Little Shop of Horrors (2003 Broadway Revival Cast)
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Music CD Cover Edition: Music CD Format: Cast Recording CD Release Date: 2003-10-21 Music Label: Drg Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Little Shop of Horrors (2003 Broadway Revival Cast) Album
Free Music Review: The Disneyfication of a classic...
Hit: 2 Stars
This recording really didn't do a whole hell of a lot for me, to tell you the truth.
First thing I was hoping for was that they would somehow work "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" into it, as is the tradition with most revivals (to add in songs that were used in the movie), but no such luck. As much I hated the movie, I love that song. It's really the best thing that the film has to offer, but I guess the only way they could have included that song would be to use the movie ending instead of the original off-Broadway ending, and God knows we don't want that. So, that's something I can live with.
What I can't live with, however, is the overall SOUND of this thing. This is not a Disney story, but they went out of their way to make it sound like one. Roger Corman directed the original film, for God's sake. What more proof do you need that these characters should be very dark, depressed, and dismal? Where do they get off making Audrey sound like Aerial from "The Little Mermaid," and Seymour sound like Quasimodo? It's down-right disgusting.
And who in the hell said they could add all those damn clarinets, and flutes all over the place? Save that crap for The Lion King The key word here is band, not orchestra, but band. That's all this show needs in order to acquire that fifties/doowop/horror sound that we've all come to love. People get eaten in this show for freak's sake. The Disney sound has no place in it.
It's not without it's charm, however. Reg Rogers, for instance. NONE, I REPEAT, NONE of the other reviewers have even mentioned his name, and that pisses me off. He plays Orin, Bernstein, Snip, Luce, and everyone else. With this recording you get to hear ALL of those characters. "The Meek Shall Inherit," the way it was originally intended. One star for that.
Also, it has better versions of Mushnik's songs, which was tremendously helpful to me, since I just played Mushnik at my college, and I was able to use this album as a reference. The prelude to "Ya Never Know" is a key addition, not to mention the updated version of "Mushnik & Son," without all those crazy names in it. Those tracks especially came in handy, for me. Oh yeah, and I guess the actor who plays Mushnik is OK too. Another star for Lee Wilkoff.
I suppose Billy Porter was okay as the plant, but not as good as Levi Stubbs was in the movie. So, he's just going to have to share a star with Muschnik, I'm afraid.
As for the Ronnettes, unfortunately I can't think of anything they did on this version that was particularly outstanding. So, no stars for them.
I think I've covered everyone. So, over all, two stars for this recording. For Musnik and Orin. That's all I can bring myself to award this one with, I'm afraid. I don't know how many Tony's it won, but I hope it didn't get many. The whole Disney thing just ruined it for me.