“Little Shop of Horrors” is a lot of things. On the one hand, it’s a tuneful doo-wop musical by Disney heavyweights Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. On the other, it’s a show about poverty. On the one hand, it’s a camp affair with a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” quality. On the other, it’s a piece about domestic violence. On the one hand, it’s comic. On the other, it’s tragic. In short, “Little Shop of Horrors” is a lot to juggle. Nevertheless, the Pasquerilla East Musical Co.’s production of the musical — which is running on Washington Hall’s main stage through Nov. 15 — pretty much manages to handle it.
The quality of the singing in this production deserves accolades. Male lead Daniel Loughlin, who plays a wincing flower shop employee named Seymour, and female lead Ryan Madrid, who plays Seymour’s love interest and coworker Audrey, have clear and powerful voices which filled the hall; both are freshmen. The vocal performances from Audrey II (a diabolical plant played by Sara Arellano) as well as from Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette — the three street urchins who serve as the musical’s R&B Greek chorus, played by Gretchen Nessinger, Sheila-Marie Manyara (Editor’s note: Sheila-Marie Manyara is a Scene writer for The Observer) and Natalie Ampadu respectively — were also commendable.
The pit was great, too, although the version of the orchestration used in this production is a little spare. Take the number “Mushnik and Son”: The clarinet and brass are sorely missed when the song goes full klezmer and starts to sound like “Yentl.” Still, the pit did their best with what they had, the playing steady and colorful. Neither can we blame PEMCo — I imagine handling musical theater licensing as a student-led organization is hell.
The stand-out comic performances were, of course, Mushnik (Seymour’s boss) played by Ben Nascimento and Orin (a sadistic dentist and Audrey’s abusive boyfriend) played by Ben Rohr. Nascimento comes off energetic and witty, the sort of actor who could kill one of Shakespeare’s clown roles should he ever defect to NSR. Rohr’s humor is no less physical — he can move like Elvis — but it’s earthier. Nascimento may play the Ashkenazi character, but Rohr is the mensch. His voice isn’t unimpressive, either.
Nascimento was the only actor who fully committed to a New York accent and he pulled it off. When every character in “Little Shop” is given Curtis Sliwa voice, as it is in some productions, it gets tiring fast, but this production steers around that pothole.
Mushnik and Orin were consistently funny, but could be dramatic when they needed to be. “Little Shop” is indeed, as director Carolyn Dell so loftily puts it in the program notes, a show about “taking accountability for our actions.” Built into the show are moments of pseudo-Brechtian moralism about the plights of working people: One of Seymour’s first lyrics is “Poor, all my life I've always been poor,” and the final number — which forewarns us from the temptations of “fortune and fame, love and money and instant acclaim” — explicitly provides an ethical take-away.
“Little Shop” is neither a tragedy nor morality play, though. It’s a tragicomedy, and you can’t neglect its jokes. Occasionally, Seymour and Audrey would deliver a funny line humorlessly, so absorbed in the show’s heft they forgot its levity. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a huge problem. Their dramaticism felt more and more appropriate in the second act as funny characters died off and the stakes rose, and their absorbing love duets (e.g., “Suddenly Seymour”) made up for their sometimes overwrought line delivery.
The production design reinforced all the other areas of strength. The sets were atmospheric, and the costumes were well-matched to the characters. In much the same way, the choreography added some pleasant spectacles without getting in the way or seeming contrived.
The program notes assert that this production of “Little Shop” is “heavily influenced by the tradition of drag and queer art.” I don’t know if I really got that from watching it. The show is and this production was certainly camp — certain lines, for instance, were punctuated by a slide-whistle sound effect — but recasting Audrey II as a woman, giving her acrylic nails and dressing her in a Mother Ginger dress drag does not make.
All in all, PEMCo’s “Little Shop” is worth your time and money. The music is great, the gags are hilarious, and the acting can be touching.
