Little Shop of Horrors

by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken

directed by Scott Arsenault

at the Kirkland House JCR

through December 12

Certain things make a reviewer nervous upon sitting down in a theater: a "pit" orchestra that seems larger than the stage, actors wandering about in character ten minutes before the lights go down, a mob of little kids running all over the place and, above all, going to see the original version of a movie musical you didn't like very much to begin with.

Mea culpa, oh theater gods. Forgive this cynical Sondheim fanatic her doubts. the Kirkland House production of Little Shop of Horrors is a tremendously entertaining romp with some of the best choreography this side of The Supremes.

The mood of Little Shop hovers somewhere between tongue-in-cheek and high camp. Director Scott Arsenault should be credited with making sure that the production never sways too far in either direction. Music Director Clara Ohr has elicited good performances from the singers and the ensemble numbers hold together well.

While the acting is consistently good, it is the stunning performances of Alexis Toomer, Emily Hsu and Rachel Skiffer as the doowapping narrators Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon that make Little Shop such a success. In their dynamic "Skid Row" number in the first act the trio perfectly evokes the ambience of the downtown slum where Little Shop takes place. "Downtown, that's your home address, downtown, where your life's a mess, down on skid row..." they sing while leading a group of bums in a dance number straight out of the Apollo.

Hsu, Skiffer and Toomer are almost never off stage. If they are not dishing out wisecracks (one woman refers to the biker-dentist boyfriend of the ingenue as "the leader of the plaque"), they are belting out terrific songs. These women are so great that it's a wonder that the audience pays any attention to the real plot.

That they do is largely a tribute to Daren Firestone and Nora Dicke, who play the unlikely protagonists who fall in love while working in a plant shop. Firestone is perfect as the nerdy nice guy Seymour who dreams of a life beyond Mr. Mushnik's plant shop. "I've given you sunshine, I've given you dirt/you've given me nothing but heartache and hurt," he sings plaintively to the strange plant "Audrey II" in his first number. Firestone has a good voice and is convincing in his later scenes of moral crisis.

Dicke portrays the victimized Audrey without making her seem like a hopeless caricature. Her touching ballad "Somewhere That's Green" is a hysterical list of simple dreams: "in a tract house we share...I cook like Betty Crocker and I look like Donna Reed..." Even dressed in fake fur and leopard skin and singing lines like "I know Seymour's the greatest but I'm dating a semi-sadist," Dicke manages to make us empathize with her plight.

Bart St. Clair is terrific as the semi-sadist in question. He also sends up a series of characters seeking to cash in on Seymour's sudden success, portraying everyone from Clair Booth Luce to a William Morris agent. And as the voice and puppeteer of Audrey II, respectively, Toby Blackwell and Bill Tomlinson create such a wonderful "mean green mother" of a plant that you almost start rooting for it.

Choreographers Anika Davis and Kaiama Glover should be hired by every musical going up next semester. While it is obvious that the routines (like the music) are influenced by Motown, they are nonetheless fresh and exciting. Davis and Glover avoid the repetition that often characterizes student choreography. The tango segment in "Mushnik and Son" is a particularly creative choice.

Christie Peale should also be commended for the wonderful costumes of Little Shop. The trio's outfits range from basic black to sequins with appropriate minor alterations--Chinese jackets, dental hygienist coats--for every scene they appear in. Each of Audrey's tacky outfits is funnier than the last, and the biker dentist sports a leather jacket with a bleeding tooth on the back of it.

Little Shop of Horrors faces too much competition to unequivocally be called one of the best shows produced at Harvard this season. But it is certainly one of the most fun. Just ask the little kids.