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(Posted 6:30
a.m., March 5)
Horrific
musical filled with a number of great performances
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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|  Brooke
Morrice and Ryan Binsell are simply fantastic as Audrey and Seymour in the St.
Peter Musical Theatre production of 'Little Shop of Horrrors'. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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Over the
years the
St. Peter Players have tackled a wide range of productions from the
Broadway classic "Les Miserables" to Disney's "Beauty and the Beast". Two
years ago they presented their own version of "Grease", which is the
most popular high school musical of all time. This year they've gone back to the
catalogue of popular high school musicals and pulled out "Little Shop of
Horrors" which first appeared on Broadway in 1982 and enjoyed a five year
run. There
was also a movie by the same name which starred Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and
Ellen Greene. Having
never seen the movie or the original musical, I went to the opening of the St.
Peter Musical Theatre Company production on Wednesday night with my eyes and ears
wide open. One
of the joys of SPMTC productions is that they always have live orchestral accompaniment
and the actors are miked so you never have to strain to hear the actors above
the music. The
sound Wednesday night was impeccable as was the lavish set including the two storey
flourist shop complete with its own stoop. As
for the play itself, I found that it took awhile for things to get really warmed
up. In fact, it was about an hour into the play before I started to really get
into the play which coincided with the appearance of Danny Bettencourt who plays
a sadistic dentist named Orin Scrivello who has a penchant for using nitrus oxide
-- on himself. He also happens to be Audrey's abusive boyfriend. Audrey,
who's played by Brooke Morrice, is the love interest in the play and the inspiration
of one Seymour Krelborn, played by Ryan Binsell, who works with her in the Skidrow
Florist Shop. When
Seymour meets a Chinese flower salesman during a total eclipse of the sun, he
buys a strange plant from him and names it Audrey II after his secret love. But
getting back to Bettencourt, his manic potrayal of the sadistic dentist is epic.
In fact, my favourite scene in the play is when Seymour goes to the dentist's
office with a plan to Scrivello so he can feed him to the plant. When
Seymour arrives, however, he can't bring himself to pull the trigger and Bettencourt
takes over the scene. In the end, the dentist suffocates himself with his own
nitrus oxide mask and Seymour has to carry him back to the flower shop where he
dismembers Scrivello's body and feeds it body part by body part to Audrey II,
which is how the first half of the play ends. As
the second half of the play opens, the shop is so busy Audrey and Seymour, who
are now an item, can barely keep up. Seymour and the plant have become media darlings
and everything seems to be going wonderfully until Mr. Mushnick, the shop owner,
realizes his star employee may be responsible for Scrivello's disappearance. Worried
that his boss might turn him in, Seymour tricks him into looking for the day's
receipts inside Audrey II, which devours him as he peers inside. With
two people already dead, Seymour realizes that he can't possibly keep up with
the plants insatiable thirst for human blood so he decides to destroy the plant
but not until he feeds it one last meal of raw roast beef. While
Seymour is out at the butcher, Audrey shows up at the shop and discovers Audrey
II can talk. As the plant coaxes her to come closer, it grabs her arm and tries
to drag her inside. As Audrey struggles to free herself from Audrey II, Seymour
shows up and pulls her away from the plant. Mortally
wounded, Audrey begs Seymour to let her feed herself to the plant where everything
will be green again. It's
only afterwards that Seymour figures out the plant's dastardly plan. It caused
the solar eclipse and came down to earth from another planet to take over the
world. After
realizing the plant's goal of world domination, Seymour tries to kill it, first
by shooting it, and then using rat poison. When nothing works he decides to try
and cut it apart from the inside, but is consumed himself. An
unsuspecting international botanist then decides to take cuttings of the strange
plant so it can be propogated around the world. As
the play ends, the audience is presented with the frightening prospect that thousands
of Audrey IIs will end up eating the entire human race. The final production number,
"Don't Feed the Plant", offers a warning to everybody. Besides
the fantastic and fantabulous performances of Bettencourt, Morrice, and Binsell,
Mike Moreau also does an outstanding job as Mr. Mushnick and Mike Heney is amazing
as Audrey II. One of the more memorable vocal performances of the play is "Feed
Me" which is song by Audrey II and Seymour near the end of Act 1.. The
chorus is superb as well throughout the litany of ensemble production numbers
"Little Shop of Horrors" is famous for. Members
of the chorus include Esther Barrett, Nicole Brake, Vanessa Campbell, Andrea Constantine.
Laurence DaNova, Amber Forgie, Bridget Gilhooly, Riley Hoban, Chantal Hooser,
Eric Kavcic, Siobhan Kelly, Alyssa Milobar, Jeremy Morganty, Alexander Panneton,
Aisha Paul, Katie Radway, Meagan Schroeder, Brandon Swann and Sarah Tomaszewski. The
musical accompaniment is provided by the St. Peter Orchestra under the direction
of Lisa Maclean. Shannon Olsheskie, Teresa Bermingham, Esther Guindon and Linda
Roe are the stage managers and Michelle Hoban, Johanne Ledoux and Chantal Locke
are resonsible for the costuming and make up. This
is Bernard Leger's 11th production at St. Pete's. The drama teacher provides the
direction, musical inspiration and guidance for the actors and crew with the able
assistance of student director Georgina Faddoul. "Little
Shop of Horrors" continues tonight and tomorrow night with two more performances
at St. Peter High School. Curtain time is 7 p.m. and tickets are $10 per person. (This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local
business partners.) Return
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