CHRISTOPHERMARCOS AS SEYMOUR KRELBORN LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS AT THEWESTERN STAGE.
PHOTO: RICHARD GREEN
Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) that great singing and great comedy go together like ham and eggs. As the mildly con- niving flower shop owner Mr. Mushnik, he’s hilari- ous, and seems to channel both Zero Mostel and Rodney Dangerfield while, with a wink and a nod for those who know, tossing in a couple tells of Tevye.
The girl group trio of sassy Skid Row denizens
under the direction of Jon Selover and Susanne Burns, finds the emotional truth in a show based on the low budg- et horror quickie from Roger Corman. With heart and emotion, not only can you make an audience laugh but it can be moved as well making the comedy a richer experience.
Set in a bankrupt flower shop in a hopeless Manhattan Skid Row, Little Shop of Horrors tells the story of hapless Seymour Krelborn, who finds and rais- es a bloodthirsty plant from outer space. The perfectly cast Christopher Marcos brings Seymour to enthusiastic life. With his lithe dancer’s body and skewed facial expressions á la Jerry Lewis, he is at once pathetically nerdy and utterly charming. Joining him in the depths of low self-esteem, Sydney Duncheon wrings pathos and laughter out of her portrayal of Seymour’s unat- tainable ladylove Audrey. Her song “Somewhere That’s Green” was a won- der of yearning. The incomparable Reg Huston shows once again (as he did as Miles
– Ronnette, Chiffon and Crystal (the powerful, accomplished singers Malinda DeRouen, Erica Racz and Reina Vasquez) – are a Greek-like cho- rus that introduces and comments on the action of the play. In a fine directo- rial detail, they are almost always visi- ble sitting on the fire escape, leaning back on the stoop or peering down from the windows, their attentive watching and listening redirecting the audience eye back to the action. In a brave, whirlwind per- formance, the audacious pro- tean Adam J. Saucedo takes on seven characters including Audrey’s comically sadistic boyfriend, the dentist Orin Scrivello. You would have to call it a tour de force when he shows up from both sides of the stage first as a man, then a woman and then a different man seem- ingly within seconds conserving enough breath to
speak coherently. He had to have run. Would love to watch backstage. Max Huston as puppeteer effective- ly animates the vicious plant (named Audrey II by the doting Seymour) and James “Pete” Russell gives voice to the carnivore with full-throated rhythm and blues style especially in the second act song “Suppertime” that hits the vocal heights knocking it out of the park. David Parker’s set expresses the tenements of lower Manhattan exteriors with broad strokes while giving the shop interior fine telling detail. His use of a perhaps fifteen by twenty foot scrim together with Derek Duarte’s excellent lighting – front lit for opacity, back lit for transparency – makes for variety and speedy changes. Christina Maria Perez’ costumes effectively call the early sixties to mind and I especially liked the gradual transition of the female chorus from schoolgirls to slinky “Dreamgirls” divas. The sound design of Jeff Mockus brings the singers into fine balance with the backstage orches- tra, which, under the musical direction of Dan Dally, sounds much bigger than its five members would indicate.
TAKE NOTICE!
The Western Stage is turn- ing their Studio Theatre over to a group of TWS
THE 2X4 BASH CREW WITH TWS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JON SELOVER.
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