Somewhere in the wilds of Connecticut, rock nyc writer Mary Magpie is portraying Chiffon in a revival of Alan Mencken and Howard Ashman's rock musical "The Little Shop Of Horrors".
Unfortunately, I can't make it and while we eagerly await Helen Bach's review, I figured I'd give the soundtrack a listen.
"Little Shop of Horrors" is the the story of an assistant at a florist who discovers a plant that looks like a venus flytrap but grows to tremendous proportions when it is fed BLOOD. Written by Alan Mencken and the late Howard Ashman (they wrote the songs for Disney's "Beauty And The Beast" and "The Little Mermaid") , it is a 60's pastiche with Motown, soul funk work outs and girl group homages. Speaking of which, Mary's role is as a member of a Greek chorus/Girl group who sing terrific doo wopy back up.
I didn't catch the hugely succesful take on Roger Corman's low budget (in two days!) 1960 horror movie, musical when it was on Broadway, but I did see the movie musical with Steve Martin, Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene as Audey, Oh and, holy moly, Levi Stubbs as Audrey II!!
I liked it didn't love it and I feel it is because though the songs are good, they are seldom great. "Skidrow (Downtown)" is good girl groupy and "Da Doo" -which literally walks the song along, is doo wop. "Git It (Feed Me)" is a funk work out and a soulful gleeful wickedness. And best of all "Suddenly Seymore is a first rate 60s ballad.
The rest of it is less thrilling but still, Spiderman would kill for a song as good as "Somewhere That's Green".
So I am sorry I am gonna miss Mary but hope somebody has filmed it. You're gonna miss her as well. It finished yesterday!
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