Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Star Theatres

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Saturday 4th November 2023

Until someone writes ‘TRIFFID!’, Little Shop of Horrors is the greatest testament to the danger we face from the natural world. We have hacked so many plants off at the knee and stuck them in vases. Of course, Audrey 2 is from outer space, but we must think of our natural world.

It’s a musical I really enjoy, and I’ve seen a couple of productions in Adelaide, but I was delighted to be reminded of so much I’d forgotten in this production from Marie Clark Musical Theatre. You suddenly see more. Audrey 2 steals the show, and Katie Elle Jackson is a force indeed. From her first appearance, she’s dangerously seductive. If Kristian Latella isn’t the nerd you expect, he’s an engaging sort of accidental hero, and his scenes with Rose Harvey’s Audrey, after whom the plant is named, are sweet. Nick Equid is Mr Mushnik, the Skid Row florist, and his adoption dance routine with Seymour is one of the highlights of the show. BJ Peake is outstanding as the psycho dentist Orin Scrivello, the woman-bashing, motorbike-riding, alpha male, who deservedly ends up as plant food.

The female trio, inspired by the girl groups of the fifties and sixties, are delicious. I learned during the interval that one of them was a swing. I don’t know which one, they all worked so well together, that I can only thank Carolina Fioravanti, Kim Anastasiou, Madi Grey, Natasha Payne, and Renae Milner for their stylish commitment. The chorus of shoppers and Skid Row denizens are great and the simple set makes really good use of the back window of the store for onlookers to look on.

Director, Justine C Lewis, has her fine cast working well, and she has two choreographers, Annette Paterson, and Deborah Proeve, for the impressive dance interludes. Liam Phillips is already a highly experienced musical director and brings real flair to Alan Mencken’s score. Mike Phillips’s lighting design, run by Tim Sekerin, is pretty ambitious and really gives the tech setup of the theatre a real going over.

While the show is a tribute to all the B-grade science fiction movies of my childhood, it’s also a tribute to the late Matt Byrne. The gorgeous Audrey puppets are from his production, lovingly restored and operated by a team headed by Ian Barge.

See the show and, when you get home, take a good look at your backyard, if you’ve got one, and don’t sleep with open windows.

MCMT has chosen to stage it at Star Theatres, which seats a little over 350, fewer seats than the Arts Theatre, certainly, but I’ve seen some impressive productions there this year, which makes it a very valuable venue.

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