Groove Is
In The Art

In contrast with the show’s dark themes, Menken’s music is a sparkling homage to rock and pop circa the early 1960s.

His irresistible score is filled with echoes of Motown, doo-wop, Latin and other genres of the era.

The plant – dubbed Audrey II by Seymour in honour of his inamorata – sings in the growling tones of Chicago bluesman Howlin’ Wolf.

There’s even a little klezmer for Mr. Mushnik, the paternal Jewish shop owner.

The juxtaposition is set up right from the show’s bouncy opening number. As Menken described it in a 2015 Playbill interview: “Howard’s lyrics are saying, ‘Oh no!…horror, terror!’ And the music is saying, ‘This is going to be fun!’ ”

“I think it’s one of the greatest musicals written, I really do,” says Donna Feore, who has directed and choreographed this year’s Stratford Festival production. “It’s a little gem.”

Little Shop tells the tale of Seymour Krelborn (played at Stratford by André Morin), the klutzy young clerk in a skid row flower shop, who finds his ticket out of poverty when he cultivates a spectacular exotic plant.

The only catch: the plant thrives on human blood. It also talks, and before long, it’s tempting Seymour into a Faustian bargain: keep feeding its insatiable appetite and, in return, it will not only make Seymour rich and famous, but also help him win the love of his life, fellow clerk Audrey (Gabi Epstein).

The title song is sung by the show’s “Greek chorus” (a production’s collective commentators) – three young female singers who hang out on Mushnik’s stoop and are named after the great girl groups of the sixties: Chiffon (Camille Eanga-Selenge), Crystal (Starr Domingue) and Ronnette (Vanessa Sears).

Feore says she’s built up their roles to narrate and propel the production: “Now they’re the heartbeat of the show and they keep it moving.”

She also envisioned them as prototypes of today’s street dancers. “I choreographed their numbers as if they’d come up with the dance steps themselves.”

Matthew G. Brown, meanwhile, provides Audrey II’s distinctive voice – barking orders one minute, wheedling and pouting the next. “It’s this serial-killer plant that also behaves like a petulant three-year-old child,” Feore says, laughing.

The multi-talented puppetry team is central to the production and they are equally celebrated with the rest of the cast at the end of the show. Feore’s curtain calls are so spectacular that they feel like a bonus production number – and this show’s memorable closing has seen audiences dancing and singing their way out of the theatre.