The ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ has aged nicely, considering it was copyrighted the same year I was born. The story is straightforward enough: geeky Seymour, an orphan taken in by Mr. Mushnik (left), and his ‘not-so-secret’ crush Audrey, both work at Mr. Mushnik ‘skid row’ flower shop. I was too busy taking photos to note how accurate the Korean subtitles were, but the Korean audience seemed to laugh in all the right places. His face isn’t visible in this picture, but the wino (center, on ground) is the only Korean actor in the production.

Seymour with his discovery of a mysterious plant, still pretty small this early in the first act.

As the fame of this mysterious plant spreads and Seymour is invited to speak on the radio, the gang anxiously listens.

A photographer’s note: this is where my most recent acquisition – a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 ultra wide-angle lens – came in really handy. I’m sitting in the front row with Kiwi and have plenty of room to spare – with no distortions either!

The trio of singers were either on stage or just off-stage (but still present in the scene) for much of the show.

Audrey with a broken arm from her pain-loving boyfriend.

It’s during this song that we learn the pain-loving boyfriend’s preferred occupation.

 

Orin giving Seymour a piece of his mind – note the plant’s growth, which was the result of all the blood Seymour had been offering.

Kiwi felt that Mushnik (in real life, Christopher Mullins) was one of the best actors on the stage.

Some very cute dancing between two of the principal actors.

Seymour trying to negotiate with a plant – it’s here when the idea comes to rid the world of Orin.

After attaching a gas mask to enjoy some nitrous oxide, Orin discovers he can’t get the gas mask off. Somehow I figured singing with a gas mask on would be difficult on, but David Lohmann made it work quite well.

The off-stage quartet of musicians provided some excellent accompaniment, nicely balanced sound with the vocalists, and despite the modern electronic nature of the instruments, they fit the soundtrack quite well.

There’s no orchestra pit to speak of, and (probably) not enough room off-stage for the band; that said, the action on-stage was nicely visible from virtually every seat in the house.

I was a bit busy with the picture-taking to take in this particular plot point… but Kang Hoon (right) deserves some serious credit for pulling off at least five named roles and a couple interesting costume changes.

Audrey gets fed to Audrey 2.

Don’t feed the plants!

A curtain call, sans curtain.

As usual, the Camarata Music Company put together an excellent show with few difficulties apparent. A couple of feedback issues with the sound, which were quickly resolved. I just wish the show could’ve gone on for more than one weekend, but the Haechi Hall space was a good one to use, for what it’s worth.

For more information about Camarata Music Company and their upcoming performances, check out camaratamusic.com.

© Chris Backe – 2011
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