Joyous Horrors At Marriott

This joyful production has all the camp the show demands with such fine singing that the audience feels the bleakness as much as the comedy.  The three Fates, the chorus that sets each scene are magnificently played by Lydia Burke (Crystal), Daryn Whitney Harrell (Ronnette) and Miciah Lathan (Chiffon) as a 60s girl group, complete with enviable hair and stunning costumes that seem to change with every entrance, and those entrances! Full shoop-shoop and dance formation. So props to the costume, wig and makeup crews led by Miguel A. Armstrong and Laura Damato.  These are the three stand out performances for me.

The leads are worth writing about too! We are treated to full Yiddish-muttering-uncle by Mark David Kaplan who looks as though he’s having as much fun as the audience - from joyful heel clicks to masterful comedic timing. Jackson Evans and Maya Rowe have great strong voices and their physicality was just right for communicating their self-esteem and different but mutual awkwardness.  

The spectacle though was of course Audrey 2, the terrifying carnivorous plant with a taste for human blood and a fool-proof plan to dominate the planet. The puppeteers blended into the plant as part of her, and her feelings were clear on their faces and in their movement as they brilliantly maneuvered her tendrils and mouth to threaten and seduce Seymour. The evolving puppets were designed by Jesse Mooney-Bullock and voiced by Lorenzo Rush Jr or his understudy Darryl D’Angelo, both with rich voices that draw us into their trap, filling the theater and working with the staging in the round as their sound engulfed us. 

The orchestra under Mason Moss was as impressive as ever.  Altogether a great night out and highly recommended.

Little Shop Of Horrors at the Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire.

Plays through March 15th:

Wednesdays:1:00pm & 7:00pm

Thursdays:7:00pm

Fridays:7:30pm

Saturdays:4:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays:1:00pm & 5:00pm

Tickets online or at the Box Office: 847-634-0200