Audrey II, Esther Hannaford and Brent Hill in Little Shop of Horrors. Photo by Jeff Busby.
Fertilised with satire, blood and bone, Roger Corman’s 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors – a micro-budget horror/comedy shot in just two days on the sets and with budget left over from A Bucket of Blood – is the unlikely flowerbed from which this delightful musical, produced by the team behind the Hayes Theatre Company’s 2015 triumph Sweet Charity, has grown.
Notable for an early screen appearance by Jack Nicholson, the film focuses on a nebbish assistant florist, the woman he loves, and the monstrous, man-eating plant that stands between them. It seems an unusual basis for a musical, but nonetheless caught the eye of dream team Alan Menken (music) and Howard Ashman (book and music), who would go on to help reinvigorate Disney’s ailing brand in films such as The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).
Only their second collaboration, the musical adaptation Little Shop of Horrors premiered off-off-Broadway in 1982, and went on to win numerous awards, including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical. It’s easy to see why.
Blending period song styles including R&B, doo-wop and funk with wry, clever lyrics and contemporary flair, the musical is tightly paced, warm-hearted, intensely funny and gently subversive. Its satire of B-movie plots and Eisenhower-era values is never forced, and the plot changes it makes from Charles Griffith’s original 1960 screenplay result in a more sympathetic hero, two villains for the price of one, and one of the most engaging Greek-style choruses seen in many a year.
This new Australian production directed by Dean Bryant opened at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre in February; its short Melbourne season at the Comedy Theatre is the second stop in a national tour which deserves every success.
Put simply, this Little Shop of Horrors is a gem, an assiduously balanced production both poignant and rollicking which charms at every turn.
In the struggling Skid Row florist shop of Mr Mushnik (Tyler Coppin), the hapless Seymour (Brent Hill) and his sweet but fragile co-worker Audrey (Esther Hannaford) struggle to keep the business afloat while avoiding acknowledging their mutual attraction. In an attempt to save his boss’s shop from going under by attracting more customers, Seymour presents the strange and unusual plant he has discovered, dubbed the Audrey II and soon revealed to be both bloodthirsty and malevolently intelligent.
While attempting to resist Audrey II’s demands for food, Seymour must also try to woo Audrey away from her sadistic dentist boyfriend, the nitrous oxide inhaling Orin Scrivello (Scott Johnson). But as new love blossoms between the hapless duo, so too does Audrey II, with dire consequences for all concerned.
This is a beautifully integrated production, with puppetry by Erth Visual and Physical animating Audrey II to wonderful effect, and a considered and striking aesthetic which pays homage to the musical’s black and white movie origins without being enslaved to it.
Ross Graham’s lighting design deftly incorporates such flourishes as the flickering illumination cast by a passing train and an eerie eclipse of the sun; Owen Phillips’ set delights with small details such as the brick propping up Mushnik’s uneven desk and a charmingly low-fi aesthetic; and Tim Chappel’s costumes, which range from monochrome to technicolour, are a treat.
Bryant’s direction is lucid and tightly blocked, and the choreography by Andrew Hallsworth nods cheekily but covertly to the history of stage musicals. The weakest link is the performers’ overly-mic’ed voices, which on opening night were a little too dominant in the mix, though doubtless this is an issue which will recede as the production settles into its run.
The performances themselves are, almost to a man, superb. As Audrey, so broken by life that she equates love with pain, Hannaford is superb; her gawky physicality adds both helplessness and humour to the role, while her richly melodious voice – with an accent that’s consistent whether speaking or singing – brought tears to the eyes in the torch-song ‘Somewhere That’s Green’, making the oft-covered classic utterly her own.
Brent Hill as Seymour is equally delightful; strikingly vulnerable as he removes his glasses in the second act ballad ‘Suddenly, Seymour’, deftly comic when required, and – in a world first – magnificently voiced when additionally providing the vocals for the murderous plant Audrey II.
This aspect of the production, thanks to Hill’s acting skills and Bryant’s direction (which ensures the actor’s back is initially to the audience as he sings the plant’s lines) could and did easily go unnoticed by some audience members in the early stages of the show, but also opens up fascinating new readings of the story: is Seymour insane and just imagining that Audrey II is speaking? Is the alien plant possessing him, and speaking through him?
It’s one of many touches – alongside the immigrant accents adopted by the ‘three worthless ragamuffins’ who make up the streetwise chorus of Chiffon (Josie Lane), Ronnette (Chloe Zuel) and Crystal (Angelique Cassimatis), evoking the cross-cultural dramas of West Side Story; and the brief opening narration by a much-loved Australian media figure – which make this production such a delight. It’s a pleasure to see a production as intelligent, accomplished, and downright entertaining as Luckiest Productions’ and Tinderbox Productions’ Little Shop of Horrors.
4 ½ stars out of 5
Little Shop of Horrors
Book and lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Based on the film by Roger Corman, screenplay by Charles Griffith
Directed by Dean Bryant
Choreographed by Andrew Hallsworth
Musical Director: Andrew Worboys
Set Design: Owen Phillips
Costum design: Tim Chappel
Lighting design: Ross Graham
Sound Design: Jeremy Silver
Puppet Design & Construction: Erth Visual & Physical Inc
Cast: Brent Hill, Esther Hannaford, Scott Johnson, Tyler Coppin, Josie Lane, Angelique Cassimatis, Chloe Zuel, Dash Kruck and Kuki Tipoki
The Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
Until 22 May 2016
Canberra Theatre Centre
From 25 May 2016
Playhouse Theatre QPAC
From 1 June 2016
Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney
From 20 July 2016
His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
From August 4 2016
www.littleshoptour.com.au
