LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Playing at:	FRONT ROW CENTRE PLAYERS
Plays until:	June 9, 2007
Reviewed by:	Louis B.
Official website:	www.frontrowcentre.ca
	FULL REVIEW
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The hapless hero of the sci-fi musical spoof Little Shop of Horrors discovers he must serve up a hearty helping of blood to keep his plant alive.

Director Joey Sayer who has staged Little Shop for Front Row Players is feeding his audiences a banquet of prime grade ham.

He and his cast members know Little Shop is a delicious parody in the vein of The Rocky Horror Show which means, the more outrageous the characterizations, the more fun it is for cast and audience members alike.

That’s pretty much the rule but in the role of Seymour Krelborn, the unsuspecting amateur botanist who unleashes an alien man-eating fly trap on mankind, Dave Gagnier actually goes for subtlety.

And he succeeds royally.

As a rule, Seymour is played as the quintessential nerd or a clueless goof ball.

Not so with Gagnier who turns him into a true unsuspecting innocent.

His Seymour is far more lovable than laughable which makes for an effective contrast to all the wacky characters in his life.

Gagnier has a clear, mellow voice that brings a sweetness to a song like Grow for Me but then can build to a powerful climax in his signature love ballad Suddenly, Seymour.

In a song like Mushnik and Son, Gagnier can hold his own against master clown Carl Bishop who plays Mr. Mushnik, the owner of the skid row flower shop that unwittingly plays host to a plant bent on world domination.

Bishop’s parody of Fiddler on the Roof is a hoot.

As Audrey, the lost girl with a heart of gold, Christine Horne has just the right blend of sex and sincerity.

She also has the right edge in her voice to sell a loopy song like Somewhere That’s Green.

No one can steal a scene faster than a man-eating plant and Chris Willott supplies just the right amount of menace to make Audrey II a dangerous delight.

Lindsay Robertson chews up his fair share of the scenery as the sadistic dentist Orin and a half-dozen other hilarious characters.

Robertson is the kind of actor who immediately establishes characterization with a walk, gesture or inflection.

As the street urchins who hang around the florist shop, Krista Vander Neut, Heather Oystryk and Lyndsey Paterson do an admiral job as a kind of American Greek-chorus.

I’m certain it didn’t escape anyone that their names Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon are homages to three legendary female African American singing groups.

That and their dialogue make it blatantly obvious that, for all their vocal and comedic talents, Vander Neut, Oystryk and Paterson are miscast.

This is all the more surprising and disappointing given that Front Row has gone for ethnic casting by having Levon Yon play Seymour on alternate nights.

The band under Wilma Rothbauer makes certain the music is as crisp and memorable as the performances.

Kudos to Front Row for presenting Little Shop, a most clever and delightful musical.

It was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken who collaborated on Disney’s Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.

Sadly, Menken died at age 41.

His lyrics are so wonderfully witty and biting that it’s a particular joy when they are delivered with such gusto as we find in this production.

The only drawback opening night was the show’s uneven pacing.

This show needs to bounce along and have a little more pizazz than was evident opening night.

Little Shop of Horrors plays nightly at 7:30 in the Pumphouse Theatre until June 9.