Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is a Halloween Treat at Susquehanna Stage Co.

What's more classic than Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS? Whether you love the original black-and-white cult classic film too, or only know the musical, there's little that's more fun. And in an area that's been oversaturated with multiple productions of certain other shows at Halloween-time for several years, it's a relief to see Audrey II and her ragtag band of misfits show up on the stage for the season.

Mushnik's Skid Row Florists is barely alive and just doing business, as ever, and now it's standing on the corner of Skid Row over at Susquehanna Stage Company in Marietta. Directors Nick Smith and Timothy Monaghan have pulled out all the stops, with a revolving stage showing both the exterior of the shop and Skid Row itself, and the interior that seems to become increasingly small as its celebrity occupant, Audrey II, grows... and grows... and grows.

So let's get down to brass tacks here: SSC has given us a magnificent Audrey II. Puppeteer Liz Boyer manipulates the bloodthirsty giant flytrap with aplomb and obvious hunger, voicEd Loudly and proudly by Adam Dienner, who gives his all to Audrey II's desperate refrain of "Feed me!" This Audrey II boasts a few special features as well, in the form of moving green tentacles played by Sarah Biltz and Ryan Kimbark. These two young actors help Audrey make it even easier to feed herself than you might expect of a giant-sized carnivorous plant-monster.

She's tended, of course, by the meek and gentle Seymour, here played by Adam Rineer, and he's, you should pardon the word, delicious in it. Could there be a sweeter total nebbish in the universe? It's not likely. He is, as ever, in love with the beautiful and not-quite-with-it Audrey. Stacia Smith is a marvelous Audrey. If you've heard her sing before, add an adenoidal New York accent, and prepare for a "Somewhere That's Green" that knocks it out of the ballpark. Audrey's boyfriend and nemesis, the fiendish, nitrous-happy Orin the dentist, is Bob Checchia in fine form and an Elvis wig that has a life of its own (it's practically a separate meal for Audrey II). If you do not laugh so hard at Checchia's "Dentist!" that you begin to cry or lose other bodily control, you may have no soul. And Mr. Mushnik, florist and overseer of this mad brigade, is James Landis, as Mushnik as a Mushnik can be, suddenly fond of his klutz of an employee when Seymour's strange and interesting tropical plant becomes New York's biggest celebrity and serial killer.

No one ever really notices that the girl-group trio is the backbone and real leads of this show, however, and Cara Ditzler, Julia Howey, and Jordyn McCrady as Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronette are the secret stars of the production - backups to almost everyone else's vocals, occasional characters with dialogue, and the Greek chorus that narrates the story in their songs. McCrady's Ronette feels a bit more Shangri-La than Ronnie Spector, if one remembers the stage personas of the old girl groups, a little more bad-girl than not (the Shangri-Las gave us "Leader of the Pack," the ultimate bad-girl girl group song), but this trio is all in good fun. They're also wonderfully costumed, as is Audrey (the girl, not the plant) by Jacquee Johnson, and look as gloriously Sixties as one might wish.

LITTLE SHOP is a show that should be ridiculously fun, as was its original Off-Broadway production, and so this production is. The cast and crew never take themselves too seriously, except about selling a great show, and their clear enjoyment of the show is infectious. It's the best Halloween event in the area, and is, appropriately, on through the 30th. There really should be a Halloween night showing with a party - why must the 31st be a Monday?

For tickets and information, visit susquehannastageco.com.

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