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Jonathan Groff: "Little Shop of Horrors"

One thing that is lost--absurdly--in the Ashman "Little Shop" movie is a sense of anti-capitalism.

You see the anti-capitalist streak really clearly in the Ashman stage musical. Before Audrey dies, Seymour asks her if she would have loved him *without* all the velvet and fur and glitz. And Audrey says, "Yes, of course." So the death of Audrey then feels especially senseless and brutal.

I imagine Hollywood producers told Ashman, "You can't kill off Audrey"--and so, in the movie, the story pretty quickly loses its sting. People don't get angry about the sloppy second half of the film adaptation of Ashman's work. People should get angry.

The movie also tosses to the trash a big part of one of Ashman's best numbers:

They say the meek shall inherit....
You know the Book doesn't lie....
It's not a question of merit....
It's not demand and supply....

 This is a strange, strange moment. The Biblical idea of "the meek inheriting the Earth" seems to be a "take comfort" idea: "Though your life may be difficult, know that God is on your side." (And, if you have power, be kind to the meek; know that the meek are even more important than you are.)

But in Ashman's hands, "the meek shall inherit" becomes a kind of directive: "BECAUSE you're such a loser, Seymour, you're entitled to great wealth, and you ought to seize it now." The Hollywood producers were OK with "feel the sturm und drang in the air," but I'm guessing the *biblical* references seemed too brainy.

Howard Ashman wrote with a smirk on his face, and he wrote with a sense of economy. I'm not sure he ever wrote a work that exceeded two hours in running time, and God Bless Him for that. Maybe my favorite bit of odd, sardonic writing is this line: Audrey II has started speaking, and It is telling Seymour about all the great things that wait just around the corner....."Would you like a room at the Ritz? Wrapped in velvet....covered in glitz....A little nookie gonna clean up your zits and you'll git it...." 

In other words, Seymour--like any heterosexual man, I guess?--has dreams of swaddling himself in velvet and sprinkling gold and glitter all over the room. But right now he is just a putz, a fool with (apparently) bad acne. But helping Audrey II will enhance his status in the world, and with an enhanced status, he will be able to find more sex. And, after sex, he will discover that his skin has cleared up. He will find, also, that he has wealth and a standing invitation to the Ritz. Think about it. That's all packed into a solo for a talking plant in a Rick Moranis movie.

O Brave New World! With such wonders. Happy Monday to you!
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