It isn’t often you wait until the curtain call to meet the star of the show, but that’s exactly what happened Friday night at the conclusion of Theatre Calgary’s wild and woolly -- and very funny -- production of Little Shop of Horrors. The oddball horror-comedy-- which blends the slapstick humour of an old 1940s Bowery Boys movie or The Honeymooners TV show and the darker notes of the human experience such as murder, domestic violence and dental surgery -- spilled onto the stage at Max Bell on Friday’s opening night in front of a juiced-up opening full house that was in the mood to party. Theatre Calgary’s version of Little Shop delivered the party, with a campy, crazy show that all the AI chatbots in Silicon Valley could never possibly conceive of. At the risk of revealing spoilers, the plot revolves around Mushniks, a sad sack flower shop located on Skid Row, where American Dreams go to die. Mr. Mushnik (Mark Bellamy) is a familiar kind of New York City Jewish small business owner who kvetches about business but is secretly a bit of a softy when it comes to his staff, namely Audrey (Kate Blackburn) who is involved in a self-destructive relationship with an abusive dentist named Dr. Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. (Gaelan Beatty). Audrey’s admiring colleague is Seymour (Tenaj Williams), a nebbishy orphan who likes to nurture unconventional houseplants, including an odd-looking one he names Audrey 2, which looks a little like a miniature-sized domed stadium encased in the green ivy that decorates the outfield walls of Chicago’s Wrigley Field. There’s also a chorus consisting of a trio of doo wop singers (Jessica Jones, Michelle Yu and Ineza Mugisha), who dress in retro 50s-looking outfits and hang out on the stoops of Skid Row as they channel the girl groups from way back like the Shirelles and the Supremes -- as well as contemporary acts like the Womack Sisters, who have brought that sound back with a 21st century (vinyl) spin on it. Things take a turn when Mr. Mushnik, fed up by dwindling business along Skid Row, announces to Seymour and Audrey that he’s closing up -- for good -- only to have Seymour reveal Audrey 2, the uncharacteristically carnivorous plant that produces a turnaround in the shop’s fortunes. Under the deft direction of Tracy Flye, the entire cast plays it broad and farcical -- and Friday night, it landed with a joyous roar from the Calgary audience, thanks in large part to the witty lyrics, by Howard Ashman (with music by Alan Menken) delivered with comic gusto by Bellamy, Williams, Beatty, Blackburn and the doo-wop trio of Jones, Yu and Mugisha, who ought to organize a concert tour on their own! But what really elevates Little Shop of Horrors is Audrey 2, a marvellous creation of the Green Fools, one of Calgary’s iconic puppet companies run by Dean Bareham, a former Fraggle Rock puppeteer. Audrey 2 (operated by Jamie Konchak and voiced by Michael Lamont-Lytle) is loud, needy, obnoxious, funny -- and unforgettable, as it pressures Seymour into a succession of choices driven by his growing fame as an OG plant influencer, long before social media ever existed. Williams is a winner as the nebbishy Seymour and Blackburn is frequently hilarious as the original Audrey, a pragmatist who finds her soulmate only to run afoul of a houseplant without a conscience. Bellamy turns Mushnik into a theatrical mensch and Beatty, as the narcissistic, nasty D.D.S. known as Orin Scrivello, plays his heel turn to such delicious perfection that you can only lick your lips with delight when Audrey 2 gets down to dinner time with the demon dentist of Skid Row. Little Shop of Horrors runs through Oct. 25 at the Max Bell Theatre in Werklund Centre.
