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Little Shop of Horrors

By Nicholas Walsh

Forget reading the rest of this article – drop it, and rush to the St.
Jacobs Country Playhouse to check out K–W Musical Productions’
latest, Little Shop of Horrors, playing now until Saturday. As
director David Atkins rightly proclaims, “The lovable characters
and high–energy Motown music will have you dancing and
singing all the way out of the theatre.”
Mushnik’s Skid Row Florist Shop is just as its name implies –
a total dump. The owner’s nerdy assistant, Seymour Krelbourn
(Max DeNardis), is nothing more than a total failure as a florist
and the scapegoat for lousy business. Completing this trio of
hopeless slum residents is Audrey (Leslie-Anne Wickens), a shy
Marilyn Monroe–esque leading lady, who is caught in a terrible
relationship with an eccentric and sadistic dentist. It seems, at the
opening of the production, that all is lost for these two, until
Seymour reveals a strange and interesting new plant that he’s
been trying to nurse to health. Things slowly begin to look up
when, after placing this plant in the window, business
miraculously booms. Seymour is now under real pressure to get
the plant healthy – but what to feed it?
For those who may fear our community’s theatre will grow
hungry and fall into an abyss of exclusively musical performance,
much of the acting in Little Shop provides delicious nourishment.
Above all, DeNardis shines as the adorable and hapless Seymour.
His smooth demeanor and well–rounded portrayals of varying
aspects of the character draws the audience in, yet leaves it
guessing and wanting more. The undeniable highlight of the show
comes in his (and our supposed!) shock at discovering Audrey II’s
ability to talk. With regard to his more musical exploits, DeNardis
and Emmanuel Brown (Audrey II) blow the roof off the playhouse
in their duet “Feed Me,” a performance itself worthy of a standing

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