OGDEN — The Ziegfeld Theater just opened Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Jake Larrabee with music direction and choreography by Jim Christian. I was lucky enough to attend on opening night.
Editor’s Note: Production Photos have not yet been received by UTAJ. When they are, they will be added to this review. Photos can be provided through this form.
Little Shop, by collaborators Alan Menken (music) and Howard Ashman (book and lyrics), follows Seymour (Harrison Timm), a timid flower shop employee. Seymour discovers a unique type of plant and becomes the talk of New York City’s “Skid Row.” He accidentally finds out that the plant, whom he named “Audrey II” (Austin Payne, Troy Martell) after his coworker crush Audrey (Makayla Barlow), blooms only by feasting on human flesh and blood. Seymour tries to keep Audrey II’s carnivorous nature a secret while facing pressure to advertise it—especially from his boss, Mr. Mushnik (Meish Roundy). At the same time, Audrey faces abuse from her dentist boyfriend Orin (Arie Allred). A 3-person chorus of street urchins (Daisy Allspice, Alexsys Campbell, Laura Robbins) narrates this equally horrific and thrilling story, all while Audrey II gets hungrier.
The Audrey II puppets of this production are as spectacular as they are terrifying. The crafted plant blends with clever puppetry by Troy Martell creating absolute stage magic. In our first introduction to a yet-to-bloom Audrey II, Seymour carries the small plant onstage and later places it on a counter at Mr. Mushnik’s shop. Amazingly, the plant starts to move on its own minutes later, when it begs for Seymour’s blood in “Grow For Me”! A later form of Audrey II hovers its gargantuan head above the floor, its dripping leaves just barely touching the ground. Puppeteer Martell shoed his feet inside these leaves, making for a creative and hilarious creation. The final form of Audrey II, with vines and leaves stretching across the stage was a highlight. Every detail was accounted for, from the inside of Audrey II’s mouth to the glow-in-the-dark highlights on its body.
The plethora of interactive props were also spectacularly done in many scenes of this production. In just the first act, flowers get tossed around, plants fly everywhere, money gets exchanged, radios get punched, and a dentist’s office gets danced on. It’s a tough job to create all of these props and keep the moving parts in order. However, the props may have been excessive during Audrey’s first solo number, “Somewhere That’s Green.” She expresses her desire to live a simple, suburban life and the abundance of props she interacted with distracted from her deep pain. This was unfortunate as Audrey’s characteristic naivete distracts from her pain for most other parts of the musical except in this number.
Makayla Barlow’s Audrey is excellent in the role. Barlow’s first impressions in the play show her glossing over Mr. Mushnik’s comments about a black eye she got from Orin, and Barlow does a great job immediately portraying Audrey as apt hiding her troubles. In Audrey’s more vulnerable scenes, Barlow makes her discomfort opening up known. Her singing was equally strong, with “Suddenly Seymour” showcasing her best vocal performance.
Harrison Timm, who plays Seymour, was also an all-around pleasure on stage. Timm is not afraid to look silly or ridiculous, which is needed for his character. His general energy hyped up audiences, like in “Grow for Me,” and it also hyped the performance with his costars, like during a tango-esque—and very fun—dance with Mr. Mushnik in “Mushnik and Son.” Timm’s awkwardness and energy as Seymour made for a very endearing heartthrob character in “Suddenly Seymour,” and easily encouraged all to cheer for him until the end.
At the end of Act I, Austin Payne as Audrey II’s voice surprises with a booming voice in “Git It!,” and menacingly returns throughout the show until curtain call, in which he also sang as a very fun addition! It’s a tricky thing to act as a villain while keeping audiences energized and excited about the character—all while not being seen on stage at all—and Payne did so masterfully. Similarly, Meish Roundy toes the line between villain and lovable entertainment as Mr. Mushnik. Meish delivers an enjoyable caricature-like performance perfect for musical theatre.
The actors of the Skid Row trio, Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette, respectively played by Daisy Allspice, Alexsys Campbell, and Laura Robbins are standout characters. These three crafted and stuck with their own unique personalities, which resulted in an always-interesting watch, even when they were just ad-libbing somewhere on stage. Robbins made me laugh several times during the show, as she took every opportunity to make a facial expression or line delivery hilarious. Jim Christian’s choreography also added to the exciting nature of these three. Christian tasked them with lively and varied choreography, which the trio executed very well.
In addition to choreography, Christian’s musical direction really worked. The harmonies for the trio are well assigned and mostly tight. In the musical’s duets, both performers are connected and compatible. There were seemingly no hiccups with the introduction of music or the timing, even though there are some tricky music cues to handle, like a soundtracked fight between Seymour and a baby Audrey II. Audrey II’s puppeteer and vocalist lacked some synergy, but Christian’s musical directi0n brought tight structure and support to the whole production.
Jake Larrabee’s direction brought a novel feel to the show. Larrabee made clever blocking choices like the trio’s singing through the shop’s window, Orin standing threateningly atop his dentist’s chair, and my personal favorite: downtown bums on stage right and left smoking and throwing up while the leads sang “Skid Row” in the center.
The Ziegfeld Theatre’s Little Shop of Horrors is obviously the result of excellent investment from the cast and crew. If you’re anything like me, the production will make you laugh, gasp, cheer, and even drive home thinking about the allegory of greed taking over the world.
MORE INFO: Little Shop of Horrors plays at the Ziegfeld Theatre (3934 S. Washington Blvd, Ogden UT 84403) through Saturday, October 24th with evening performances at 7:30 pm. There is one matinee show at 2pm on October 17th, and an ASL interpretation available at 7:30pm that same night. Ticket prices range from $24.95–$26.95. More information and ticketing is available at https://zigarts.com/.
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