Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at The Muny

For the second time this season The Muny is producing a show with a score by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman. The Menken and Ashman team helped return Disney to animation glory with their work on the films “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and The Beast,” and their early collaboration on “Aladdin” before Ashman’s untimely death at age 40.

Menken has gone on to score many more Disney productions and Broadway musicals, but it was Ashman who has been credited for the renaissance at Disney for not only his lyrics, but for his vision and influence on the mermaid film. He was diagnosed with an advanced stage of AIDS while finishing Mermaid and was too ill to travel to begin work on “Beauty and The Beast.” So, Disney brought the work to him. It is often said that Ashman gave The Beast his soul. Just last month, The Muny produced an epic production of the stage adaptation of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST that includes the songs written by Ashman and Menken for the animated movie.

This week, The Muny stages another exceptional production of one of Ashman and Menken’s earliest works, 1982’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS that was a massive off-Broadway hit running for five years. When it premiered, the success of this show made Ashman and Menken the talk of the New York theatre scene. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was an early indicator of their genius as a writing team. They took a 1960’s darkly comedic film, adapted it for the stage with an amusing book and added a rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown inspired score with witty lyrics.

Director Maggie Burrows and choreographer William Carlos Angulo have put their unique spin on this frighteningly fun new Muny production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Burrows knows that for any production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS to succeed it requires stellar lead and background vocals from the trio of storytellers named Chiffon, Ronnette, and Crystal who open the show and drive the story’s narrative. In the opening number Angulo's choreography, inspired by the female singing groups of the 1960s, is accented with sharp zombie-like choreography to set the tone that something evil is about to go down. Every element of the trio’s vocal arrangement and choreography is perfectly detailed. Taylor Marie Daniel (Chiffon), Stephanie Gomerez (Ronnette), and Kennedy Holmes (Crystal) make a fabulous female trio. Each are individually terrific, but their work as a collective group is dynamic. Their delivery of the “Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors),” “Skid Row,” and “Dee Doo” sets this comically entertaining and macabre production in motion.

Robin de Jesús and Patti Murin deliver exactly what’s expected from them in their roles as Seymour and Audrey. The nerdy Seymour and the abused Audrey evoke audience empathy becuse these skilled actors completely inhabit their roles. Murin gives a layered performance belting a powerful “Suddenly Seymour,” juxtaposed by her restrained delivery of “Somewhere That’s Green” as she dreams of a life that is better than what she thinks she deserves.

Nicholas Ward adds a chilling vocal performance to create a dark sense of gruesomeness as the voice of the plant (Audrey II.) His delivery is both hilarious and horrific. His deep bass is menacing when he is demanding food from Seymour by reminding him of the unavoidable consequences of his actions. Ward’s voiceover, coupled with the puppetry and manipulation of the plant by Travis Patton, makes Audrey II a plant to be feared.

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