Little Shop Of Horrors – American Blues Theater
Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Directed by Jonathan Berry
Music Direction by Austin Cook
Produced by American Blues Theater
At the Greenhouse Theatre, Chicago
Laughs galore in terrific production of classic chamber musical
In a rare venture into musicals, American Blues Theatre has mounted one of the finest, spirited, and funny productions of the 1982 off-off Broadway hit chamber musical – Little Shop Of Horrors! As one of the most popular musicals, Little Shop Of Horrors has been an audience favorite as its cute, gruesome nerdy florist assistant raises a man-eating plant as his way out of the Skid Row. This musical features a fine score of rock, doo-wop, and Motown as well as power ballads by Alan Menken. Tunes such as “Skid Row (Downtown),” “Somewhere That’s Green, ” and “Suddenly, Seymour” have become familiar.
Howard Ashman’s book features a zany group of characters including a nerdy assistant, Seymour (a terrific turn by Michael Mahler), an abused woman, Audrey (Dara Cameron), and a sadistic motorcycle-riding dentist, Orin (Ian Paul Custer). But the real star here is the ever-growing blood-thirsty plant, Audrey II (voice by Lorenzo Rush, Jr.). Fueled by outrageously funny situations, Horrors is a side-splitting funny and toe-tapping night of musical theatre.
While I personally never cared much for Little Shop Of Horrors, I must report that the creatives at American Blues Theatre, under the smart leadership of director Jonathan Berry, have mounted a slick, funny and musically interesting production of the campy classic. Playing most of the show over-the-top with a fine trio of Greek Style chorus (Jasondra Johnson, Camille Robinson and Eunice Woods sing R & B) with the antics of shop owner Mr. Mushnik (the funny Mark David Kaplan) adding humor and heart, this Little Shop Of Horrors delivers. The intimacy of the stage at the Greenhouse Theater and the terrific sound mix by Rick Sims makes this production a technical triumph. It is so often that a rock-based musical overwhelms both singers and audiences, yet here both singers and audiences get to feast. Lovers of Little Shop Of Horrors will embrace this winner.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Date Reviewed: May 6, 2016
For more info checkout the Little shop Of Horrors page at theatreinchicago.com
At the Greenhouse Theatre, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., chic ago, IL, call 773-404-7338, www.americanbluestheater.com, tickets $19-$49, Thursdays thru Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Saturday matinees at 3 pm, Sundays at 2:30 pm, running time is 2 hours with intermission, through June 26, 2016.