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Sherie Rene Scott: "Little Shop of Horrors"

 Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" ranks among the all-time great adaptations; it's a case of a writer taking another person's work and infusing it with new life. People speak about Howard Ashman's "Little Shop" in a similar way. Ashman's show has become so influential, it has mostly eclipsed the memory of the film from 1960.


There is an obvious "dialogue" between Sweeney and Little Shop, though I'm not sure Ashman acknowledged this in print. Sweeney tells himself that he is avenging the "death" of his beloved wife, but soon, he just becomes a mass murderer (and in fact *kills* the same person he claims to worship-above-all-others). Along the same lines, Howard Ashman's Seymour tells us that his greed is in service of his love:

There's Audrey--
Lovely Audrey.
If life were tawdry...
And impoverished as before...
She might not like me.
She might not want me.
Without my plant--
She might not love me anymore.

Seymour is wrong. Also, he is so careless, he allows his paramour to wander into the lair of the plant (a plant-creature who, of course, takes the opportunity to go in for the kill).

At the end of Sondheim's iconic show, the lyrics explicitly link Sweeney to all humankind:

Sweeney waits in the parlor hall.
Sweeney leans off the office wall.
No one can help, nothing can hide you--
Isn't that Sweeney there beside you?

Following Sondheim's lead, Ashman has his characters look directly at the audience; the chorus gives a warning about Reagan-era heartlessness and avarice.

Hold your hat and hang onto your soul.
Something's coming to eat the world whole.
If we fight it, we still have a chance.
But whatever they offer you--
Though they're slopping the trough for you--
Please...whatever they offer you...
Don't feed the plants.

It's appropriate that NYC is now offering one of history's most celebrated Sweeneys--Nicholas Christopher--in the role of Seymour. He is sensational. Also, he gets thoughtful support from Sherie Rene Scott, in a committed performance. (I expected that Scott would get entrance applause--she is a Broadway legend, and this is her first major musical in approximately ten years--but ticket-holders sometimes surprise me.)

This one is a no-brainer. Nicholas Christopher will be onstage until mid-February.


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