Queen’s College Gardens will next week be transformed into the setting for Little Shop of Horrors, the 1982 comedy horror rock musical. A tale of botanical love, carnivorous plants, and rock’n’roll, Little Shop of Horrors will delight with love, music and plenty of blood and gore.
Director Emily Warren chose Little Shop of Horrors as it is “not a conventional musical”, incorporating diverse elements of rock’n’roll, Motown, and 60s culture. The acting and singing, exaggeratedly upbeat and enthusiastic as it should always be for musical productions, carry this production to a nigh-professional standard. Don’t miss out on this bloody great show in 6th week.
Mr Mushnik’s flower shop is the setting of most of the action. Mr Mushnik (David Wigley) is going bankrupt, until Seymour (Michael Coombs), the geeky orphan working for him, discovers a never-before-seen plant during a total eclipse of the sun. The plant looks strikingly like a venus fly-trap, and Seymour names the plant Audrey II, betraying his love for the original Audrey who works with him in the shop. Audrey II, despite attracting numerous customers, turns out to be carnivorous, with a particular penchant for human blood.
The plant that we saw was in the early stages of its development, but the various models in their finished state will be big enough to eat various cast members whole. A Fine Art student is making them out of chicken wire, and a puppeteer will control them from backstage.
Audrey II’s voice, provided by Louis Geary, is spine-chilling and hilarious.
Musically, the show is spot-on, energetic and bouncy as the best musicals are. Sarah Mansfield’s crystal-clear voice as the leading female role, Audrey, is reason enough to go and see this musical. Chiffon, Crystal and Ronette (Heather Young, Susannah Cohen, and Alice Ev- ans respectively) sing in beautiful harmony as the three “street urchins” narrating in music throughout the musical.
Little Shop is in some parts a parody of horror musicals – with lyrics such as “Something’s coming to eat the world whole” in the upbeat finale, and the exaggerated blood and gore involved in Audrey II’s meals. A rock’n’roll band accompanying the production will give a professional edge in the traditional setting of the gardens.
The musical ends with a grand finale, the lyrics of which capture the moral message of the Little Shop of Horrors: “They may offer you fortune and fame, but whatever they offer you, don’t feed the plants!” If you enjoy rock’n’roll, romance, and blood and gore, don’t miss Little Shop of Horrors.
