Uptown you cater to a million jerks.
Uptown you’re messengers and mailroom clerks
eating all your lunches at the hot dog carts.
The bosses take your money
And they break your hearts.
“Skidrow” from Little Shop of Horrors
There’s always a killjoy who wants to take an innocent tale like “Jack and the Beanstalk” and turn it into a Marxist cautionary tale about a boy rejecting the capitalist exchange of goods and climbing an imposing economic ladder to slay the giant capitalist by cutting down his access route to the sky. I always say to those killers of the dream, “Stop trying to make everything about class warfare and just enjoy a fairy tale.”
As I witnessed the end of the MUNY’s delightful Little Shop of Horrors on Wednesday night I became that Marxist killjoy. It’s not that it wasn’t hilarious and entertaining, it was that it turned the farcical movie version of the story into an ominous tale of materialistic greed and subjugation.
First there was a splendid set design of
skid row, featuring the expected signs advertising Pay-day loans, Adult bookstores, and MassageParlors. In the very middle is the innocent “Little Shop,” a flower shop that is failing in the engulfing neighborhood. As the musical progresses signs of success pop up on the flanks of the set advertising “Audrey II” the exotic, yet ominous plant that draws customers to the little shop. The signs testify to the internal materialist compromises in the shop. The media are invited in to tell the rags to riches story and make the Little Shop famous. They tell a clearly contrived tale of success.
Next, the characters of Skidrow, especially Seymour, Audrey, Orin and Mr. Mushnik. Seymour represents the downtrodden of society, never catching a break. In the Skidrow tune portraying the setting, Seymour sings:
Oh, I started life as an orphan,
a child of the street
Here on Skid Row.
He took me in, gave me shelter, a bed,
Crust of bread and a job
Treats me like dirt, calls me a slob,
Which I am.
Seymour lives up to his “slob” self-characterization by stumbling around the Shop, destroying the merchandise and nearly losing his job.
Then there’s Audrey, the lovely but ditsy heroine, abused and maligned by her dentist/ biker boyfriend Orin Scrivello. Like Seymour her self-image has fallen into the crapper from her sad upbringing.
Nobody ever
Treated me kindly
Daddy left early
Mama was poor
I’d meet a man and
I’d follow him blindly
He’d snap his fingers
Me, I’d say “sure”
These characters have the makings of a charming romantic couple, but that is not to be.
There’s the abusive boyfriend (Orin Scrivello), characterized as a sadistic dentist (sending the profession into a tailspin), standing for the one unsympathetic character, who can succeed in this brutal society. His fate is sealed in this moral tale.
Finally there’s Mr. Mushnik, the struggling small businessman about to close down his shop. He shows his kindness by taking in the unpromising Seymour and employing him, but his benign business has no attraction in Skid Row. He is depressed and hardened by his lot, and turns on Seymour early in the story.
Then there’s the diminutive plant Seymour names “Audrey II.” The growth and rapaciousness of this innocent into a giant carnivorous monster must stand for something. Since its tag line is “Feed me” we easily conclude that it associates with greed and insatiability. The plant develops a taste for Seymour’s blood and moves on quickly to cuts of meat and human sacrifices.
I doubt I would spoil the suspense by telling you in what order the plant devours the characters.
- The sadistic dentist
- The brutalized small businessman
- The girl friend without self-worth
- The noble, sword-wielding Seymour
Audrey II grows in size and vocal power with each person consumed. The symbolism is clear: the dominant class grows by consuming the lower classes.
If Director Maggie Burrows had stuck with the ending of the original movie of “Little Shop” I would not be such an irreverent socialist. In the movie version Seymour emerges from Audrey II, having rescued Audrey and fulfilling her dream of a “place that is Green.”
I’m his December Bride
He’s Father, he Knows Best
Our kids watch Howdy Doody
As the sun sets in the west
A picture out of Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Of course Audrey’s song drips with irony, since we know that the world of “Father Knows Best” does not exist, but the composers, Alan Ashman and Alan Menken, were content to end their horror/comedy farce with joyful irony.
Maggie Burrows was not satisfied with low-grade irony. She wanted a grotesque comedy, where Seymour and his true love remain consumed, the basso-booming Audrey II takes center stage as all the Audrey II cuttings dance in the anticipation of consuming the planet with their carnivorous appetites.
I couldn’t tell if anyone else in the audience felt a pang of disappointment, when the monster ended up victorious. We all clapped for the delightful performance of the period doo-wop music and harmonious back-up singers some referred to as a Greek chorus. They danced and sang their way into our hearts.
The upbeat tease at the top of the program read:
Expect the unexpected and get ready to feed your inner quirkiness with this hangry tale. Whatever you do, do not feed the plant!
But I’m soberly reflecting about the unnerving message implied by Audrey II’s world domination at the end. It arouses my social conscience to ponder, ” What if Audrey II is the eventual winner? Are we living “The Little Shop of Horrors”?
Oh, stop trying to make everything about class warfare! (he argued with himself)