Sometimes good things come from stupid things. A really weird low-budget sci-fi horror movie by Roger Corman back in 1960 laid the foundation for a really entertaining musical some years later: Little Shop of Horrors was turned into a Broadway hit in 1982. The goofy story of Seymour, an incompetent flower shop assistant who raises a plant that demands human blood and more, and Audrey, the lovely but vacant Marilyn Monroe lookalike he's in love with, proved to be a feel-good comedy with Doo-Wop Rock tunes and Motown knockoffs. It came back around as a movie in 1986, but its popularity has largely been as a stage production. Little Shop's score has several show-stoppers — including "Somewhere That's Green," "Suddenly Seymour" and the title song — and it's always fun to watch the carnivorous plant, nicknamed Audrey II, grow and become more rapacious, loud and, well, downright funky. It's great, lightweight summertime theatrical entertainment, which makes it a perfect piece of material for Jersey Productions to offer this month at the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater. It opens this week and runs through Aug. 22. $20-$25.
Read Rick Pender's review here.
