★★★★½ Razor-sharp revival of B-movie musical is about as good as it gets.

This review was first published on February 24, 2016, in reference to the premiere season in Sydney at the Hayes Theatre.

Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman’s 1982 cult classic, Little Shop of Horrors, is one of those indestructible musicals, seemingly destined to triumph again and again and winning a new generation of fans with every incarnation. That’s not to say that it can’t flop, or at least wilt, if the creative juices aren’t flowing properly. No fear of that though in Dean Bryant’s lovingly-husbanded, razor sharp staging, whose carefully-fertilised tendrils fill the tiny Hayes Theatre to the gunwales prior to setting sail on national tour later this year.

The unprepossessing source material is a low-budget 1960 schlock-horror movie telling the tongue-in-cheek tale of a put-upon florist’s assistant, living in a wretched city suburb going by the name Skid Row, whose life and fortunes are transformed when an alien plant spore lands in his back room. Bit by bit it grows into a national sensation. The only catch is the creature feeds on blood, posing a dilemma for nice-guy...