'Little Shop of Horrors' Heinously Hilarious!!!

From the moment Kelly Stuible, Shantel Hamilton and Mandy Dallaire stepped out into the lights of the Riverwalk stage as the Ronnettes, the audience was captured by the campy humor and well-directed delights of "Little Shop of Horrors."

These trio of women were scene stealers in the show, with angelic voices but sassy, smart-ass insights that helped to propel the plot along. All the women were incredible in their chorus roles - watch for the popcorn scene, because it's hilarious - and in particular Shantel Williams played Crystal with so much attitude I felt slapped all the way in the back row when she tongue-lashed any another character.

They help to narrate the tale of an orphaned boy, a Jewish flower shop owner who takes the boy in, his beautiful assistant and her sado-masochistic dentist boyfriend, and a killer plant from outer space with an insatiable appetite. How could you NOT love that plot line?

The role of Mr. Muschnik, the cantankerous flower shop owner who takes in Seymour as a child but works him like a dog, was played wonderfully cranky, by Mark Zussman. "Mushnik and Son" was fantastically choreographed as the reluctant Seymour, embodied by Joe Quick, and Mushnik do a little tango together, and their harmonies in the song were not only funny but quite beautiful. Mr. Zussman was likeable and seedy, which is a hard thing to do. He is genuinely horrified when he finds out what Seymour has been feeding the plant - which gives him some glint of respect - but we can't say that we were all that shaken up when he ended became her next meal.

Chad Dekatch delivered an extremely catchy performance as Orin Scrivello, DDS, and boyfriend of Audrey; tall, handsome and deliriously sadistic, he seemed to channel a bit of Elvis, Steve Martin and Hannibal Lector all at once. Chad was able to get laughs by not being overly creepy or too harsh with his lines; clearly this is not a nice guy, and he's terrible to Audrey, but we can't help but laugh as he sings about the joys of inflicting pain. He's addicted to nitrous oxide, which gives him an even greater high while he works on his poor patients who go without the use of it's numbing and feel-good properties. Throughout "Now (It's Just the Gas)" Dekatch is high on his own sense of self and the nitrous he's inhaling. It's a frightfully witty show-stopping number.

Audrey, portrayed by Patricia Smyka, delivered some very funny lines that, if said in real life, would make one want to rescuse this poor girl. She is obviously terrified of Orin, however she makes sure to keep handcuffs in her purse and doesn't seem to mind the bruises he inflicts because it just doesn't occur to her she deserves anything better. Her rendition of "Somewhere That's Green" was haunting; she wants so badly to have a white picket fence and live in a Betty Crocker life - but she knows that will never happen for her...beautifully sung and well acted, it was touching and sweet. But her desire for this fantasy life and her fear of her boyfriend blind her to the love of Seymour. Ms. Smyka played Audrey to be sweet, ditzy and a little bit lost - she was just right for the part.

Audrey II (named by Seymour of course after Audrey) was lipsynced with amazing accuracy by Adam Carlson - and for those of you who don't know Mr. Carlson, he's about 6ft tall and had to fit himself into two versions of the plant and squeeze under a counter with his arm up through the countertop for the initial version of Audrey II. I imagine he got quite a work-out with every rehearsal and every show, and he certainly deserves recognition for his ability to make the audience believe Audrey II was pleading, impatient, sad, hungry and angry. Great work, Mr. Carlson!

The voice of Audrey II, for this version of the show, was female, sung by Candance Stanfield. Most people expect to hear a bass voice coming out of the mouth of Audrey II; instead the audience was given a gospel rendition of the plant's songs. Unfortunately there were some mike problems, and so it was very difficult to actually hear what Ms. Stanfield was singing; most of her lines got swallowed, so to speak, and her voice didn't lend itself to an alien that should have been imposing. A male voice would have been more frightening to Seymour, an thus scaring him more into finding food for the plant and making that aspect of the show make more sense. However, from what I could make out, Ms. Stanfield was sassy, and she was hungry, and she conveyed more of a manipulative plant with Seymour rather than a demanding one - and if that was what the director, Ms. Banghart was hoping for, then she hit her mark fairly well. There is something to be said for having a female plant who vies for the attention of Seymour - in fact, it could have been played up even more, with a very catty Audrey II conveying jealousy in her voice and manipulating Seymour as she talks to him instead of intimidating him as has been traditionally played. Though Ms. Stanfield isn't frightening or threatening as the voice of the plant, she does sing well and the gospel effects add an interesting mix to the show. I know the microphone problem will be fixed, and so audiences should get a treat to hear a very different version of Audrey II more clearly for the rest of the run.

And of course we come to Joe Quick, who I believe was born to play two roles in his life: one being Leo Bloom from "The Producers," and the other as Seymour. The fact that he was able to alter his voice into a nerdy, post-nasal drip kind of sound and also SING with that effect, in and of itself, made me laugh out loud and shake my head in astonishment. His Seymour was perfect. He was dorky, eager to please, anxious, clumsy, sweet, oblivious to his own good nature and was simply a poor kid who walked into Audrey II's trap. Mr. Quick not only acted, but reacted well in a wide spectrum of emotions to the people around him - he was repulsed by Orin, unsure and a bit afraid of Mr. Mushnik, enraptured by Audrey, tricked by little Audrey II and ultimately betrayed by big Audrey II. Here we had a hero who attempted, with a foolish yet determined will, to destroy the evil monster he nourished and helped grow, unknowing of the plants real motivations. Mr. Quick was fun and fascinating to watch, and to add his vocal talents to the mix made his character simply amazing.

Kudos to Stephanie Banghart and Scott Stearns for delivering a deliciously wicked musical to the Riverwalk Theatre. Ms. Banghart, for her directorial debut, didn't miss a beat on anything; the costumes were fabulous, the set was clever and worked for everything they needed in the show, and the tech (with only a few mike problems) was spot-on. Mr. Stearns fed the audience a well-balanced orchestration; it was a delectable treat to listen to the score of the show, and in particular "Suddenly Seymour." The musicians and the actors worked in perfect syncronization together, with the effect of raising goosebumps on my arms as I was listening.

"Little Shop of Horrors" truly is a heinously hilarious hoot - it plays tonight at 8pm, on the 14th at 2pm, and then next weekend as well. Trust me, you don't want to miss it.