Little Shop of Horrors

Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group – Church Hill Theatre

Staging a classic is not an easy task. It comes with the expectation of novelty, of bringing to light another angle, to be edgy, to say something new about the themes or the issues. The Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group’s Little Shop of Horrors takes Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical is an incredible show on its own merits, but we can’t help feel that there are some missed opportunities here. Tom Beazley and Amy Stinton have created a very gritty show that is fully focused on its critique of the American Dream, but we are really left to make our own connections to how these ideas manifest in the present day ourselves. 

Set on Skid Row, Little Shop of Horrors follows a series of strange and unusual events surrounding Seymour Krelborn (Conor O’Cuinn), a talented, if timid flower shop clerk who finds a mysterious cutting- naming it Audrey II (Thaddeus Buttrey) – and nurtures it into a fully-fledged carnivorous plant, changing his and his co-workers’ fortunes forever. Beazley and Stinton’s direction very clearly highlights the ordinary in the extraordinary of this show. There are points where it feels like the musical could’ve been modernised even slightly to make it more immediately relevant– little things like ‘Czechoslovakia’, since the country doesn’t exist anymore – and it feels like there was a chance to extend even a little beyond a critique on capitalism to the current cost of living crisis. It has a good grounding, but there were many opportunities throughout the show that would’ve just made it say a little more. 

The technical aspects of this show blend together in a very naturalistic way, setting the tone for the scene and often bringing a normality to the plot, even when the circumstances become more extraordinary. It’s as if the creative team are trying to highlight the metaphor-like nature of Audrey II, that we could superimpose anything in Audrey II’s place, and the same exact result would occur. The lighting states that Matias Krook chooses are incredibly atmospheric, oscillating between more subtle and muted states to punctuating the musical score with bursts of colour.  Eva Mortenson’s costume design initially appear muted, with a uniformity to the design. The costumes don’t convey much about the personality of specific characters, they tell a different story. In Mortenson’s design, there’s a significant lack of the personal, it’s more about the economic circumstances and ‘class’ that each character belongs to, and the costumes flag any changes in circumstance in a very American Psycho kind of way. 

This is a high-energy musical, and the cast handle every moment in a way that is an easy source of entertainment.  There’s a great deal of maturity in their performances ; the moments of comedy are hilarious and larger than life whilst the darker moments – even when it lingers on the edge of a scene – are given the gravitas that they need to evoke a response. Every member of the cast gives us much as they can to the roles that they are given. O’Cuinn’s performance as Seymour is absolutely wonderful, buoyed by his singing ability. He puts on a Transatlantic-esque accent, creating a quality heard on records by singers like Bobby Darin or Frank Sinatra. He makes Seymour into a more complex character, building on the character’s initial introductions of being this lovestruck, if somewhat clueless person, and really becomes the beating heart of the story through the authenticity and sheer goodness that he portrays in this role. 

Allison Lavercombe’s Audrey is just as you’d expect a representation of Audrey to be. Whilst Beazley and Stinton have tried to build a perception of the character’s inner strength, the moments where this quality becomes apparent are very few, so Audrey mostly fills out the love interest role just as the script dictates. This inherent sweetness comes at a head during Somewhere That’s Green, a song where Audrey sets out her vision of the ideal future, a song that really highlights how people’s experiences shape perspectives; where we might see a soulless suburb, Audrey sees luxury. Lavercombe has a very operatic quality to her voice, and whilst she is an incredibly talented singer, this vocal style is not necessarily right for the character or song at this particular moment. It’s a song where the libretto and the journey within it is incredibly important, and a more spoken quality – rather than operatic – can highlight exactly that. With Lavercombe’s interpretation, the lyrics, journey and the song’s importance in Audrey’s character development become a little lost.  This contrasts with Suddenly, Seymour where Lavercombe’s natural style shines and creates these really soaring moments in the melody, and it is in this song where we can see what a truly great performer she is. 

Orin (Nash Norgaard) – the dentist – is such an awful character and by the time he is introduced, we are ready to hate him. Norgaard deep dives into this character and we can tell from his performance that he commits completely to this character, squeezing every ounce of horror and comedy he can to create this all-encompassing, larger than life caricature-esque villain. Watching Norgaard as Orin Scriello D.D.S. is just one of those things you can’t look away from, like watching something in slow motion except not horrifying.  Norgaard pretty much steals the show every time he is onstage. A truly masterful performance of an incredibly heinous character. 

Little Shop of Horrors is a quirky show that manages to add a touch of modernity and modern values to a cult classic, but ultimately it is restrained in what it attempts to achieve.  The cast bring a lot of humour and heart to a show that is so singularly focused on such a heartless subject as capitalism. 

By Katerina Partolina Schwartz

Photo Credit: Andrew Morris Photography