Don’t Feed the Plant at This “Little Shop of Horrors”
Marriott Theatre’s 2026 season kicks off with a pitch-perfect production of the beloved cult classic.
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Marriott Theatre’s 2026 season kicks off with a pitch-perfect production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” the beloved cult classic with an otherworldly bend and a bouncy doo-wop backbeat. With music by powerhouse composer Alan Menken and book and lyrics from the late writer Howard Ashman, director Tommy Rapley’s iteration of “Little Shop of Horrors” is deliciously campy with plenty of snap.
A soulful trio of urchins (Lydia Burke, Daryn Whitney Harrell and Miciah Lathan) welcome us to the impoverished Skid Row, a gritty neighborhood home to drunks, losers and the rundown Mushnik’s Flower Shop. Gruff Mr. Mushnik (a wry Mark David Kaplan) runs the suffering store with two employees, earnest and nerdy Seymour Krelborn (Jackson Evans) and the bubbly, put-upon Audrey (Maya Rowe). When Mushnik decides to close the shop for good, Audrey convinces him to look at one of Seymour’s latest plant cultivation projects, a mysterious Venus flytrap-esque plant that appeared after a sudden solar eclipse. Though Seymour dotes on the plant, affectionately named Audrey II, it seems to be dying, until a clumsy Seymour pricks his finger on a rose thorn and draws blood, inexplicably piquing Audrey II’s attention and her famished fronds.
On its face, “Little Shop” tells the Faustian tale of a man so lured by promises of love and fortune that he is willing to compromise his morals and conscience. The newly blooming Audrey II draws customers to Mushnik’s and brings the store some much-needed business, but there’s more to her than meets the eye. Seymour quickly discovers that even botanical fame has a price, and soon Audrey II is bellowing demands in a booming baritone (vocal agility courtesy of Lorenzo Rush Jr.), suggesting murder, and there’s no satiating her. What’s a guy to do? How do you keep an audience on the side of the accomplice to a carnivorous plant, and root for him to get the girl even after he considers turning her boyfriend into plant food? It’s a tricky conceit, and here the answer is a winning Seymour.
Evans’ Seymour is beyond endearing, belittled yet somehow still buoyant despite his life’s circumstances. He is easy to love; his open, expressive face betraying every emotion, from adulation to despair. There is a genuine warmth that radiates between his Seymour and Rowe’s pure-hearted Audrey and their sweet friendship is one of equals. Rowe is lovely. In her hands, Audrey is a thoughtful dreamer bogged down by insecurities but teeming with compassion. She is besieged by a sociopathic boyfriend (a menacing Andrew Mueller in multiple roles) but with Seymour’s support, finally dares to turn her face to the sun.
Marriott’s production is visually interesting; the 1960s costumes provide fun and flavor and the distressed flower shop grounds us in dingy reality, but the spectacle to see will always be Audrey II herself. Fans of the dark, comedic show will be pleased to know that her transformation from droopy houseplant to anthropomorphic menace is fully realized thanks to puppet designer Jesse Mooney-Bullock and lithe actors/puppeteers Garrett Lutz, Ed Kross and Jordan Anthony Arredondo.
Director Tommy Rapley and the show’s cast and crew have crafted a charming “Little Shop of Horrors” that is somehow hilarious, horrifying and achingly tender. The story or songs are sure to grab you. And if not, don’t worry: the plant will.
