Tucked in a corner of Hell\u2019s Kitchen, New York City, lies a mysterious, flesh-hungry plant growing and plotting a Faustian bargain. Upstairs, inside the Westside Theatre, it welcomes 248 viewers to watch it perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On October 17, I watched Thomas Doherty and Madeline Brewer star in the off-Broadway musical \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors.\u201d \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d is about a boy named Seymour (Thomas Doherty) who works in a failing plant shop and discovers a human-eating plant \u201cAudrey II\u201d named after his co-worker Audrey (Madeline Brewer), whom he\u2019s in love with. Audrey II brings the shop immense recognition, while Seymour struggles to manage Audrey II\u2019s disturbing eating habits and his own desire to win Audrey over. Originally a horror-comedy film directed by Roger Corman in 1960, the film was later adapted by Disney composers Alan Menken and Howard Ashman into an off-Broadway musical in 1982 and a movie musical in 1986. \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d pulls from a variety of genres, from doo-wop to rock, intertwining dark humor and romance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I should preface this review by saying I am focused on the live interpretation and performances of the musical compared against the movie, coming from someone who is a huge fan of both the film and music. The 1986 film is hands-down my favorite movie musical adaptation\u2013 it is perfectly camp, well-casted, and has a fun 80s feel, so I had high expectations for these features in the production.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Westside Theatre captures an intimate and lived-in atmosphere, emanating from its reconstruction of an 1800s Baptist Church. This space is perfectly on theme, where being literally off of the Broadway district emphasizes the contrast between the quaint, commonplace environment of Seymour\u2019s life to the glamorous rich in the show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The show began at approximately 7:15PM, delayed slightly due to some technical difficulties. The opening number, \u201cDowntown (Skid Row),\u201d further builds the devoid state-of-affairs of Mushnik\u2019s flower shop. This is primarily accomplished with the help of the urchins, or the Greek chorus trio who live on Skid Row, that guide the story through their Motown vocals, which is my favorite part of the show. Though they have minimal narrative influence, their homage to 60s girl groups (the trio named Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronette after three different groups) shows the classic inspiration behind the music. This, accompanied by the exaggerated puppetry done by Doherty and the team behind the Audrey II manipulation, adds a physical presence of humor.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now focusing on the leads, I knew of Thomas Doherty from his feature in the Hulu original \u201cHigh Fidelity,\u201d as well as his role in the Descendants movies, and I enjoyed both of these performances, so I was excited to see him. I admittedly was unsure of what to expect from Madeline Brewer, as I only knew her from her role in the Netflix show \u201cYou\u201d and was unfamiliar with her theater experience. But even so, both leads left a strong impression. Little Shop frequently changes their cast due to the many possible interpretations of the main roles, so to reference past actors in the show, I found Thomas Doherty to be a mix of Rick Moranis and Jeremy Jordan, exerting the same vocal confidence as Jordan while maintaining the awkward temperament of Moranis. You could feel this through Doherty\u2019s singing, carrying an authentic, pleading quality\u2014evoking the \u201cdown on my knees\u201d sentiment from the lyrics\u2014that captures the inherent desperation of Seymour\u2019s character during \u201cGrow for Me.\u201d This raw passion is what I seek when watching theater, and Doherty knows how to execute it flawlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Madeline Brewer\u2019s interpretation of Audrey was just as stellar. Audrey is a troubled woman struggling with abuse by her dentist boyfriend, Dr. Orin Scrivello, and low self-esteem from childhood trauma. While past female leads may depict Audrey simply as Seymour\u2019s romantic interest, Brewer immediately gives her a distinct identity through effortless vocals with an almost enervated demeanor, putting her apart from Seymour. This built-up resentment is felt while watching the show, and you feel sympathetic towards Audrey\u2019s complex battles with herself, the flower shop, and her love life. Brewer gave Audrey merit for her intelligence that other characters attempt to discredit, and her focus on Audrey\u2019s character further builds the chemistry between her and Seymour, bringing a deeper perspective to the show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now onto the secondary characters, both Jeremy Kushnier as Dr. Orin Scrivello and Reg Rogers as Mushnik were quirky and hilarious to watch. Kushnier\u2019s understanding of the placement of silence was ingenious, most prominent in the extensive dentist scene where Dr. Orin is silently suffocating from laughing gas while operating on Seymour. In my opinion, these two characters require the same\u00a0energy from the film, and they delivered this awkwardness and humor that is only present within the theater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I truly enjoyed this show, and am excited to see what else comes from Thomas Doherty and Madeline Brewer\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tucked in a corner of Hell\u2019s Kitchen, New York City, lies a mysterious, flesh-hungry plant growing and plotting a Faustian bargain. Upstairs, inside the Westside Theatre, it welcomes 248 viewers to watch it perform.\u00a0 On October 17, I watched Thomas Doherty and Madeline Brewer star in the off-Broadway musical \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors.\u201d \u201cLittle Shop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":2223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[25,42,43,27,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2224,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions\/2224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}