Little Shop of Horrors
Composer: Alan Menken Writer: Howard Ashman Director: Maria Aberg Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London NW1 (0844-826 4242). Until 22 September Suitable for secondary school age and up Running time: 2hrs 5mins (including interval)
Having recently “redefined”
Jesus Christ Superstar for a new generation, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has “only gone and done it again”, said Alun Hood on What’s On Stage. This “sinister little gem” of a musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman – a Faustian tale of a hapless florist who wins love and fortune by cultivating a carnivorously bloodthirsty plant – has been much revived since its 1980s debut. But it has “never looked quite as exciting or outlandish” as it does here in Maria Aberg’s “dynamic” staging, with “inspired” designs by Tom Scutt. It’s an “unqualified triumph” for Regent’s Park and a “hell of a show”. If I could, I’d award it six stars. “Do not miss it. Joyous.”
You’ve never seen this show quite like this, agreed Sam Marlowe in The Times. Aberg “sharpens the teeth of the show’s flesh-eating, alien plant”, gives the cartoonish characters fresh definition, and “peps up the action with a generous dose of subversion and sex”. Usually, the ever-growing plant (called Audrey II) is represented by a giant puppet. Here, it is played by the American drag queen Vicky Vox, who “struts, growls and croons” her way through the evening. “It works like a dream – or a fabulous nightmare.” In fact, the whole thing is an “absolute riot” – and as “thrillingly, dangerously seductive as a beribboned bouquet of triffids”.
There’s fabulous work from Scutt and choreographer Lizzi Gee, said Suzi Feay in the FT. Scutt’s approach to costuming the show is “to start with a ton of green glitter and a glue gun, then send out for more”. But the defining feature of this “glitter-ball explosion”, said Miriam Gillinson in The Guardian, is that the entire company “performs with presence, swagger and absolute abandon”. Jemima Rooper and Marc Antolin charm as hapless lovers Audrey (I) and Seymour, while Matt Willis (of Busted pop-star fame) is a “revelation” – gleaming with malice and flooding the space with “electric energy” as Orin, the sadistic dentist. A “gleeful” blast of a show.