Review of Little Shop of Horrors (1986) by Steven H — 08 Jul 2011

I had a rite of passage in my life when I got the opportunity to play Seymour on stage. I remember walking into the theatre the day the "plants" arrived. A giant crate was in the loading dock and in it housed the baby bud, the slightly bigger potted plant (which I puppeteered with my hand), the grown plant, and finally, the massive Audrey Two.

Man, I geeked out. See, I'd grown up watching this movie on constant repeat. I even had the soundtrack on an ancient form of entertainment called a "tape" (which I listened to riding my dinosaur and plotting to invent something called the "enter-net".

Never caught on.) But seriously, this IS my favorite musical of all time. Based on an early Roger Corman movie, it was turned into a stage musical, which then became THIS movie. The cast is pitch-perfect.

Steve Martin steals the show as the dentist and Bill Murray about runs away with the whole thing as a pain-loving patient of Martin's. The songs are iconic. The Greek chorus of doo-wop girls and their killer harmonies.

Audrey's heart-breaking and adorable "Somewhere That's Green". I mean, really.......who doesn't see a Venus Flytrap and immediatly think, "FEED ME!" And the design of Audrey Two? Man, they went all out on this one.

It still boggles my mind to this day that it was achieved by stop motion animation (those must have been some loooong shooting days). Incidentally, our Audrey Two bit me. Like, really bit me. See, in the stage show, everyone gets eaten in the end, including Seymour.

I had to dive into the plant's mouth trying to kill it from the inside out. After I wriggled into the jaws, I sat crouched with the puppeteer. I looked down and my arm was bleeding. "The frickin plant BIT me!" But I didn't mind one bit.

I was playing Seymour and I was singing "Skid Row" and "Suddenly Seymour" to crowds of people. I was happier than a ...........man-eating......plant. Yeah. Good times.