Four years before Steve Martin and Rick Moranis put Frank Oz’s 1986 cult classic movie on the map, Little Shop of Horrors opened off-Broadway as a quirky black musical comedy, composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. It won the creative partnership a swag of awards and lead Menken to write many of Disney’s favourite musical scores for animations such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
Flash forward thirty four years and the show with the doo-wop sound and that flesh-eating plant is back to thrill a new generation. Little Shop of Horrors opened at his Majesty’s Theatre in Perth on Friday 5th August, to a satisfied audience of young and old.
Down on Skid Row, the less affluent address for the Florist Shop that is the main setting for the story, Seymour Krelborn works as an assistant at Mr Mushnik’s store. Seymour’s fascination for strange and exotic plants, leads him on a path to fame and fortune and to win the heart of the woman he loves.
But at what price?
Ex-WAAPA graduate Brent Hill, plays the nerdy but loveable Seymour, with his love interest Audrey, played by Esther Hannaford raising the bar as the anti-feminist ditzy blonde.
It is hard not to enjoy this musical, with its catchy Motown style songs and its characters who are more like caricatures playing out a comic strip plot.
The real star of the show of course is Audrey II, the venus fly-trap-like plant that grows throughout the show both in character and size.
Throw in Orin, Audrey’s masochist boyfriend, and you may never feel the same about going to the dentist, or buying an unusual plant from the markets ever again.
Saying that, if you want a great night of unadulterated fun and entertainment, then this a superb reason to get off the couch and enjoy the City’s Winter Arts Festival.
Better get there, before that mean green mother from outta space disappears with the next eclipse of the sun. Little Shop of Horrors is on at His Majesty’s Theatre until Sunday 14 August.
