Little Shop of Horrors is a cult hit about the unlikely pairing of two flower shop assistants, Seymour and Audrey, following the formers discovery of a rare and unusual plant. Whilst trying to get it to grow by every means possible his clumsy nature causes him to draw blood, and suddenly the plant comes to life with excitement. Feeding on Seymours blood daily, the plant, named Audrey II by the adoring protagonist, grows with remarkable speed and rockets him to fame. It comes with a price: Audrey II starts to demand more from Seymour every day and is soon crying out for more human blood than Seymour can provide alone. Seymour is dragged into a world of success, deceit and desperation struggling with the wishes of the plant and his own desire to finally be successful and keep the girl. The moral of the story? Dont feed the plants!This production has one particularly remarkable feature the plant emerges first as a green hand in a large pot. As it feeds it grows and we see more and more of he actor playing Audrey II, in a distinctive, green, skintight cat suit. Each time it feeds on a person their outfit is ripped off to reveal the green beneath and they join the seething mass of bodies that make up the man-eating plant. The production is slick, entertaining and well-cast. The unusual method of representing the plant works well in the context of the fringe and there are some entertaining tongue-in-cheek features throughout which turn performing in a studio space into a positive thing. The vocals throughout are high-quality, with the backing trio of girls starting the show off with enthusiasm. The music is full of scrummy harmonies and the witty lyrics are brought out well across the board. Vocally, the crown belongs to the actor playing Audrey II: his voice is really quite remarkable, both in style and quality. Special mention also to the actor playing Orin Scrivello, whos character song as a sadistic dentist had everyone in the audience in stitches.So much of this production is wonderful, and Audrey, with a bit of strong direction, could be making a name for herself soon. Perfect timing for an evening out, and I found myself singing the songs on the way home.
