Lopez Blogs

It’s one of Darren’s favourite musicals so it was nice for us to go and see something that he chose rather than one of my force fed choices. And what a corker Little Shop Of Horrors is. With music written by the amazing Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, I knew it would be a musical tour de force. Ashman and Menken were responsible for a trio of Disney classics that bought the company back into the limelight – The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast and Aladdin. The duo have a knack for creating songs that deal with very real human emotions while focusing on the humour, pathos and sometimes the fantastical. I have always loved their music and the Steve Martin film version, but have been dying to see the original theatrical production with less happy ending on the stage. The 3 singing girls really hold together the production and were not only fine of voice, but also hilarious in their performances, particularly in the slow motion fight scenes with the bums during Downtown. Alistair McGowen was downright sleazy as the evil dentist who enjoys inflicting pain on other people (and a number of other characters later on) and the actor embraced the leather trousers and the fetishist angle. Sheriden Smith (Antony’s girlfriend, Emma from The Royle Family) was a lot different to the iconic version of Audrey played in the film by Ellen Greene and she played it very well. Her role as the beaten girlfriend was played equally for laughs (bearing breasts and neck for a nipple tweaking “whatever you say, doctor!”) and pathos (her “I’m dating a semi-sadist” during somewhere that’s green was heartbreaking) and it was her focus on feeling that she didn’t deserve any better that made it a great performance. It was Paul Keating that shone out as geeky Seymour. As the plant grows and demands human flesh, it plays on Seymour’s fears and gets him to do downright devious and despicable things in order to prove his love to Audrey. It’s a play filled with moral dilemmas and ethical propostions, but if you just want the light stuff, the songs are catchy, the doo wop chorus girls hilarious, and Paul slightly sexy. Geek chic is back!! Huzzah, etc. PS – if you were the woman in front of us with the mad fly away hair, no wonder your fella left at half time and didn’t come back. No one likes a stray follicle in their minstrels. Grrr PPS – Paul was also in Closer To Heaven, the pet shop boys musical and the mp3 below is taken from that!

MP3:

MP3: Paul Keating – Positive Role Model (Almighty Mix)