“Little Shop of Horrors” – Stray Cat Theatre
Theater Review – May 4, 2025
AN “ADULT VIEW” INSERTED INTO A MEDIOCRE “LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS”
“Little Shop of Horrors”
Stray Cat Theatre, Studio Theatre, Tempe Center for the Arts
Tempe, AZ
By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic
We all know and love 1982’s off-Broadway musical treasure “Little Shop of Horrors.” Audiences have seen the show multiple times from professional theater revivals to community theater productions. Even high schools love producing it. The show is filled with delicious double-entrees and stylistic nonsense that makes audiences laugh riotously.
When one of our brightest theater companies announced “Little Shop of Horrors” as their 24/25 season closer, the question was “Why are they producing that overdone but lovable show?” The only reason to do it would be to make it especially amusing and Stray Cat Theatre claimed it would be twisted and turned to a very adult sensibility.
The mediocre result is a pleasant production but one that never quite coleuses into wild hilarity in SCT’s producing artistic director Ron May’s staging. What was hoped to be an infectiously delicious and adult slanted spin never quite develops.
The resulting production doesn’t allow audiences anything special to rediscover about the show. It never delights with cuttingly sarcastic but thoroughly clever, amusing, and quite hysterical takes on the familiar piece and the cast, while good and somewhat unconventional, doesn’t give birth to all of the show’s belligerent humor. There were also lots of technical glitches at the performance I attended.
The show is still set at Mushnik’s weird floral emporium where sales clerk Seymour Krelborn finds an unusual plant that grows gigantically as it evolves like no other plant. It takes on its own wacko life as it talks, expresses bizarre wants but puts the struggling shop on the map to success. The plant is usually an oddly oversized construction that becomes dominate as it craves blood. Here, a heavily decorated actor, Chanel Bragg, attempts to become the plant’s personality. Bragg just can’t do the crazy things a constructed plant allows.
The clever Alan Menken score is well presented by musical director/conductor Mark 4man’s tiny but unseen orchestral ensemble. A dark and somber set fails to give the show its usual fanciful appearance that provides funny hints of the musical’s coming mayhem, while bland costumes do not give the piece its necessary sparkling visual allure.
The cast never transform into the wacko weirdos necessary to give the show the winning malarkey except Nathan Spector’s mad dentist Orin. Some of the ensemble singing doesn’t possess the melodic dash necessary to bring Menken’s hummable tunes to life.
SCT’s “Little Shop of Horrors” is amusing but not as funny as it promised. It continues through May 17. To order tickets, call the Stray Cat Theatre box office at 480-350-2822 or order tickets online at www.straycattheatre.org.
Grade: B
Stray Cat Theatre is the last major local theater to announce its 2025/26 season and, like we expect, SCT’s 24th season has unusual Broadway shows plus plays rarely presented here.
Starting things off is Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ “The Comeuppance” (September 26-October 11). The playwright penned SCT’s “Gloria” and the current Broadway hit “Purpose.” The Comeuppance” looks at millennials meeting for their twentieth high school reunion. As the party’s relaxed nature unfolds, it allows a mini-group within the reunion to honestly reveal how their lives are evolving.
“Reykjavik” (December 5-20) traces James who travels to the title city to see the Northern Lights but they never appear. Playwright Steve Yockey has penned past SCT shows including “Pluto,” “Wolves,” and “Sleeping Giant.” Liliana Padilla’s “How to Defend Yourself” (February 13-28) looks at seven college students who gather for a self-defense workshop after a sorority sister is sexually assaulted.
The season’s finale will be Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: Parts I and II” (May1-16) that May will stage. The ambitious play, which has not been presented locally for many years, explores contemporary life through a major examination of societal issues including gays and the pre-medication AID’s crisis. Part I will be staged during week one with Part II debuting during the second week. The final week will see both parts presented on alternate performances but allowing three complete presentations of the two parts. This complicated and fascinating treaties on America and its diverse lives will tax every SCT resource.
