Little Shop of Horrors is the latest musical put on by the LUU Music Theatre Society, who prove yet again that they’re more than capable of putting on a fun, enjoyable, and impressive show.
The musical follows two employees of Mister Mushnik’s Flower Shop, a failing business located in grimy, run-down neighbourhood called Skid Row. Seymour (Connor Guffogg), a meek, shy shop assistant, finds a unique plant, Audrey II, which ends up attracting the attention of New York City, reviving the business and propelling Seymour to sudden fame. Along the way, Seymour tries to impress and win over his co-worker Audrey (Lily Melhuish), who has a few problems of her own.
‘Somewhere That’s Green was emotional and touching without being melodramatic, mainly because of Melhuish’s impressive vocal control.’
The cast do an excellent job with their performances. Guffogg does a more than convincing job with his character Seymour’s, whose meekness is endearing when it could easily be annoying. Whilst Guffogg’s vocal performance was nothing to scoff at, his co-star Lily Melhuish’s vocals overshadowed his. Her rendition of ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ was emotional and touching without being melodramatic, mainly because of Melhuish’s impressive vocal control. Other notable performances are Paige Peddie as Crystal and Indeera Shankla as Chiffon; though they’re smaller roles, Peddie and Shankla manage to impress with their vocals, making challenging vocal runs look easy.
‘The jokes all hit their marks, the emotional moments are affecting and the cast in general seem to be well-coordinated with each other.’
Charlotte Ranson, the director, seems to have done a good job bringing the musical to life, as each cast member is usually always where they need to be, when they need to be there. The jokes all hit their marks, the emotional moments are affecting and the cast in general seem to be well-coordinated with each other. The weakest part of the play were the accents, as the cast all put on strong New York accents to varying degrees of success. Guffogg’s accent, for example, was sometimes spot-on and at other times a mess. However, the accents were a tiny (though immersion-breaking) flaw in an otherwise very enjoyable production.
Mikhail Hanafi
(Image courtesy of Music Theatre Society)