Little Shop of Horrors

Audrey II is our local Cher—rising like a phoenix, once again, to perform for her adoring fans. With many miles and plastic surgeries behind her, this darling diva is defying all odds by making yet another of her countless comebacks, this time in Nevada City. Audrey II is showing off her latest nips and tucks in the Foothill Theatre Company’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, and it’s hard to believe this perky puppet is 15 years old. This three-part plant puppet really has come home, considering it was Nevada City resident Ralph Fetterly who first designed Audrey II for the Sacramento Theatre Company’s production of Little Shop of Horrors in the late 1980s. Since then, she has been rented out to scores of theaters throughout California from Bakersfield to Redding and Lake Tahoe to San Francisco, each time going under a little needle and thread to keep up her appearances.

Looking fresh as a daisy (well, a slightly road-worn daisy), Audrey II has captured the spotlight once again as the mysterious bloom that causes terrible trouble for poor, unsuspecting, and eventually very anemic plant owner Seymour (Shaun Carroll).

Little Shop of Horrors is at once both audaciously campy and strangely sweet, a sentimental story of Skid Row florist Seymour who captures clerk Audrey’s heart and saves his boss’ failing flower shop when he discovers a hungry plant with an insatiable appetite.

The first Little Shop incarnation was a 1960 cult classic sci-fi film that begot a 1982 off-Broadway musical, which begot the 1986 Rick Moranis-Steve Martin-Ellen Greene movie musical, which begot countless local productions.

The Foothill Theatre’s production captures everything that makes this musical so charming—it’s fun, irreverent, earnest, delightfully demented, and mysteriously moving.

Out of a bouquet of good performances, two really bloom: Karen Casl as the voluptuous yet vulnerable Audrey, and Fredrick Snyder as the evil-incarnate D.D.S., Orin. Casl’s voice and inflections endear her to the audience, while Snyder’s depraved antics cause the audience to good-naturedly hiss during his two show-stoppers: one, where he pays homage to sadomasochist dentists everywhere, and the second, when he dies laughing—literally.

And of course, center stage is the old trouper, the talented Audrey II—once again showcasing why she’s the grande dame of plant puppets. Long may she leaf.