REVIEW: ‘Little Shop’ whets appetite for City Circle’s silver season

CORALVILLE — City Circle Theatre Company is opening its silver anniversary season with a golden nod to midcentury sci-fi fun, complete with an otherworldly plant possessing an unusual appetite.

“Little Shop of Horrors” never grows old. It’s a bloody romp through stereotypes having anything but stereotypical adventures, set to a 1960s rock ’n’ roll beat.

The bloody, bouncy musical, peppered with some salty language, opened Friday, Sept. 16, and continues through Sept. 25 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

Set in an urban Skid Row, the actors are tasked with breathing life into stock characters ranging from nerdy to wordy, ditsy to deranged. City Circle’s cast, under Elizabeth Tracey’s artistic direction and Jaci Visser’s musical direction, is up to the task.

The action centers on a rundown flower shop with cracks in its plaster and cracks in its staff.

Ryan Shellady is sweet and gullible as Seymour Krelborn, a budding botanist obsessed with a strange plant that suddenly appeared after a total eclipse of the sun. It keeps wilting, and he’s wilting under the frustration of finding the food it needs.

Victoria Shellady is sweet and sad as Seymour’s co-worker Audrey. (Side note: The actors are married in real life). She’s a bouffant blonde poured into skintight dresses, who shows up with another bruise after each date with her demented boyfriend. Little does she know, she’s the apple of Seymour’s shy eyes — to the extent that he named his new plant the Audrey II.

Uri Lessing is seldom sweet, but always funny as Mr. Mushnik, the flower shop owner on the verge of putting his business to bed, for lack of customers.

The tide quickly turns with the prick of a finger, showing Seymour just what plant food the Audrey II craves. Blood, and lots of it. No grocery store pot roast will do. Must be human, must be fresh.

And they’re off on a merry, murderous romp that brings their hopes and dreams into view, as the Audrey II grows in girth and gluttony, luring curiosity-seekers and customers, as well as the media, into the suddenly spruced-up shop.

Business is booming, echoed through Harrison Shaffer’s booming basso voice for the plant. He lays out the Audrey II’s ultimate plan one drop at a time, through a series of seductive, soul-drenched songs.

Other characters come and go — some in mysterious ways — including Josh Payne, who’s an absolute gas as the sadistic dentist and Audrey’s oily boyfriend, slithering through his scenes and songs like an evil Elvis.

Always on the fringes and stepping strategically into the spotlight are the street urchins Crystal (Jenny Jones, taking the lead), Chiffon (Chastity Dillard) and Ronnette (Quiana Suttle). They surround their greaser-girl grit with sassy comebacks, snappy doo-wop moves from choreographer Shelby Zukin, and a fantastic wardrobe ranging from street-smarts to sparkling sequins from costume designer Marc Marcos.

Another major character in the show is some pretty amazing, flashy lighting, designed by Hans Hinrichsen. As the action ramps up in alien urgency, he drenches the stage and the flower shop with a trippy kaleidoscope of saturated, gyrating colors. Set designer Kent Reynolds has given him ample room to play inside the shop and out on the streets.

“Little Shop of Horrors” is a frisky romp built around the theme of no guts, no glory — with plenty of guts and a dash of gore.

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