Fast and Fun, Little Shop of Horrors is Theatre’s Latest
Photo by Keith Stewart
Tough guy Orin played by Mike Danovich (right) gives the loveable and earnest florist/botanist Seymour, played by Brady Miller (left) a few tips about his new attraction for a plant.
July 2, 2014
By Dan Hagen
NP Theatre Critic
“Little Shop of Horrors” makes for a Little Theatre of Fun.
I’ve seen only bits and pieces of Roger Corman’s original low-budget 1960 monster movie, or the 1982 Off-Off-Broadway musical based on that, or the 1986 movie musical based on that, but I’ve seen enough of the Little Theatre’s brisk little show to be well entertained.
It would be difficult to explain this pop cultural artifact to someone who had dropped from the sky like Audrey II the man-eating plant. Here we have the traditional tragedy of a man corrupted by the devil (a vegetable devil, in this case) played out to its inevitable sad conclusion, and yet played as a camp comedy with the sprightly doo-wop music native to the era of the original film.