‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is a show that grows on you

She can bring you wealth, fame, and the love of the one you adore. All it costs is a little (OK, maybe a lot) of your blood. Or at least someone’s blood. She’s Audrey II and she’s the potted sensation of Mr. Mushnik’s skid row florist shop, the result of an ill-advised purchase by Seymour, the shop clerk. Orders are pouring in, bodies are starting to disappear, and Audrey is getting bigger, hungrier, and more demanding every day.

Something extra-terrestrial is afoot. Where oh where will it all end? Who will save us?

Some plays are sublime and some merely ridiculous, but “Little Shop of Horrors,” when done satisfactorily, is sublimely ridiculous. As a musical (aren’t most over-the-top spoofs musicals?) it puts down roots in the fertile garden of 1950s science fiction and shoo-bop romance. First a 1960 underground comic-horror seedling, it took on a life of its own. Growing into an off-Broadway sensation, “Little Shop…” devoured a Drama Critics Circle Award and then a Drama Desk Award before blossoming into a 1986 film that feasted on the country’s appetite for mad camp. This perennial favorite produces hundreds of shoots which appear on local and regional stages every year.

Directed by Hans Bachmann, the “Little Shop…” at Lazy Susan turns its intimate space into a virtue, with front row patrons almost in the lap of Audrey II. Especially strong casting choices abound, and while two of the roles are played by alternates, the ones reviewed are the ones that were playing on Saturday night.

The trio of Chiffon (Janelle Delaney), Crystal (Dena Kolb), and Ronnette (Christina Sanchez) plays a sort of Fifties Greek chorus — introducing action, commenting in song, and interacting with the scenes. These ladies have supreme harmonizing skills and are a delight to listen to together or singly.

Classically nerdish Seymour, played by Mark Hamburger, also displays a voice far beyond his horn-rimmed geek league, and is especially captivating in the solo “Grow For Me” sung to the innocent looking plant. While we all get that he is a clumsy schlemiel with few prospects for a future, this mostly strong characterization would be better without the occasional Jerry Lewis send-ups. There’s no need to lisp. Trust me. Paired as the love interest who couldn’t possibly be interested in him — but is — we have Audrey (for whom he names the plant) played by Tara Moore, exquisite in doll-like stature and crystal voice.

But whom shall we feed to this monster plant if we like everyone? Not to worry. There’s Audrey’s abusive boyfriend, Orin, whose sadistic tendencies find full vent in his dental practice. (Those who remember the days of non-novocaine fillings will appreciate the twisted humor.)

Christopher Culosi almost steals the show as white-coated dentist by day and leather jacketed hoodlum by night. The routine “Be A Dentist” featuring Orin and the girl trio is a gas. Mr. Culosi also handles two more appearances as Mr. Martin and M. Luce, displaying the full breadth of his comic skills in each.

The show itself is something of a cartoon, so it passes with a shrug that most of the acting has a cartoonish bent appropriate for a spoof. This is especially true of Mr. Mushnik (Carl Bowman) who ranges from hair-tearing despair over the fall of his business to hair-tearing ecstacy over its sudden success. One visual allusion to Tevya from “Fiddler on the Roof” was nicely done, and his cunning plan to adopt Seymour to get control of Audrey II finds a high moment in the routine “Mushnik & Son.”

Audrey II appears in her several growth stages, each one more bizarre and threatening than the last. Special kudos to Antonio Bullock for the commanding voice of the potted carnivore. His duet with Seymour in “Git it (Feed Me)” is a delight.

The set design, not credited in the program, does a satisfactory job of establishing the bounds of the florist shop while separating scenes on the rotating platform. A small quibble: loose curtains and imprecise walls led to audience views of actors walking in the back.

Timing and energy levels are up where they belong creating a pervasive sense that the cast is having as good a time putting this across as we are at getting it. A final spirited reminder from the company that “The Meek Shall Inherit” is followed by helpful advice for those who may someday be faced with a talking, blood-craving, fast-growing monster in a pot: Do not feed the plant!

Margaret Lawrence is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She teaches drama and English at CCHS.

Want to go?
What: “Little Shop of Horrors”
Where: Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, Woodbridge, Va.
Call: (703) 550-7384 or (703) 494-6311
Playing through Sept. 27