Bangor, beware.
There’s a gigantic, people-eating plant at the Bangor Opera House, and it’s famished. Audrey II needs human blood and flesh to survive and thrive in the Queen City and beyond. If not properly fed, this plant gets very, very angry and bursts into song.
Penobscot Theatre Company is closing out its 50th season with the cult classic “Little Shop of Horrors” through July 14 at the Bangor Opera House. It is as thrilling, in its own way, as “Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical” was last year. This season’s closer is a delightful and entertaining show that features a talented cast and crew of local folks and out-of-towners. And that toothy green puppet is to die for, literally.
The show is based on the 1960 film by Roger Corman. It premiered off-off Broadway in 1982 with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. Penobscot Theatre Company last produced it in 2008. It is a favorite of high school and college theater departments.
Notre Dame theater professor Matt Hawkins, who directed last season’s “Peter and the Starcatcher,” perfectly paces the show, set on Skid Row in New York City, so that it builds to a wonderfully frenzied finale. His cast of nine, including a puppeteer, create a tight, near perfect ensemble with no missteps in the opening night performance on Saturday.
Eric Michael Byers (Seymour) is charmingly nerdy as the flower shop worker, who discovers the unusual plant during an eclipse. Byers, who grew up in Hermon and attended the theater company’s Dramatic Academy, holds the audience in the palm of his hand despite the character’s bandaged fingers.
Byers, whose father works for the Bangor Daily News, is a charismatic and talented performer who holds his own with Penobscot Theatre Company pros Dominick Varney (Orin the dentist) and Ben Layman (Mushnik, the flower shop owner). It is always a treat when a home-grown talent returns to the Opera House stage while pursuing a career in the Big Apple as Byers is. Here’s hoping he’ll be back for the 51st season.
As Seymour’s coworker and love interest, Olivia Miller (Audrey) gives the character a waifish quality that fits in nicely with Byers’ nerdiness. Miller’s portrayal of Audrey’s inability to leave her abusive and controlling dentist boyfriend is heartbreakingly accurate. She and Hawkins deserve credit for not playing this relationship for laughs. Information is available in the theater lobby about Partners for Peace, a local support group for victims’ of domestic violence.
Varney and Layman give over-the-top performances that captivate Penobscot Theatre Company regulars. Both were in the 2008 production with Varney reprising his role as the dentist this season. Layman voiced the plant back then. Both beautifully with less experienced castmates. The director rarely reins in these actors’ scenes, chewing to the delight of audiences familiar with their work.
The show uses a trio of women as a kind of Greek chorus to help tell the story and move the plot. Danielle Jackman (Chiffon), Erica Shields (Ronnette) and Rebekah Novak (Crystal) form a fantastic singing and dancing trio.
The true star of this production is Audrey II, a series of puppets that get bigger and bigger as the show goes on until the largest practically fills the entire stage in Act Two. Designed by Will Smith, Rob Cutler and Carrie Fowler, the puppets are rented from the Puppet Arts Program in the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut.
Voiced by Zachary Spreng and operated by puppeteer Thomas Demers, Audrey II acts a bit like a 3-year-old when it demands, “Feed me!” and sings “Suppertime.” Somehow, Spreng and Demers make this carnivorous plant so charming theatergoers would willingly throw themselves into her jaws.
The technical team of Tricia A. Hobbs (set design), Izumi Inaba (costume design), Jess Fialko (lighting design), Neil E. Graham (sound design) and Daniel Bilodeau (props design), along with the band led by Music Director Phil Burns, create an eye- and ear-popping Skid Row that serves the story and the performers beautifully.
This show is pure fun. It will delight all who walk through the doors of the Opera House and risk becoming plant food.
Penobscot Theatre’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors” runs through July 14 at the Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St. For information, visit penobscottheatre.org or call 942-3333.
