Love Halloween? Of course, you do! We're all kids at heart. So why not maximize your celebration by attending the premier of Little Shop of Horrors at Santa Barbara Theater, where you are guaranteed a knee slapping, finger snapping, toe tapping, hand clapping (phew!) heck of a good time.
Set in Skid Row ("where the cabs don't stop, the food is slop, and the hopheads flop in the snow"), this early 80's Off-Broadway hit musical is an adaptation of a 1960 movie directed by Roger Corman, which featured a young, yet unknown Jack Nicholson. Simultaneously comedic and poignant, horrific and sweet, funny and pathetic, kitschy yet genuine, Little Shop relates the story of down-on-his-luck nerd Seymour Krelborn, who acquires a strange and exotic plant that quickly catapults him into the limelight, bringing new-found respect and favor at the floundering flower shop where he works as a clerk, and dramatically elevates his chance for riches, romance, and a way out of his dreary dead-end existence. The problem (Seymour soon discovers) is that his botanical wonder, whose appetite is voracious, thrives on fresh blood, necessitating the ongoing demise of several hapless humans destined for "Audrey 2's" dinner!
With a giant flesh-eating, in-your-face, talking plant as its central character, and a supporting cast comprised of a maniacal sadistic dentist (David White), a nebbish schlemiel hero (Federico Fonseca), a co-dependent girl-next-door sex kitten (Graciela Ringness), a cantankerous, opportunistic Yiddish proprietor (Larry Schuh), an omnipresent trio of jivey doo-wop singers (Morgan Adams, Fernanda Rabasa and Veronica Garcia), and a wildly colorful assortment of skid row derelicts/characters (Wally Lobbato, Norma Schuh and David White), Little Shop of Horrors is a wonderfully silly, disarmingly touching, romantically sentimental, campy musical classic that entertains non-stop. Be forewarned, however, that long after viewing Little Shop of Horrors, attendees will very likely experience an uncontrollable urge to sing the production's irresistibly catchy and creatively droll tunes, written by Howard Ashan and Alan Menken.
Little Shop of Horrors, zanily directed by the dynamic duo of Federico Fonseca and Paul Guerrero (Godspell, Nunsense, Rocky Horror Show) opens October 31 and runs weekly, every Tuesday through December 19. Tickets are $350 pesos for a three-course pre-performance dinner (served in the newly renovated upstairs restaurant) and the show. Tickets for the show only (space permitting) are $220 pesos. To see more details, click here.
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