It’s been nearly 40 years since the premiere of Little Shop of Horrors, the breakthrough musical about a sentient plant that feeds on human blood. Since the 1986 film adaption directed by Frank Oz, there have been countless productions from high schools to Broadway, but there has never been one signature production to stand out as the successor to the original…until now. At the Westside Theatre in Manhattan, there is a truly phenomenal production of Little Shop playing for just 270 patrons a night, as it was originally intended.
The two powerhouse performances are Jeremy Jordan as Seymour and Christian Borle as the dentist Orin (and many other roles). Jordan has had an excellent career on stage as the lead in Newsies, Bonnie & Clyde, and Finding Neverland as well as on screen in The Last Five Years and Smash. He’s been typecast as a confident and good-looking young man but here he plays the polar opposite of that and nails the part. Seymour is a nebbish and clumsy geek who has a good heart but can’t escape his circumstances on Skid Row. Jordan’s first impression on stage is a perfectly timed comic fall, complete with signature glasses and ballcap. Anyone who has seen Jordan sing knows he has a phenomenal voice, but less known is how brilliant he is as a comic actor. Every tiny detail and subtle choice in his performance was hysterical. He made you empathize with the character while also cracking up at how he handles every note. While it was tough to imagine when he was cast, Jordan equaled stage’s Lee Wilkof and screen’s Rick Moranis while putting his own mark on the role.
Also shining bright is two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle playing Orin Scrivello DDS & others. It’s rare when you can tell an actor is having the time of his life playing a part, but that’s Borle in Little Shop. His zany exuberance is infectious, and he seems to have free reign to make whatever choice he feels like for each character. Sometimes it’s a ridiculous voice, sometimes deadpan, sometimes pure physical comedy, but in every delivery he gets raucous laughter from the audience. Getting to see Borle in this performance up close is a treat.
Stealing their scenes are three breakouts: Salome Smith as Ronnette, Joy Woods as Chiffon, and Aveena Sawyer as Crystal, colloquially known as the urchins. These three act as the narrators and have the ability to break the fourth wall with the audience. At one point, after a character flings some money into the first couple rows of the audience, the urchins try desperately to take the dollar bills from each audience member to pocket. Joy Woods even keeps the bit going later in the show when she gives a death stare to one audience member who kept the prop dollar for herself. All three have stunning singing voices that carry through the theater.
It’s been an extremely difficult year and a half but thank goodness this production wasn’t lost to the pandemic. Little Shop of Horrors is a phenomenally entertaining musical and seeing it with this cast in such an intimate setting was a joy. If you have a chance to see it before January 9th when Jordan departs, you owe it to yourself.