy orphan sadsack Seymour Krelborn who works at a failing florist shop on Skid Row with his crush Audrey and their unappreciative boss Mr Muschnick. Seymour discovers an "strange and unusual" plant that saves the shop's fortune and prompts a budding romance with Audrey once her demented boyfriend, the dentist, is out of the way. Seymour's new success comes with a tragic catch: to keep the plant healthy he has to feed it human blood! Cue: moral handwringing, comic violence, amazing song score, and an ever growing ever hungrier alien plant.
Two Audreys: Tammy Blanchard (2022) and Ellen Greene (1986)
Like so many fans of the show, I first discovered it via the terrific 1986 movie adaptation, with the one and only Ellen Greene being the sole original cast member to reprise her role. Her dim, busty, good-hearted, squeaky voiced-until-she's-belting take on the role of Audrey, a beauty with terrible self-esteem, was a truly magic comic creation. Most subsequent Audreys have opted for some sort of homage with derivations (such as the hilarious Keri Butler in the show's sole Broadway run in the Aughts) but Greene has proven impossible to top, as iconically-fused to the role as Streisand with Funny Girl or Carol Channing with Hello Dolly. As recently as 2015, thirty-three years after creating the role, she was absolutely thrilling in a two-night only concert reading.
The current revival's long-term Audrey, the talented Tammy Blanchard (Rabbit Hole, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows), surprises by taking the role in a different direction. It's impossible not to admire her effort to reinvent a role that has felt set in stone for so long now but her take, which leans surprisingly into naturalism, is an uncomfortable fit for both the character's comic nature (you don't want to think too hard on domestic abuse or masochism while watching a hilarious musical!) and the purposefully kitsch and heightened surroundings. Most of the other performers stick to the tried-and-true risk-free approaches. This productions dentist, Christian Borle, was out the night we attended but his understudy, while not as funny as Steve Martin's film performance (a tall order), popped very effectively in his other roles (if you haven't seen much theater it's common for shows to double or triple cast supporting actors in smaller roles whenever their main character isn't in the scene.)
One of the particular joys of attending live theater often and seeing multiple productions of one show, is noticing how different actors approach the same role, which can be fascinating even when it doesn't work. Another joy is watching an actor adjust their performance if the audience is a little mellow that night or, in the case of comedies, not laughing hard enough. Astin, who we had no expectations for beyond loving his voice in Pitch Perfect, came across like a real stage pro. He read the room quickly and amped things up making the show much funnier all of a sudden during the first act. Though he's leaving the show early for a TV offer, we hope he returns to the stage soon.
Skylar Astin is a natural as Seymour Krelbourn
But in the end, the star of Little Shop of Horrors is that delicious song score and the "strange and unusual plant," at the center of it all. Audrey II, generally voiced by one actor and performed by multiple puppeteers as is the case here, takes up more and more of the space and focus as it literally grows from scene to scene, eventually threatening the whole world. For my money, this production's Audrey II, is the best I've ever seen on stage. It was great fun to watch it wriggle and come to life in expressive surprising ways from scene-to-scene. At the climax of the Broadway production in 2003, the plant lurching towards the audience at the end was meant to be a big moment, but always felt a bit stiff and "expensive," like a pricey visual effect rather than a true gag. Here on a smaller stage in a different production, it felt as fun and thrilling as a cheesy 3D effect does when you're a child; the threat is coming right. at. you!
It feels perverse to end with such praise for the plant in a cautionary tale warning us away from feeding the damn thing (and its ego). But a star is a star. We bow down... from a safe distance.
Adjacent Movie Recommendations
• KILLER PLANT MOVIES
The stage musical ]was inspired by the non-musical movie Little Shop of Horrors (1960) directed by B movie maestro Roger Corman. That film's fame today is totally thanks to the musical it inspired (exponentially more famous and popular) and for being one of the first films to feature young Jack Nicholson, then an unknown actor in his early 20s. But it wasn't the only killer plant movie for its time. What was it about deadly vegetation and the '50s and '60s? Why was this a particular fear for people? Some horror trends have clear roots (sorry) like kaiju films springing from the trauma of nuclear radiation or vampires as metaphors for numerous infectious diseases throughout the centuries as well as addiction. But plants? It turns out there's quite a few horror films involving deadly plants and some people are really into them. Who knew!? Everyone who likes this sort of thing appears to be very fond of The Day of the Triffids but there are numerous less famous films in this genre like The Woman Eater which is about a man-eating tree a mad scientist brings to London. The most recent film of some fame within this subgenre is the horror film The Ruins (2008) in which a group of attractive actors (including Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, and Shawn Ashmore) are in danger of becoming plant food during a Mexican holiday. [Little Shop of Horrors is on Amazon Prime, Day of the Triffids and Woman Eater are both on Tubi, The Ruins on HBOMax]
• THE ASHMAN & MENKEN MOVIE MUSICALS
Though we lost the genius writer/lyricist Howard Ashman at just 40 years of age due to AIDS complications, he's immortal know thanks to three musicals which he wrote with the composer Alan Menken. The stage musical Little Shop of Horrors premiered Off-Off Broadway before scaling up to Off Broadway and was such a huge hit onstage that it was still open when the (very good) film version hit movie theaters in 1986. Disney wisely snapped up the duo who essentially gave the then-struggling Mouse House their mojo back via their enchanting work on the fairy tales The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). Little Shop of Horrors has the most genius song score of the three but their wit and invention and gift for memorable melodies definitely transferred intact to the family-friendly realm of Disney animated blockbusters. If you love this team, you should also check out the documentary Howard about the late Howard Ashman. It's very good. [Little Shop of Horrors is on HBOMax, the other two and Howard are on Disney+]
Next Week: "Chains" at Theatre Row
Last week: Mare Winningham in "The Girl From the North Country"
Reader Comments (6)
Wow, three of the five Seymours so far have been Spring Awakening boys. Can John Gallagher Jr be far behind?
Glad that the live musical is still a joy. I certainly wore out my VHS copy as a kid.
Saw this iteration with Jonathan Groff pre-pandemic and then more recently Conrad Ricamora. It was a joy both times. I was particularly pleased to have seen it with Ricamora since I kept missing him in Broadway (King and I) and off-Broadway (Here Lies Love, Soft Power). Those two latter ones killed me since I DID see those shows but he was out both times!
I keep hearing there's going to be a new film version with Taron Egerton as Seymour, Scar-Jo 3:16 as Audrey (not my choice), and Chris Evans as Orin. Honestly, I'd get another actress for that part but... have Scarlett play the sadomasochistic dental patient as a nod to Bill Murray.
Aw. I love this musical, which is super popular for high school drama departments across the country. Saw a great production a few years ago at the Cape Playhouse with Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Seymour, who was so good in the closed-before-its-time Tuck Everlasting on Broadway.
Though I love Ellen Greene as Audrey, it's nearly impossible to sing along to her renditions on the cast recordings. No one has that range of unusual holds of high and low notes (maybe it's called "phrasing" in musical terms?) like her.
One of my fave musicals, and one of my fave films (1986) ever. Can't get bored by it.
Will they ever cast a nonhot Seymour?