Little Shop - Animus
Subject: Quicktake - "Little Shop of Horrors" by Ashman & Menken
Date: Sat, October 7, 11:10 PM
Quicktake on LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
The most important character in Howard Ashman & Alan Menken's first hit show is Audrey II, a "strange and unusual plant" usually done with puppets, from a small sock type to a giant body puppet. For their "Little Shop of Horrors", John Ambrosino and his Animus Ensemble are trying something different. Veteran Boston rocker Neil Chapman, dressed in a green Capitol Records T-shirt is the villainous talking and singing vegetable. He's first rolled onstage in a little red wagon, but soon stands tall and as A2 grows gets three dancers, Melissa Ham-Ellis, Christin Fagone, and Maria Larossa as tendrils. Choreographer Josie Bray, the group's other Artistic Director, gets the whole cast dancing as part of the plant by the end, except of course by the girl group, Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronette aka Heather Fry, Emilie Battle, and Sehri Wickliffe. The latter two are both music theatre students at BosCon while Princeton grad Fry will be directing Geo. C. Wolfe's "The Colored Museum," Animus' show next April.
The show, as everyone will remember, takes place in a Skid Row flower shop. The owner, Mr. Mushnik is done by Eric Ruben, seen last spring in the company's "Once Upon a Mattress" as the King, and at the New Rep in "Into the Woods" the year before. His clerk, Audrey (1) is Erin Tchoukaleff, who was Lady Larkin last spring and Sylvia midseason in "Promises, Promises," bringing her distinctive soprano to the role. Audrey's boyfriend Orin, the evil dentist, is Turtle Lane regular Jim Jordan, who was also in Animus' "...Mattress" and "Promises..." Jordan also essays a variety of walkons. His counterpart, who does all but one of the female cameos and the doorbell is Perri Lauren. And at the center of it all as Seymour the orphan is Christian Kiley, who's done shows with Reagle. His naive sound blends well with the other voices in the show. Music director Robert Mollicone at the keyboard, backed by electric bass and drums keeps the score hopping along and is well served by the ensemble. This show rocks! "Little Shop..." has two more weekends to go. Real fans will also want to catch Turtle Lane's version which plays from mid-November through the holidays.
"Little Shop of Horrors", book & lyrics by Howard Ashman, music - Alan Menken, Oct. 6-21
Animus Ensemble at BCA Plaza Theatre
539 Tremont, (617 933-8600)
Animus Ensemble
posted by will at 11:12 PM
1 Comments:
I liked this production a lot. Granted, I played Seymour. Funny I would stumble upon this blog.
My 2 cents? Okay. John Ambrosino has a progressive vision that I was psyched to be a part of. As for my naïve sound, I would agree that it blended well with a cast of trained and untrained voices. I think it was a very strong ensemble, vocally. Alternately, I was disappointed that I didn't get the chance to see "The Women," which was playing next door.
We actors don't get paid much, especially here in the Hub...
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