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Last Thursday night, while many University of Maine students remained safe on campus, a giant people-eating Venus Fly Trap named Audrey II overwhelmed the stage of the Bangor Opera House for the Penobscot Theatre’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”
The musical is based on the book by Howard Ashman, about a struggling flower shop trying to make a buck in the backwards town of Skidrow. The cast of characters includes Seymour, a shy but intelligent worker who is hopelessly in love with his coworker Audrey, a flighty blonde bombshell with a sadistic dentist boyfriend hopped up on nitrous oxide (UMaine’s own academic advisor, Dominick Varney). Both characters work under the flower shop’s owner, Mushnik, who manages to sing and dance across stage in a Danny DeVito-esqe way until he meets his demise in Act II. Mushnik was played by the PTC’s own producing artistic director, Scott R.C. Levy.
Just when our characters believe they will never break through the chain link and leave Skidrow behind, their ticket out comes in the form of a chemically engineered plant made by Seymour. The mysterious Venus fly trap brings the shop immediate success but refuses to grow unless blood is drawn. Seymour manages to keep the Audrey II – “Two-ie” – named for Seymour’s interoffice love interest, happy with pricks of a finger but eventually Two-ie cries out the magical words, “Feed me, Seymour!” and characters begin to disappear. By the end of Act I, Audrey doesn’t have a boyfriend, and Mushnik’s Flower Store doesn’t have a Mushnik.
Although Seymour is keeping Two-ie’s eating habits a mystery, nothing can be kept from Skidrow’s eyes and ears. The PTC cast three snappy girls as Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette, a clever group who keeps the audience entertained and informed throughout the performance with their intertwining personalities. This trio doesn’t miss anything. By the end of the performance, they are the only known survivors of the Audrey II epidemic. The costumes of all of the characters gradually become flashier as Seymour gains more recognition. However, the PTC displayed the characters’ rise to fame with the trio’s wardrobe. At the beginning of the production, the girls are shown in cut off shorts and high tops, and by the finale, they are in evening gowns.
The energetic singing and dancing had audience members clapping and moving in their seats along with the beats as if they also were being put into a trance by Two-ie. If those exuberant numbers weren’t what made the PTC’s production a hit, then it surely was their ability to amaze and puzzle the audience when Two-ie was found even larger than before with every new scene as if she had been growing before our very eyes. Not to mention the enormous puppet’s ability to actually consume characters on stage. When Audrey is willingly eaten by Two-ie in the second act to keep Seymour’s fame afloat, I found myself wondering what it would be like to be eaten by the giant Venus Fly Trap – where would that singing esophagus lead?
Although the production dealt with the issues of violent relationships, nitrous oxide abuse and getting away with murder, the lyrics and showmanship had the audience laughing hysterically from the opening number until the finale. Dominick Varney amazed us by playing countless characters, and even switching into many of those personalities within minutes of each other in the musical number “The Meek Shall Inherit” where he successfully played and wore the correct costumes for Mr. Bernstein, Mrs. Luce and Skip Snip.
“Hold your hat and hang on to your soul, something’s coming to eat the world whole,” the company sings in the final number. By this time, even Seymour has been consumed by Two-ie and now she is coming for all of us. The final scene shows a scientist ordering clippings to be taken so that Two-ie can be mass marketed into homes across the country, allowing everyone to have a cannibalistic Venus Fly Trap of their own. However, Two-ie’s secret dies when Seymour is made into lunch. The company extended this final advice to the audience in a powerful finale that had us all questioning our houseplants; “whatever they offer you, please don’t feed the plants.”
The cast and crew of “Little Shop of Horrors” included three UMaine students, one of which was Allen Adams: the movement behind Two-ie herself.
The next Penobscot Theatre Company production will be “The Night of the Iguana” by Tennessee Williams. Student rush tickets are available the night of each performance for $10. This show will open May 7. More information can be found on penobscottheatre.org.
Bangor Daily News