![]() Here, you root for him as his nerdy Seymour grows bolder as Audrey II, his maleficent floral creature, becomes more famous…and fierce. It’s a pleasure seeing Johnson’s work again and hearing his wonderful voice I’ve missed him both onstage (after starring in such musicals as Evita and Promises, Promises) and off (his memorably revisionist Into the Woods at SLT). ![]() With a nod to The Wizard of Oz, the sets and costumes in the first act, when the florist is on the brink of closing, are black and white after success arrives in Act Two, they’ve metamorphosed into brilliant shades of color. emphasized the fairy tale aspects of Howard Ashman’s book, an adaptation of the Roger Corman movie. and Derrick Schlumbrecht in Little Shop Of Horrorsĭirector Larry Johnson, Jr. ![]() Needless to say, that secret turns out to be a killer. It’s still the same wild Faustian tale of a nebbishy flower shop worker, Seymour, who finds fame and fortune for his store when he discovers the secret of how to make an unusual plant grow to humongous proportions. Off-B’way) but this one seems a tad slicker (hey, whaddya expect from B’way?) with the back-up singers Crystal (Jennifer Bullock), Chiffon (Theresa Sharp) and Ronette (Rachael Knaps) having more interaction with the main characters. I’m not enough of a Little Shop authority to know all the differences between the two versions (“B’way” vs. Slidell Little Theatre is currently presenting the “Broadway Version” of this fringy musical, a forefather to such other off-Broadway hits as Bat Boy: The Musical, Evil Dead: The Musical, and Reefer Madness. Only after seeing Brandt Blocker’s 2004 production, starring the endearing Emily Antrainer and Keith Claverie, did my feelings for it blossom. Little Shop Of Horrors was another show I was cool to when I initially encountered it from the balcony of the Orpheum Theatre in the East Village way back when. Little Shop Of Horrors at Slidell Little Theatre through March 14 Still, as she tried to navigate a courtship with a Catholic neighbor, Randolph reminded me of Laura in The Glass Menagerie (seen just a week earlier at the nearby Playmakers Theater in Covington where it’s been extended thru March 14), another woman to whom fate is unkind. ![]() Though her Blanche was properly unassuming, Randolph could have spoken her lines with just a bit more volume (as could some of the other actors, especially when they’re in the upstairs bedrooms). Unlike her bitchy, revenge-seeking Bunny in last summer’s The Hallelujah Girls, here Evette Randolph plays Aunt Blanche, a woman ground down by the too-early loss of her husband, with unaffected pathos as she tries to raise two daughters in her sister’s home. In fact, this is that rare family play in which everyone in the production believably does seem to be related. Leader as the worn down paterfamilias Jack each bring out the touching humanity of these two men and, in addition, truly look like father and son. Stephen Campo as the well-meaning Stanley and Jason J. Her stoic, casual demeanor is utterly natural and yet, when a lifetime of bitterness erupts, she’s simply astonishing. Kristina Kingston makes a wonderful Kate, Eugene’s mother. marvelously brought out the warmth of the script and got laughs by trusting the humor in the lines without ever overplaying them. True, Simon, especially towards the end, spells things out in a way Williams or Chekhov would’ve been loathe to do but, overall, Memoirs provides a moving portrait of a family in transition as it confronts challenges both internal and external.Īs the Jeromes, on Joe Lagman, Frank Gonzalez, and Bubrig’s two-level realistic set, deal with love (familial and romantic), careers, and little personal tragedies, Bubrig & Co. Kristina Kingston, John Gavin Hodges and Jason J. Simon may not be as probing a dramatist as, say, Tennessee Williams or Arthur Miller, but there are sections of Brighton Beach Memoirs that approach a bittersweet Chekhovian portrait of life’s ever-yearning attempt at happiness. I’m thus delighted to report that within minutes of the show’s start, my fears had evaporated as the entire cast, under Tom Bubrig’s meticulous direction, all found the perfect period (pre-WWII) tone, all sounded like they had just jetted down from Brooklyn, and all evinced a complete understanding of their characters despite them being from another generation (or two or three).Īided by Bubrig’s keen guidance, the entire cast, led by John Gavin Hodges as Eugene Jerome, the teenage Simon’s stand-in, revealed a compassionate humanism in their decent if imperfect characters.
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