{"id":112081,"date":"2026-07-15T13:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=112081"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:35:33","slug":"silly-little-shop-of-horrors-brings-laughs-to-masquers-playhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/silly-little-shop-of-horrors-brings-laughs-to-masquers-playhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Silly \u2018Little Shop of Horrors\u2019 brings laughs to Masquers Playhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"L-R, Dahlia Guidos, Olivia Reed, Cory Kahane and James Paul Gregory are overshadowed by monster plant Audrey II in Masquers Playhouse\u2019s \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d onstage in Point Richmond through Aug. 2. (Mike Padua via Bay City News)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
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By WOODY WEINGARTEN, BAY CITY NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A short loop of old \u201ccoming attractions,\u201d today known as trailers, precedes \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d at Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond.<\/p>\n

The projected film clips are a perfect intro to the staged musical comedy.\u00a0Included\u00a0are\u00a0a sci-fi wannabe thriller,\u00a0\u201cEarth vs. the Flying Saucers\u201d;\u00a0the fantastic\u00a0\u201cBride of the Gorilla\u201d with\u00a0a young Raymond Burr in a pre-Perry Mason\u00a0role; an imaginative box-office smash\u00a0\u201cCreatures of the Black Lagoon\u201d;\u00a0and\u00a0a little-known horror entry,\u00a0\u201c<\/em>The Vampire\u2019s Coffin.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

On opening night, the\u00a0hysterically funny\u00a0clip from the silent\u00a0film\u00a0\u201cThe Alligator People\u201d was\u00a0so\u00a0dated,\u00a0the\u00a0audience\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0help laughing;\u00a0there was a similar response to\u00a0excerpts\u00a0from\u00a0bad\u00a01950s movies.<\/p>\n

Masquers Playhouse\u2019s silly production of \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d combines a heap of over-the-top comedy, a touch of non-scary horror and a smidgen of unreal sci-fi. The music by Alan Menken and lyrics and book by Howard Ashman faithfully move the story along.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0principals in the\u00a0show,\u00a0which is\u00a0based on the 1960s\u00a0cult classic\u00a0film,\u00a0portray their characters with just the right amount of exaggeration to ensure the audience has fun:\u00a0James Paul Gregory\u00a0is the\u00a0nerdy Seymour, who gets caught up in the need to feed an extra-terrestrial plant; Megan Ratto\u00a0is\u00a0Audrey, a sexpot who endures domestic violence from \u201ca semi-sadist\u201d biker just because; John Mannion as Mushnik, a Skid Row plant store owner, a sort of villain,\u00a0manipulative boss and a guy who sprinkles\u00a0Yiddishisms\u00a0(oy vey, gevalt, matzah balls)\u00a0into his speech.<\/p>\n

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L-R, Megan Ratto, Cassidy Hill, Dahlia Guidos and Caitlyn Curl appear in \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d in Point Richmond. (Mike Padua via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A trio of foreground singers (Caitlyn Curl, Dahlia Guidos and Cassidy Hill), a throwback to\u00a0Motown girl acts,\u00a0is a\u00a0ragamuffin Greek chorus;\u00a0Cory Kahane\u00a0portrays the show\u2019s\u00a0abusive\u00a0dentist; he also plays\u00a0numerous\u00a0other\u00a0minor\u00a0comic\u00a0roles.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0production is marvelously acted, charmingly stage-crafted, and wondrously amusing.<\/p>\n

Most impressive is Audrey II,\u00a0the\u00a0bigger-than-life\u00a0monster (voiced by Benjamin Pierson) that thrives by munching on humans, while also\u00a0becoming\u00a0a magnet for\u00a0flower store\u00a0customers.\u00a0Starting\u00a0as a small plant that bites\u00a0its feeder\u2019s hand, it\u00a0grows into a huge people-eater.<\/p>\n

Sharon Swingle and Joshua Symonds deserve special credit for their Audrey II puppet designs, and Soline Mason and Olivia Reed should get gold stars for running the giant puppet\u00a0at the center of the action.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s\u00a0only tune\u00a0that\u00a0theatergoers\u00a0are\u00a0apt to leave singing or humming is \u201cSuddenly Seymour,\u201d\u00a0like when\u00a0the musical debuted\u00a0in 1982. But\u00a0on\u00a0opening night in Point Richmond, a handful of folks\u00a0could\u00a0be heard growling, \u201cFeed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next best song is\u00a0the\u00a0couple\u2019s\u00a0duet \u201cDown on Skid Row,\u201d in which Seymour moans about wanting to \u201cget\u00a0outta\u00a0here.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the show\u2019s flaws\u00a0is that\u00a0many\u00a0characters\u00a0awkwardly\u00a0enter and exit the stage by\u00a0walking in front of the shop.\u00a0And opening night\u00a0had a few,\u00a0likely one-off\u00a0errors \u2014\u00a0when a\u00a0clock fell\u00a0off the wall\u00a0and a metal bucket\u00a0knocked off a counter noisily spun wildly on the floor.<\/p>\n

Ably directed here by Symonds,\u00a0\u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d\u00a0had a\u00a0somewhat checkered\u00a0past before it became a campy cult classic. It\u00a0was\u00a0an off-off-Broadway show that premiered in 1982 and struggled\u00a0to reach off-Broadway. It\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0get to the Big Apple until 2003.<\/p>\n

A curiosity: The\u00a01960 Roger Corman\u00a0movie that\u00a0inspired\u00a0the original play became the basis for a second version of the musical.<\/p>\n

This rendition is two hours of bizarre, mirthful entertainment worth seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d continues through Aug. 2 at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through Aug. 2. Tickets are $30-$35 at\u00a0<\/strong>masquers.org.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sherwood \u201cWoody\u201d Weingarten, a longtime voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at\u00a0voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or on his websites, https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com<\/a>and\u00a0https:\/\/vitalitypress.com<\/a>. His books include Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner\u2019s breast cancer, aimed at male caregivers;\u00a0MysteryDates \u2014 How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I,<\/em> a compilation of 70 of his newspaper columns; and\u00a0Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates<\/em>, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that he co-authored with his then 8-year-old granddaughter.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L-R, Dahlia Guidos, Olivia Reed, Cory Kahane and James Paul Gregory are overshadowed by monster plant Audrey II in Masquers Playhouse\u2019s \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d onstage in Point Richmond through…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-woody-weingarten"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"