Little Shop reviews aren't ALL bad.
Little Shop reviews aren't ALL bad.
#0Little Shop reviews aren't ALL bad.
Posted: 10/3/03 at 8:25am
Finally someone gets it right! 
Clive Barnes reviews Little Shop
Updated On: 10/3/03 at 08:25 AM
PennyLou
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/03
#1re: Little Shop reviews aren't ALL bad.
Posted: 10/5/03 at 12:48am
"A much bigger event than anybody on Broadway thought possible. Sexy, smooth, witty, ruthless and hungry, the plant dominates this unexpectedly sharp and funny revival. Audrey II's final turn, is a real showstopper I won't reveal but which shouldn't be missed. It's that kind of theatrical moment that pushes an already delirious audience right over the top."
--Michael Riedel, New York Post 9/12/03
"The design is dazzling and well worth the price of admission. Douglas Sills is suavely funny in a range of comic parts."
--Howard Kissel, Daily News
"Ah, those lips. Those teeth. Those man-sized leafy tendrils? Still great enjoyment. The best horticultural Faust musical of our day. A musical with wit and joy. Scott Pask has designed a demented nightmare of a slum for the botanical apocalypse. William Ivey Long designs sensationally inappropriate hooker eveningwear for Audrey. The cast is as sly as it is ideally foolish. Hunter Foster makes a masterly nerd. Kerry Butler is a belter and a pro. It is grand to find Jerry Zaks in his stride. Kathleen Marshall's choreography makes '60s cliches look like new brainstorms. DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey and Carla J. Hargrove are a pitch-perfect girl group. Douglas Sills is the nicest of evil hambones in a bouquet of silly characters, most conspicuously the dentist. Finally, there is the ever-growing Audrey II, with the rich, booming, unsettlingly sensuous voice of Michael-Leon Wooley. Above all, there is Menken's knowing pastiche of pop-tune iconography and Ashman's lyrics: mythically ingrained phrase rhythms overlaid with 'call a cop/bop sh'bop'."
--Linda Winer, Newsday
"Wondrously entertaining. A bizarre and brilliant musical. Best of all, this plant is funny. Jerry Zak's new staging, helped by the neat choreography of Kathleen Marshall, is flawlessly zippy, making the most of the musical, the characters and the delicious designs by Scott Pask (settings), William Ivey Long (costumes), Donald Holder (lighting) and T. Richard Fitzgerald (sound). Best of all are the darkly comic and beautifully sung performances. Hunter Foster is the epitome of the nebbishy hero. Kerry Butler makes an adorable if doomed ingenue, while Douglas Sills bewitches as Orin and four or five other characters. Add to those the style and finesse of DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey and Carla J. Hargrove as the show's ragamuffin Greek Chorus and Michael-Leon Wooley as the doom-struck Voice of Audrey II--together with that same plant's four-member manipulative team--and you have one of the best casts on Broadway."
--Clive Barnes, New York Post
"Great, great fun! Rarely has Broadway seen such so sure a thing as this revival, meticulously fine-tuned by veteran director Jerry Zaks with a high-gloss cast of Broadway pros and a jumbo man-eating plant (built by the Jim Henson Company) that extends 22 feet into the air. I liked it so much, in fact, that I don't mind admitting that I came to theater with malice aforethought. It turned out to be a zippy romp, staged and sung to the hilt. Hunter Foster and Kerry Butler are completely charming, Douglas Sills is suitably slimy, Audrey II is winsomely monstrous, and Scott Pask's comic-book sets are just right. I laughed all the way through, and I expect you will, too."
--Terry Teachout, the Wall Street Journal
"If a giddy go-back in time is your beat, you will adore the current production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS starring Hunter Foster, Kerry Butler, Rob Bartlett and the one and only Douglas Sills. Foster takes you to Nerdsville heaven. And once again the gorgeous Mr. Sills brings his infinite sense of camp to his multiple roles, including the sadistic dentist. The set and costumes are fab. The monster plant--and the familiar score--keep the cult in the balcony screaming throughout."
--Liz Smith, syndicated columnist
"Everything's bigger now--and every bit as fun. An exceptionally clever and catchy score parodying early rock-and-roll tunes. Director Jerry Zaks spices the camp with just enough gore. Hunter Foster, with his straight face and lovely singing voice, is something of an expert on musical satire, and he's terrific. Kerry Butler's two big numbers are standouts. Rob Bartlett suggests a Yiddish Jackie Gleason. The trio of chorus singers are loaded with equal parts talent and attitude. And Douglas Sills, as the masochistic dentist and a host of other roles, seems to be having the time of his life; he practically steals the show with effortless gusto. LITTLE SHOP is a sure crowd-pleaser, as exciting, fresh and robust as ever."
--Roma Torre, NY1 News
"Just plain fun. American musical comedy definitely is back in control of Broadway, and none too soon. Leave your deep thoughts, and your worries, at the door. The plant is a hilarious show-stopper. It is a plant with soul, far-reaching tendrils and a voracious appetite. Rob Bartlett is wonderful; he is a full-fledged Broadway star. Also a total winner is Douglas Sills in an endless string of comical roles. Fun for the whole family."
--Jacques Le Sourd, The Journal News
"Audrey II sings, dances and expands to eye-popping proportions. Beautifully sung by Hunter Foster and Kerry Butler and strikingly designed by Scott Pask. Douglas Sills completely transmits the show's maniacal electricity."
--Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger
"A jolly green giant in a big Broadway house, delighting audiences anew with its R&B score to sell your soul for and its peppy cast of Skid Row denizens with Motor City vocal cords. A snappy, endearing and gorgeously sung new revival. The bloodthirsty fern has been given a booster shot for sure, and is spectacularly realized in several sizes. The musical is still adorable. The show whizzes by briskly and brightly, and there's always another of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's infectiously bopping songs just ahead to set the pulse racing. Hunter Foster makes a delightful loser. Kerry Butler works her own wonders; her performance is a knockout; you marvel at how such a soul-stirring voice can emerge from such a tiny frame. Douglas Sills is deliciously smarmy and gets a chance to show off his own rich vocal resources. DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey and Carla J. Hargrove execute the snappy moves of Kathleen Marshall's choreography with the same precision and authority they bring to the glorious vocal arrangements by Robert Billig."
--Charles Isherwood, Variety
"Can a blood-lusting, man-eating plant find happiness in the big leagues of Broadway? Yes, indeed! A spiffy revival. Hunter Foster possesses an earnestness that gives Seymour a likeability that pushes beyond the character's comic-strip confines. The three ladies of the chorus, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey and Carla J. Hargrove, epitomize the girl groups of the early '60s, and choreographer Kathleen Marshall has given them the grooviest of moves. Designer Scott Pask's looming tenements have a menacing quality, an otherworldly feel just right for this spooky story."
--Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press
PennyLou
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/03
#2re: re: Little Shop reviews aren't ALL bad.
Posted: 10/5/03 at 12:49am
^ just thought I would share!!
:)
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