By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO — Shout out another Hosanna or Mazel Tov to the gang at Cygnet. They’ve gone and done it again: producing a home run production of the Alan Menken (music) and Howard Ashman’s (book and lyrics) cult (gothic) musical The Little Shop of Horrors based on the film by Roger Corman with screenplay by Charles Griffith.
And what fun it is! This little show gave opening night audiences
something to smile and chatter about all the way into the parking lot and then
some. The 1960 black and white movie about a man-eating plant has its cult
following as does Rocky Horror Show and the more recent Batboy, The Musical.
Little Shop the musical went viral after the 1982 off Broadway production. Then as
Broadway productions ran on and on, it soon it became the favorite of just
about every community, high school, touring and local company throughout the
world. I would wager that as we speak, some local high school somewhere is in
rehearsals right now for yet another Little Shop! As another morsel of grisly for Audrey II, it was made into a film in
1986 directed by Frank Oz.
Oh, and as for Audrey. Here’s the scoop. Audrey (Melissa Fernandes) and her co-worker Seymour, (Brandon Joel
Maier) an orphan who was taken off the streets by Mr. Mushnik and who works for his lodgings… in the cellar of the flower shop, are trying to keep themselves
busy in spite of the lack of business. Both work in ‘Skid Row Florists’ owned by the grumpy Mushnik (Phil Johnson). It is located smack dab in the dregs of,
yup! Skid Row. Business is so bad there that Mushnik is ready to close up shop and call it a day. It’s at this time that Audrey urges Seymour to put his
latest exotic plant experiment (spawned during a total eclipse of the sun) in the window to attract any on looker who might pass by.
The plant is a Venus Fly Trap that Seymour has named Audrey II after the woman he secretly loves, Audrey, hisvco-worker. Unfortunately, Audrey has a boyfriend Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. (Geno Carr) who is slightly nuts and who likes beating up on her much to Seymour’s chagrin. (He gets even later on.)
Things go from bad to worse when Seymour realizes that Audrey II’s growth is in direct proportion to how much blood (read of human consumption and that includes body parts) Seymour gives him to nosh on. As the plant flourishes, so does the reputation of the flower shop and Seymour’s star soars from nebbish to nebbish hero overnight.
The show opens with the prologue by Chiffon (Rhea Elizabeth De Armas), Roynette (Cashae Moyna) and Crystal (Heather Paton), a group resembling the ‘Supremes’ singing doo-wop and early Motown, singing “Skid Row” (Downtown). They pop in every now and then bringing the story up to date and are an integral part of the show.
The production, under artistic director Sean Murray’s deft direction with Sean Fanning’s gray, black and white gothic looking revolving set (resembling a black and white movie), ShirleyPierson’s great choices in costumes (colorful and sparkling for the chorus girls and shades of gray up to and including Seymour’s tennis shoes; Murray had
them on as well), Chris Rynne’s lighting design and James Vasquez’choreography, is a crowd pleaser from opening to closing, if a bit too gory at times
for yours truly.
The tongue in cheek humorous shticks create the campiness and are hilarious as well. The shop’s most valued client is the ‘Shiva Family’ who buys funeral wreaths whenever someone dies and Audrey’s boyfriend is a look alike Elvis Presley on a motorcycle and black roses sell for $100.00 a dozen and Orin’s dentist chair looks more like a salon
chair. Who knows, maybe he does hair in his spare time.
While one would like to think the star of the show is Audrey II since it really is all about her and the power she has over Seymour and she does grow by leaps and bounds to enormous proportions, (she operated by and is given voice in the person of David McBean) and can be overbearing and needy, the real star in every sense of the word is Melissa
Fernandes. Her accent is spot on perfect a la Judy Holiday. Her body language is right on and her rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green” is lovely and moving
but when she belts out “Suddenly Seymour” the house comes down. Then again, she gets the two best musical numbers all under the musical direction of Tim
McKnight and his six musicians. She is awesome as Audrey.
Strong performances are brought in by Geno Carr who plays a mean Orin with a sense of sadism but not terrifyingly so. He also plays a number of walk on characters and manages them all with fun and panache. Mushnick is a thankless role and Phil Johnson makes the most of it. Brandon Joel Maier is OK as nerd Seymour. He needs to have a little more energy around his feelings for Audrey to make their relationship look a bit more authentic.
The overall production though is a glaring success complete with excellent voices and equally strong support from the technical crew.
‘Nuff’ said! Now see it for yourself and join in on the fun.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through Sept. 11th
Organization: Cygnet Theatre
Phone: 619-337-1525
Production Type: Rock Musical
Where: 4040 Twiggs St. in Old Town San Diego State Historic
Park
Ticket Prices: $39.00-$59.00
Web: cygnettheatre.com
Venue: Cygnet Theatre-Old Town Stage
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic . She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com