THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607230113
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: 72 lines
The Little Theatre of Virginia Beach has unveiled a delightfully witty and fresh staging of the musical pop masterpiece ``Little Shop of Horrors.''
This script is becoming increasingly familiar as community and scholastic groups become less intimidated by its technical demands, and by its sanguinary humor about a plant that subsists on human flesh.
It's no longer unusual to interpret the plant's rapid growth, and its consumption of human beings as a symbol of the rise of electronic media in American society, but if the audience doesn't care to meddle with parable or metaphor, the parable and metaphor won't meddle with them. With or without academic analysis, the show is a joy.
The wry story of the benighted Mr. Mushnick and his ``Skid Row Florist'' shop, of his nebbish assistant Seymour who raises the ``strange and interesting plant,'' and of their co-worker, the sweet and simple Audrey, is actually a satirical work of rare genius, perhaps even of enduring greatness.
The lasting worth of the writing and the particular appeal of this production, lie in the rich detail filling both the script and this staging.
Karen Buchheim helped her cast craft surgically accurate and very funny performances by steering them away from the strong temptation to camp up their efforts. Their consistently straight faced approach to the subtly outrageous dialogue and plot enrich the humor with depth and intensity.
Laurel C. Held and Bruce K. Hanson turn in fine performances as the abused Audrey and the often befuddled Seymour. They look right, sound right and absolutely seem born to play these roles. What more could one hope for? By the way, they can also sing and dance very well indeed.
Franklin D. Chenman also reaches a sort of personal best in his characterization of Mr. Mushnik. He's long been one of the top dancers on the local scene, and does get to display that talent more than once here. He also finds an uncommonly precise, tonally accurate approach to his role of the almost-but-not-quite-exactly stereotypical New York merchant.
The accomplished veteran Clifford Hoffman clearly enjoys his crowd-pleasing part as Audrey's sadistic boyfriend who becomes the plant's first victim.
There's a three-member chorus and a doo-wop trio with relatives in ancient Greek comedy that are the seasoning for all that goes on. Cynthia Tademy, Sonja Souther and Aisha Williams are as tight an ensemble as any director or audience could wish for.
Buchheim, as director and as choreographer, has sprinkled the show with light, clever, original touches that accent the best moments of the play.
In the song ``Suddenly, Seymour,'' the title character makes a momentary shift from Clark Kent to Superman and then resumes his nerdy existence. Mushnik dances a tango with religious fervor with the newly adopted Seymour in ``Mushnik and Son,'' and Audrey sets up her final, predictable but eagerly awaited punch line with all the care and delicacy of a model maker rigging a ship in a bottle.
All this dry recitation of who did what and how well it was done can't do justice to the sheer joy the whole show inspires. The author and composer brilliantly appropriated the feel-good sound of 1950s pop music to their superficially bloody tale.
Musical director Kevin Long, even granting that he has an uncommonly talented cast, gets lots of credit for their smooth harmonies and phrasing and for the strong but unobtrusive musical accompaniment.
``Little Shop of Horrors'' is fast becoming a mainstay of amateur theater, but rarely will one see it done as well as it is here. ILLUSTRATION: WHEN & WHERE
What: ``Little Shop of Horrors,'' by Howard Ashman and Alan
Menkin.
Who: Little Theatre of Virginia Beach.
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 24; 3 p.m.
Sundays through Aug. 18.
Where: Little Theatre of Virginia Beach at Barberton Drive and
24th Street.
Tickets: 428-9233. by CNB