Howard Ashman - Little Shop Of Horrors: Original Cast Album (1982 Off-Broadway Cast)
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Artist: Howard AshmanComposer: Alan Menken
Orchestra: Alan Menken
Performer: Martin Robinson
Performer: Lee Wilkof
Performer: Ron Taylor
Performer: Hy Anzell
Performer: Sheila Kay Davis
Performer: Ellen Greene
Performer: Leilani Jones
Performer: Franc Luz
Performer: Jennifer Leigh Warren
Edition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 1992-08-25
Music Label: Decca U.S.
Soundtracks:
- Little Shop of Horrors (Prologue)
- Skid Row (Downtown)
- Da-Doo
- Grow For Me
- Ya Never Know
- Mushnik & Son
- Dentist!
- Somewhere That's Green
- Feed Me (Git It)
- Now (It's Just the Gas)
- Closed For Renovation
- Suddenly, Seymour
- Suppertime
- The Meek Shall Inherit
- Medley
- Don't Feed the Plants (Finale)
Music reviews of Little Shop Of Horrors: Original Cast Album (1982 Off-Broadway Cast)
Music Review: A must-get for Little Shop fans, but really not for anyone else
Rating: 4 Stars
I love Little Shop of Horrors, and my biggest regret is that I've only seen the stage show when my high-school performed it the year after I graduated. That will be remedied in the future, but for now, let's get on with the review. This disc is the recording of the original cast of the theatrical run of Little Shop of Horrors in 1982. Ellen Greene plays as Audrey, who went on to reprise the role in the 1986 film version. Most people who know LSoH mainly have seen the film version, and are familiar with those versions of the songs. This album may cause a negative reaction from those at first, for a couple reasons: 1) The film's score is a lot "bigger" in terms of bombast and production. The theatrical arrangements are much simpler. 2) Some of the songs they know are either a) missing, or b) a little different. Notably, there is no "Mean, Green Mother" and "The Meek Shall Inherit" is quite different, and "Some Fun Now" is actually "Ya Never Know". Not to mention that the acting in parts of the songs is not Hollywood-quality (it's not supposed to be!) and this album may be a bit of a turn off. For those people (and actually for any LSoH fan), I recommend the 2003 Broadway version; the acting is better and the songs are bigger. However, now that I've gotten all that out of the way, this is not a bad album! It's actually quite interesting once you get into it, but let me go ahead and now get my personal annoyances out of the way. "Mushnik & Son" is heavily abridged, as is "Now (Just The Gas)", and "Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)" is gone entirely. Lee Wilkof's Seymour may have been okay on stage, but as an audio recording the lines come off as forced and a little too quick. However, the dentist, Orin, comes off much differently than later incarnations, and it's a little creepy, though this works well. Ron Taylor is Audrey II, and while the spoken lines aren't great (at least on this recording), the singing is excellent. He doesn't carry the same energy as Levi Stubbs did in the film version, but he rocks it in a different way, and I like it. There are also some interesting things happening with the instruments that were abandoned entirely in later versions; it almost sounds like it's being done with cheap keyboards at times, but it gives it a very unique sound and one I wish that had at least carried over a little more in later versions. Ellen Greene's Audrey is about the same as the film, with some minor differences in her tone (this was four years before the movie was released, after all) though she sings some of the songs slightly differently (one of her first lines in "Skid Row (Downtown)" is sung so differently it was jarring, though my girlfriend actually preferred it, so YMMV). Mushnik is...different. Not bad, but not the same Mushnik you know. And then there's the ending. Fans of the film know it ends with Seymour and Audrey running into their little house from Audrey's daydreams, and then we see the little Audrey II plant in their garden...ooh, scary! Well, that ending was tacked on, because in this recording (and even originally in the movie, which is a rant for another day) everyone is eaten. Audrey gets chomped by the plant and Seymour pulls her out, but once they get out of the building, Audrey dies in his arms after requesting he feed her to it so that in a way they can be together forever. He does, but shortly thereafter realizes that Audrey II's plan is to take over the world with thousands of harvested clones; he attempts to murder the plant himself; failing to do any external damage, he grabs a knife and lunges into the gaping maw of the plant, and is eaten. The three singing ladies than sing of the outcome: similar events happen all over the country, and soon the plants are everywhere, attacking major cities and basically becoming the plot of a B-movie (which is the point!)
So, to sum it all up: If you are a fan of the film and are starting to explore more of the recordings, I suggest you first get the 2003 Broadway recording, then get this one once you are familiar with the songs and the changes. If you are already a big fan, or actually saw this live (in which case you should already have this, shame on you!), then I highly recommend this!
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