Running at the Maybank Theater BGC until July 28 is Sandbox Co.'s production of The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Toff de Venecia. It’s a return to this horror-comedy rock musical for the Honorable Toff, and I’m happy to say that he does a great job with the new cast, costume and stage design, the production numbers, and the bigger stage. It’s his new ‘playground’, and he’s stretching the possibilities well.
Alan Menken is behind the score of this originally off-off-Broadway hit, with lyrics and a book by Howard Ashman. They were inspired by the 1960s low-budget Roger Corman film Menken mines 60s doo-wop and Motown music to create catchy music. When the musical first came out in 1982, Menken and Ashman were trying to recapture and create their own version of the camp magic of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The sidebar note to all this is how Menken went on to be the Disney go-to for music, with film credits that include The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Beauty and the Beast, to name a few. So this is early Menken, giving us hints of where he would progress music-wise - catchy and commercial.
On the evening I watched, the cast was led by Reb Atadero as plant nerd Seymour, and in her professional stage debut, film actress Sue Ramirez as the shop assistant Audrey. Support was provided by Audie Gemora, David Ezra, and Julia Serad. The alternate cast is led by Karylle Tatlonghari and Nyoy Volante.
While I consider Karylle and Nyoy friends, I have to admit I was curious to see how Sue would fare. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. Sue knocks it out of the ballpark, proving she has the makings to be a stage triple threat—singing, acting, and movement/dance.
She’s engagingly in the role when she sings, and under Toff’s direction, deftly uses her expressive eyes when breaking the 4th wall. As with Reb, there were times when Sue would do too much gesticulating and motions. The two are leads and should realize they already have our attention. Observe the stage presence and movements of Audie Gemora as Mr. Mushnik; it’s far more economical and controlled, and yet just as, if not more, practical.
David Ezra, as the sadistic dentist Orin, is given license to overact as it’s a bit of a role, and he’s out to scene-steal. Let’s recall that Steve Martin took this role in the movie version. And Ezra is hilarious here, mugging it to our delight.
There’s a busyness to this production that I felt was over-compensating for the size of the stage. To go into detail would end up in Audrey 2 spoiler territory, so I’ll keep mum. But that was my only minor criticism of the attack and choreography of this musical.
Like Rent and even Hamilton, the first half of this play is far more successful than the second half. Rent may have Seasons of Love to start the second act, just like we have Suddenly Seymour in Shop of Horrors to open after the intermission, but after those song numbers, the narrative flags. Plus, it seems there’s no strong ending. Mind you, that’s just me talking. The audience I watched appeared to have no qualms and enjoyed the musical immensely.
Congratulations to Sandbox for this entertaining revival, and a special salute goes out to Sue Ramirez!