Little Shop of Horrors. Photo by Tobi S. Lawrence. Playwright: Howard Ashman; Composer: Alan Menken. At: Quest Theatre Ensemble at 1609 W. Gregory. Phone: 312-458-0895; donations appreciated. Runs through: March 23
Thank god that Quest Theatre Ensemble's Little Shop of Horrors has a great doctor ( er, dentist ) in the house. But the problem is that the rest of the cast doesn't rise to the show-stealing heights of actor Bret Beaudry as the sadistic Orin Scravello D.D.S., or the gallery of other wacky characters he brings to life in this 1982 off-Broadway musical camp classic.
It's not that the rest of the cast isn't trying or working hard in their own right, but the tall and long-limbed Beaudry impresses the most in this delightful horror movie spoof by the Academy Award-winning team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken ( The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast ) . With his assured mastery of funny character accents, slithery physical humor and perfect comic timing, Beaudry shows up what is needed to make this production rise from just pleasantly average to consistently brilliant.
As the nerdy flower shop clerk Seymour, David Korzatkowski doesn't have the most beautiful singing voice, but he does honestly get across the pining Seymour has for his ditzy co-worker, Audrey ( a solidly sung and acted turn by Mary Candler ) . Brian Rabinowtiz's Mr. Mushnick gets the job done, as does Will Hare as the voice of Audrey II, the manipulative man-eating plant with aspirations of taking over the world.
Courtney Freed, Mallory Green and Vallea E. Woodbury also do well as the street urchins who double as a 1960s girl group Greek chorus. But as previously mentioned, their combined work pales in comparison to Beaudry who has stylistically mastered this wacky musical material.
The sometimes shaky sound design and poor audience sightlines don't help matters along. Director Andrew Park's staging and Kerrie Korzatkowski's choreography are both competent, but they don't mine all the comic potential out of this tale.
Also on the slightly disappointing scale is the puppet design for the fly-trap monster plant of Audrey II. With Quest's renown for creating elaborate and distinctive puppets and masks, their Audrey II looks tatty and a tad too simplified ( though the puppeteer David Leef gets a vigorous workout mightily manipulating the monster from inside ) .
On the plus side, the sliding skid row sets by Nick Rupard and Julie Taylor cleverly fit into Quest's small basement space while Tobi Lowrance's musical direction of the zombie-dressed musicians is a great help.
And let's not forget Quest's hallmark of a free admission charge, making this production accessible to audiences. What they'll get is a great gem of a musical brightened by Beaudry's brilliant performance. So what if the other elements don't gleam as brightly?