Review: Little Shop of Horrors at Northern Stage
Northern Stage has gone green and a killer plant is growing bigger, and hungrier, by the second
Musical cult classics from the ‘70s and ‘80s continue to entertain audiences decades later and some of the whackiest creations come from this era. Little Shop of Horrors is certainly one of them. For the same reason the likes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show work so well, Little Shop of Horrors is a mash-up of inspiration, in this case – sci-fi, Motown and B-movie horror.
Flower shop assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles upon a strange and exotic plant with a a secret: it thrives on human blood. As the plant’s appetite grows, so does Seymour’s fame and fortune. But that’s never going to end well…
Whacky, hilarious and with a seriously good soundtrack (including our favourite hits Suddenly, Seymour and Skid Row) this musical is unusually charming and this new production is food for the soul.
The creators have leaned into the human stories at its centre, but also celebrated what set and costume designer Verity Quinn describes as the ‘joyous absurdity’ of the story. ‘Both the teams at Derby Theatre and Northern Stage are fantastically supportive and really invite challenge and innovation in making shows,’ says Verity. ‘So there has been an amazing amount of support and encouragement from both the artistic and technical teams in this process to be really expressive in creating this new version of Little Shop's iconic visual world.’
Kristian Cunningham is perfectly cast as down-on-his-luck people-pleaser Seymour who commands the stage at all times, complemented by singing trio Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon throughout and particularly hilarious in his performance of Mushnik & Son with Jon Bonner as Mr Mushnik. Amena El-kindy’s Audrey is endearing and her vocals shine in her duet for Suddenly, Seymour. A special shout out goes to David Rankine as Orin the Dentist… and then a whole host of quick-changing characters in act two. He has the audience in stitches.
But the real star of the show is, of course, the killer plant Audrey II who begins as a small hand puppet and ends as a ginormous moving puppet swallowing characters whole. It’s seriously impressive to watch (and we kind of want to have a go at being eaten too…). Stunning and fearsome vocals for the plant come from Tasha Dowd (who greets the audience in person during an encore at the curtain call).
The set itself is the most impressive we’ve seen at Northern Stage (a wide stage to fill at the best of times) allowing for staircases, seamless scene changes, and still plenty of room for a gigantic plant in the flower shop.
We ask Verity to describe her set without too many spoilers. ‘The central image is of a little shop being slowly crushed under the omnipresent, daily pressure that the people of Skid Row are under to find their way out of poverty and deprivation,’ she says. ‘Framing the shop are the many layers of fire escapes, railway bridges and cheek by jowl tenement housing of downtown NYC. Looming above it all are the signs of commercialisation and business upon business vying for space. All of it is through the lens of 1960s Americana – the skewed Modernist shapes that are so distinctive across architecture and graphic design of the era, the shapes of the utopian future promised by the American Dream.’
It’s also a joy to see live music being played on stage (cast members play brass and string arrangements for the iconic soundtrack). They wear stunning and interesting green creations. Verity looked for nuanced details to each costume that give these characters a unique and human feel, that steer away from caricature but are still really fun. ‘The colours and the styles of this time and place in America are a designer's dream,’ she tells us. ‘Choosing only a selection of them for this show has been one of the hardest parts!
‘Behind the playful and at times dream-like world of Little Shop is an intricately layered and technical show, with very specific needs from the set, costumes and props, as well as integrating a monster plant into that. So keeping track of each element, making sure we have a solution for it all, has kept the whole team on their toes.’
Head to Northern Stage early to browse a selection of interesting plants from 5th Avenue Flowers and try the Suppertime Spritz or Man-eating Mocktail.
