The American High School Theatre Festival presents
The creativity gone into making the plant come to life and the love the cast have for the show makes this a musical worth watching.
We follow Seymour (Isaac Capp), a nerdy florist’s assistant. After years of working a dead-end job and swooning over his co-worker Audrey (Sofia Talarico), he discovers a strange new plant. This plant doesn’t survive on plant food, it thirsts for human blood. Its unusual appearance gains Seymour some local fame that grows with the plant. But how far is Seymour willing to go to feed the plant?
Issac Capp is completely adorkable as the nerdy Seymour. His portrayal is beautifully cartoonish and unconditionally lovable. He completely embodied the character from head to toe: a real promising young actor in the making. He was backed up beautifully by his leading lady, Sofia Talarico. Her portrayal of Audrey was vulnerable and enhanced by her beautiful singing voice. The relationship between the characters was one to be treasured as they performed with such truth in their love for one another. The rest of the cast gelled incredibly well together with particular mention going to the three urchins: Ashleigh Sinclair, Hannah Van Den Eikhof and Jaida McDonald. The girls were sassy and animated which helped carry the scenes through the musical journey.
The show has some timing issues with overly long scene changes and a few stumbles in choreography that are usually caused by pieces of scenery in the way, resulting in the stage looking a bit cluttered. There are also a few minor scenes that tend to drag on with the absence of the main cast. However, the cast’s enthusiasm makes up for most of the minor flaws.
The show is an uplifting comedy with an unusual, alternative ending compared with most musicals. The creativity gone into making the plant come to life and the love the cast have for the show makes this a musical worth watching. Little Shop of Horrors is a pleasure to behold, thanks to a strongly connected team of young actors that are completely animated from the word “grow”.
