Little Shop Of Horrors Tour

A pretty full house in Belfast and a standing ovation for the cast which they thoroughly deserved. I wouldn't say there was a weak link amongst them although I did have problems with the diction of Crystal, Chiffon and Ronnette a lot of the time.

Sam Lupton and Stephanie Clift are both spot on as Audrey and Seymour. Great acting, great vocals and how they don't manage to get tangled up in those telephone wires, I'll never know! Audrey is much more likeable than she was in the film for me and Steph Clift really shines in Somewhere that's Green. Lovely duet with Sam and he never puts a foot wrong throughout the whole show.

Loved Rhydian as the dentist. Highly amused to see him enter stage at the opening as a tramp which the reviews don't seem to have mentioned. His Orin was suitably nasty, sadistic and hilarious, and his voice is impressive. The four different characters he plays in Act Two showed his versatility. Four roles, one of which was Mrs Luce! and four different American accents. Not an easy ask.

I didn't get a programme so I'm not sure who's operating and singing the plant. Sterling job by both of them though. Haha, too funny!

The whole production is high energy, loads going on even with a small cast, really funny and I loved it.

I just listened to those audios and the cast sounds fabulous, especially Sam Lupton. Wish this was coming near me!

I really enjoyed this today. It was my first time seeing the show and quite honestly over the past few weeks haven't felt too fussed about actually going to see this for some reason even though i;d booked. I went anyway and as often is the case i ended up really enjoying it. I find it often happens the shows I've not been too sure about or anticipating end up being some of my faves. Anyway i thought the score was great, all the cast were brilliant, energetic, funny and had great voices. It was a really fun afternoon.

I meant to add as well that as as i can remember the band was only three strong yet somehow managed to sound very loud and full. It was excellent.

Did you see it welsh_tenor? What did you think?

I came to this as a Little Shop of Horrors newbie having never seen the film and knowing only the title track from the musical. However, I absolutely loved every second of the show tonight.

It's hard to imagine a better pairing as Seymour and Audrey than Sam Lupton and Stephanie Clifton. Stunning vocals, brilliant comic timing and so much infectious energy on that stage. They're undoubtedly the two leads I've most enjoyed watching this year. Stephanie in particular looked to be having a ball.  

I also really liked the performances of all three members of the Chorus with great work from Sasha Latoya, Vanessa Fisher and Cassie Clare. Sasha in particular has an incredible voice that shone through in the beautiful harmonies that frame much of the story. Paul Kissaun also impressed as Mushnik - great stage presence. The only weak link was Rhydian. He certainly gave it his all but it was just a bit too much and felt too forced for me.

One thing I didn't expect, perhaps assuming that this would just be a fun, throwaway evening but little more, was just how fantastic the score is. Pretty much everything featuring the Chorus, as well as Suddenly Seymour and Somewhere That's Green, is fantastic. The first thing I did on returning home was to snap up the more recent Broadway cast recording.

Credit to Selladoor too - I thought the staging of this and especially how they brought Audrey 2 to life was brilliantly done. I've found their shows a bit inconsistent in standard this year, with American Idiot quite underwhelming, Footloose generally good with a terrific young cast, and then Little Shop of Horrors which unexpectedly blew me away. I might give feeding the plants a miss tonight.

Hello plannietink05. Welcome to the board.

Thanks, @burlybear and anthony40
I've come here from BroadwayWorld.com and I can already see there's far more class and decorum on this page than anything I've seen on BBW so I'm very happy to be here!

Like the sound of this - was a good tour the last time round

On a related note the Twitter account has become active again recently after not tweeting since 2016...

She was excellent in the garden theatre Pippin over the summer - a much better actress than I previously thought her to be. Looks as if she has been working on it.

The Selladoor tour was excellent, I'm very excited it's coming back x

I'm a huge fan of Little Shop, and a massive fan of Regent's Park and their reworking of some classic musicals, but that production was a bit of a miss for me unfortunately.  You can't go too wrong with Little Shop as the material is so strong, but the more abstract cartoony staging with skyscrapers in shopping carts, Audrey singing Somewhere That's Green on top of a ladder and the like just felt... off.  I don't think the musical is impossible to reimagine (see the fantastic Pasadena Playhouse version in LA with a brilliantly active pink female Audrey II) but this one just hit the mark.

If they were to revive any London production, I'd prefer the Menier Chocolate Factory's attempt.  That was fresh enough whilst still being very true to the original.  It was also the first time I'd personally ever seen the street urchins reimagined - the choreography and performance giving a much younger and grungier vibe rather than the 'Supremes"/60s girl group treatment they traditionally get.

The Selladoor tour offered nothing new, but it's passable I guess - again because the material is strong.

I really wish someone over here would have the guts to do what the Pasadena Playhouse in LA did with this from a casting perspective.  Audrey II was female (Amber Riley riffing her way through the score) and transgender actress MJ Rodriguez played Audrey - which gave a completely new and beautiful take on the character's vulnerability and struggles in life.  There are a few recordings on YouTube and it really works and shakes the show up in the right way (that is, without the need for skyscrapers in shopping carts!). It's a crime that production was never given a larger life with a Broadway transfer or similar, but the safe, traditional, copy and paste version with Jonathan Groff opened in New York at roughly the same time and blocked any immediate future it had at the time.