STAGE REVIEW : PLAY AT S.D. REP IS SLOW GROWING

Audiences will probably gobble it up, but the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s “Little Shop of Horrors” is really a meager morsel.

The star of the show, a people-eating plant that grows larger with every nibble, is more than cute, but garbled sound and sluggish pacing quickly sapped this musical spoof’s appeal. “Little Shop” opened Wednesday at the Rep’s Lyceum Stage.

Howard Ashman wrote the script and lyrics as a campy steal from a 1960 low-brow Roger Corman flick. Alan Menken conjured a score of nostalgic doo-wop and musical comedy rip-offs, with Supremes-style harmonies for the chorus trio, while puppet designer Martin P. Robinson created the lovably ghoulish Audrey II, from its sweet little teeth to the twining rootlets that eventually creep through the windows of Mr. Mushnik’s Skid Row floral shop.

The off-Broadway musical is reportedly still in cultish favor on the East Coast. It must have something the local production doesn’t.

Directed here by Sam Woodhouse, “Little Shop of Horrors” dangles its potential luringly, then disappears in a muddied production.

Richard Farrell is wide-eyed convincing as Seymour, the nerdish shop assistant who discovers the strange plant and names it Audrey II in honor of Seymour’s gorgeously blond and seemingly unattainable co-worker. He progresses gradually into a wholesale soul transaction with the pink-spotted, Faustian plant he affectionately calls Tooey.

Seymour sells out for the usual reasons--money, fame and a chance to make Audrey (Diana Castle) his girl. While the chorus (Karole Foreman as Chiffon, Lita Gaithers as Crystal, Kitra Williams as Ronnette) chimes in with musical observations, Tooey and Seymour bring a splash of attention to the run-down shop. Mr. Mushnik (Haskell Gordon) quickly secures the valuable commodity Seymour has become by adopting him as “son,” and, just like Tooey gruffly promises, Audrey falls for Seymour.

Of course, there are a few little details that must be cleared from Seymour’s love-struck, blood-spattered path to glory. Audrey’s sadistic biker-dentist boyfriend (Wayne Tibbetts), for instance.

Tibbetts, whose first appearance drew hisses from a revved-up opening night crowd, never lived up to expectation. His singing couldn’t meet the demands of the slick-haired, leather-jacketed biker, despite fine support from the under-used chorus, and his nightmarish dentist wilted on stage long before the character succumbed in “Now (It’s Just the Gas).”

Castle’s Audrey, on the other hand, gives this production some needed polish. The actress was eye-catching in the Rep’s “Holy Ghosts,” but here she demands attention. Most of what is wonderful in this “Little Shop” is related to Castle’s reading of the dizzy, tight-skirted, pigeon-toed blonde. She’s a strong singer as well, possessed of a lovely yet comic voice, nicely showcased in a silly tribute to suburban life, “Somewhere That’s Green.”

The musical unfolds to a steady three-chord progression. Dumb lyrics fill most of the songs but are lost in mush to the upper seating levels in the Lyceum Stage. Victor Zupanc’s sound design is terrible. Perhaps the crowd brought on unexpected acoustic problems. The backstage musicians (standard rock piano, guitar, bass, keyboards and drums) add problems by overpowering some of the numbers, and P.L. Brown’s voice for Audrey II is garbled in the bass ranges and frustratingly indistinguishable.

Audrey II’s vocal solos, “Feed Me (Git It)” and “Suppertime,” are the most fun. Not being able to hear the words goes a long way toward ruining the musical’s charm. One more minor detail: Is this plant with the deep male voice (Brown’s) and woman’s name a boy or a girl carnivore?

Either way, Tooey steals the show. Scenic designer Mark Donnelly has adapted Robinson’s original designs for the several puppets that evoke Audrey II’s relentless growth, and Thom Murray is the invisible puppeteer.

Just a funny-looking house plant when Seymour first finds it, the hungry herb with the yellow lips and fuzzy red tongue takes over in steady bites. Each scene displays a fatter Tooey, nastier and bossier and toothier, with winding roots wrapping around everything in Donnelly’s turquoise, pink and gold shabby florist shop.

The upper reaches of Donnelly’s evocative Skid Row skyline are obscured by lighting grids for the unfortunates sitting in the back rows, but as long as Audrey II’s antics are in full view patrons can be assured of receiving just about all this show has to offer.

Woodhouse has a penchant for childish bits with things dropped from the ceiling and cranked (too slowly) out of trap doors--nice tricks if they were used with discretion.

Mary Gibson’s costumes are fine, but Peter Maradudin’s lighting reflects the too-obvious attempts to be clever that haunt the whole production. Cleverness never works when one tries so hard.

There’s a natural bouncy humor in “Little Shop of Horrors,” but for all the indefinable reasons that make one artist great and another good, this production falls short of a really great time. “LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS” Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman. Music by Alan Menken. Directed by Sam Woodhouse. Musical director/sound designer is Victor Zupanc. Vocal coach is Linda Vickerman. Choreographer is Bonnie Johnston. Scenic designer is Mark Donnelly. Costume designer is Mary Gibson. Lighting designer is Peter Maradudin. With Karole Foreman, Lita Gaithers, Kitra Williams, Haskell Gordon, Diana Castle, Richard Farrell, Thom Murray, Wayne Tibbetts, Thom Murray and P.L. Brown. Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., through Sept. 6, at the Lyceum Stage, Horton Plaza. Produced by the San Diego Repertory Theatre.