Little Shop Of Horrors

Little Shop Of Horrors

The Kings Theatre, Southsea

28th June - 1st July

Little Shop of Horrors is one of those shows that is very hard to get wrong. It started life as a small off-broadway production in the 80s which was based of an even smaller low budget film from the 60s.

Since then it has had numerous professional productions (including a recent Broadway production) and has been very popular among schools and am-dram groups. Therefore when i saw it was being produced by Paul Woolf for The Kings Theatre, I know i just had to see it.

I was very surprised to hear the had only roughly about a month to put this show up and it is very impressive. The set is used to very high success with the main bulk of it being the titular shop and then a small part of the front for exterior scenes with the occasional drop cloth being used for scenes outside Skid Row.

We open with our 3 chorus girls Ronette, Crystal & Chiffon (played by Abbie Warner, Marlene Hill & Amanda May Bishop respectively ) They all deliver powerhouse vocals and all get moments to shine and show off their skills.

We then see Mr Mushnik (Played here by Peter Colley who delivers a wonderfully grumpy performance) who owns the shop and we are quickly introduced to Audrey & Seymour

Charlie Frame is an absolutely sensational Seymour. He is quirky and charming and delivers some wonderfully powerful vocals alongside showing some wonderfully funny comedic chops. His chemistry with everyone is infectious and you really root for him in everything.

Audrey is played by Georgia Delouise. This role is probably one of the hardest to do due to Ellen Greene’s immortal portrayal in both the original broadway cast and subsequent movie adaptation. Georgia is more than capable with this role. She brings a strong ambition to a role and shows you that Audrey is more than just a pretty face, She has everything you could want. Fabulous vocals, wonderful acting and some beautiful chemistry with Charlie.

We get Tom Wood here as Audrey’s abusive dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello D.D.S

Tom has some wonderful comedic moments here but I’m not sure they were ever fully realized. He definitely got some great laughs but there were also just a few parts that didn’t quite land. For example (and here are some spoilers if you aren’t familiar with the show) with the end of act one ad his death scene, there was much hysteria. He is chocking on Nitrus Oxide (aka giggle gas) and all we get are few chuckles inbetween the singing). I just feel this needs to be more of a moment.

Now we obviously need to talk about Audrey 2, the giant carnivorous mean green mother from outer space. Stuart Warner lends his voice to this role made famous by Levi Stubbs. He is just as every bit mean and hilarious as you expect him to be. His deep baritone voice is absolutely perfect for this role (especially in the fantastic encore)

The puppet itself is very good although sometimes not quite matching up with Stuarts voice. Taylor Walter-Field & Euan Millar take up the task of working the puppet and maybe just need to work with Stuart a tiny bit to really bring to plant to life.

There were a few sound issues with this but I’m gonna put that down to it being the first night and have no doubt they’ll be resolved during the run.

Some wonderful music direction here from Kim Seagrove (who also gets some lovely interactions with the cast).

Ultimately this is a fun night out at the theatre even if probably could’ve used a bit more time.

Star Rating

****