‘Little Shop’ is a no-go on Broadway

The new Broadway season has suffered its first casualty -- even before the show opened. “Little Shop of Horrors” has canceled its summer Broadway engagement.

An $8-million revival of what was one of off-Broadway’s biggest hits had been scheduled to begin preview performances July 16 at the Virginia Theatre, where the marquee for the musical already is up. An opening had been set for Aug. 14.

“The magic, the chemistry just wasn’t there for this production,” producer Marc Routh said Monday, although he declined to get into specifics about the show, which is directed by Connie Grappo and is playing through June 15 in Coral Gables, Fla.

Routh did hold open the possibility of a new production, directed by Jerry Zaks, that could arrive on Broadway in the fall. The original off-Broadway “Little Shop of Horrors” opened in July 1982 and ran for more than five years at the Orpheum Theatre.