by Terrance Mc Arthur
It was born in 1960 as a quicky Roger Corman film shot mostly in two days, but it grew. It sprouted off-off-Broadway as a musical in 1982, then propagated Off-Broadway later that year, eventually crawling to Broadway. A film of the musical blossomed in 1986. It has grown all over the world, and has been transplanted to the Reedley Opera House in a River City Theatre Company production through July 28—Little Shop of Horrors.
Seymour (Auggie Hernandez) works in the Skid Row flower shop of Mushnik (Derek Guedea). Seymour’s co-worker Audrey (Cady Mejias) has a nasty, sadistic boyfriend, Orin (Jason Bellefeuille), a leather-clad, motorcycle-riding dentist.
Cast of River City Theatre’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors”
Seymour saves the shop from closing with the popularity of his strange plant, Audrey II (voice by Jeff Lusk and LaTonia Hayes, puppeteering by Frankie Leal), which has an unusual appetite and grows…and grows…and GROWS until it menaces the cast and takes over the Opera House stage. The pocket-size stage is well-suited to this intimate musical, with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, the team behind Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast. The songs kid the traditions of rock-and-roll, echoing the ’50s and ’60s with ballads and driving rock anthems, doo-wop harmonies and Motown girl groups.
Seymour (Auggie Hernandez)
and Audrey (Cady Mejias)
Hernandez is klutzy and shy, as Seymour should be, but he sings with fervor, whether it’s pleading for his plant to thrive in “Grow for Me,” or revealing his love for the all-too-human Audrey in “Suddenly Seymour.”
Mejias is a will-‘o-the-wisp with a powerhouse voice in her parts of “Suddenly Seymour, but she can throttle it down to a mournful wistfulness for “Somewhere That’s Green.” She captures the ditsy hopelessness of Ellen Green, the original Audrey, and makes it her own.
Guedea is blunt and crafty as the fatalistic florist, hating his shop’s location, overjoyed at the influx of customers that come to see the amazing Audrey II, and manipulative when he fears that Seymour and his moneymaking plant might leave.
Bellefeuille is slime personified as the Elvis-influenced heartless, narcissistic, nitrous-oxide-addicted dental professional. He’s despicable, revolting, and you can’t wait for him to die. He’s a scream.
Leal nimbly operates the puppets, no matter what contortions he must endure to be in position. Lusk’s voice has a sinister unctuousness as he cajoles Seymour to provide him with his hemoglobin-flavored treats, and Haynes belts out the plant’s songs with authority and verve, she is also a part of the Urchins, an urban version of a Greek chorus for the play, along with Andrea Cerda, Florence C. Molano, and Courtney Myers. The quartet underscores the action, and are knockouts, whether in plaid skirts or the sequined sheaths of Stevie Barnett’s costumes and Lillie F. Valencia’s intricate, time-traveling wigs.
Sarah Wiebe’s choreography is efficient for the tiny space, and Barnett’s scene design provides plenty of spots that can hide a puppet operator. Jessica Williams coaches every decibel out of the hardworking cast, and Erik Valencia must love this show, because each moment shines with care.
The Reedley Opera House is at 1720 10th St., Reedley, CA. For ticket information, check the RCTC website. The show is bouncy, lively, and it’ll grow on you, but I warn you—don’t feed the plants on your table! They’re plastic.
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