Little Shop of Horrors at the Moonlight
When I received tickets to Little Shop of Horrors, playing at the Moonlight Amphitheatre, I was grateful, but my expectations weren’t high. After all, I had seen this play at the Westwood Playhouse years ago with the original cast (including Ellen Greene, who also stars as Audrey in the 1986 film, and Jesse White - the lonely Maytag Repairman playing Mr. Mushnik). I’m even a fan of the 1960 Roger Corman B-flick on which the play and later musical film are based, so admittedly, I’m a tough audience.
Hoping for the best, and determined to enjoy an evening in the park with my husband regardless, we headed to the Moonlight early. To our surprise, by 6:30 (a full hour before the performance), the best seats had already been taken! This has become a very popular place for a Saturday night in Vista!
The best thing about seeing a play at the Moonlight is that the picnic areas are interspersed between the rows of formal seating. We brought along our own blanket and picnic basket full of goodies, and the Moonlight provides the lawn chairs for picnickers, so it was fun to just set up camp and enjoy the evening under the stars, eating and drinking throughout the show.
This production stars Scott Dreier as Seymour Krelborn, Kirsten Chandler as Audrey, John Massey as Mr. Mushnik and David Engel as Orin Scrivello. I was immediately surprised at how far the production value has come up since the last show I saw at the Moonlight a few years back.
Especially critical to this show is the Audrey character, and Kirsten Chandler was a delightful surprise, very nearly identical to Ellen Greene’s show-stealing performance (except that she didn’t belt it out quite as much on the musical numbers). Scott Drier made an excellent Seymour, and John Massey embodied Mr. Mushnik (although he could just as easily have been playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof). Both the acting and the singing went far beyond my expectations.
Of course I have to mention the urchins, played so well by Kimberly Henry, Leslie Tammone and Jenn Aedo. It wouldn’t be the same show without them, and I was immediately impressed from their first song.
The first half of the show was absolutely delightful, campy, fun, and made me want to sing along. They seemed to lose some of the polish in the second half, and the energy wasn’t quite as high, the harmonies not quite as together, but still and all, not bad.
I recommend Little Shop of Horrors, which is in their final week, playing Wednesday through Sunday (September 16). It’s great fun for all ages.
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