I finally got around to seeing this show! I’m a huge fan of the movie, so I knew a lot going in. ⚠️ Warning this review will include spoilers! ⚠️
Outside the Westside Theatre.
I saw Rob Mcclure as Seymour and he was great. I’ve seen him in Beetlejuice as Adam too. He’s always good at playing geeky characters.
Christian Borle played Orin really well too. He was super funny and channeled his inner Steve Martin. He’s great at playing unhinged people (lol). I swear he stared into my soul a couple times.
I also didn’t realize that the movie cut so many songs. I don't recall Mr. Mushnik singing at all in the film, but he sings plenty in the staged version. The show is actually quite music heavy.
I really enjoyed the lighting, like the green flashing lights when the plant enters and speaks. And when Seymour dances the lights act as "party" lights.
On top of that the staging was cheesy and reminiscent of the movie. I thought it was really cool how the plant progressively grows. Some of the effects were a bit cheesy , but I’m sure they were supposed to be. The way the plant “grabs” Audrey is by having the actor pretend to be strangled by its “leaves”.
The fact that the plant grows in size multiple times and is still a fully functional puppet each time amazed me. I believe there are multiple puppeteers, one to control the legs/roots of the plant and one that controls the mouth, though I’m not entirely sure how the plant “eats”.
I also thought the set was cool, though I can’t compare it to the original off-broadway production as I have never seen it. I especially liked how there was no window to the front of the flower shop, just a door. It’s as if the audience is all looking into the store through an invisible window.
The theatre was small, which was expected because it is off-broadway, therefore it made the show feel more intimate and forced the audience to pay more attention and have stronger reactions. Because it felt so intimate, I thought the show would have been more comforting and less... unsettling.
What I mean by that is the ending was different than the 1986 movie. The change in endings was my biggest issue with the show. I did not mind that it wasn’t an exact replica of the movie, but the ending was sad. I feel like at heart “Little Shop Of Horrors” is meant to be a lighthearted comedy poking fun at low budget horror movies and it lost this vibe in the conclusion. I get that the original ending is supposed to follow the science fiction style, but I couldn’t get behind it. The ending felt like a cop out when they could’ve expanded upon Audrey and Seymour finally achieving their dreams of living a happily ever after. I guess not everyone achieves the things they mention in their “I want” song. It makes sense why the movie ending was. It appealed to wider audiences, like families. I wonder what Alan Menken had to say about its ending.
To expand upon my issues with the show, I found that Seymour wasn’t as wholesome. It was strange to me that he stole Orin’s jacket after killing him in hopes to have Audrey like him better because he knows that Orin was abusive towards her. He lies right to her face, telling her he bought it at a store. He obviously loved Audrey in both versions. But in the stage production he was mainly motivated by fame and attention, while in the movie version he was wholeheartedly trying to win Audrey’s love and protect her. In the movie it’s obvious he never wanted all the attention or success, just Audrey's love.
I want to note that after seeing the stage production , I realized how important the “urchins” actually are. They move 90% of the plot along with both song and comedy. They’re basically the narrators of the entire show and I think it’s creative how they manage to pop up in all the different scenarios.
Overall, I had a fun time and the cast was all very talented, I just would have preferred a happier ending. Here is a video of the curtain call I took where you can see the silly outfits the actors had on when they sang, "Don't Feed The Plant".
This is totally unrelated, but today I went to the Hershey's store to get the Dear Evan Hansen chocolate bar. It was not as cool as I expected. They just basically wrap the chocolate in an overpriced box with the classic polo stripes, but I'll keep it forever. You could also write whatever you wanted on the packaging, so I put my name. I managed to make it on to the Dear Evan Hansen Instagram page, which I've never done before! Here's a picture:
Signing off
-Jo 🌈
Komentarze