'Little Shop' Delivers on Talent and Fun

Those of us who attended the premiere of this weekend received well over two hours of murder, mayhem, and music that had us rocking in our seats and humming out the door.

The show, which premiered on Broadway in 1982 as a musical version of the 1960 Roger Corman film, is filled with colorful, lovable characters who yearn for a better life but don’t exactly get the happy ending you find in other, more traditional musical productions.

Infinity Theatre, led by Broadneck alum Anna Roberts-Ostroff and husband Alan, has made good on .

The show begins with the talented trio of street urchins Ariana Scoggins, Ardale Shepherd, and Martina Sykes whose enthusiasm and sheer talent make you believe that they will be stealing the entire show. Their harmonies, and every once in a while their break-out solos, remind the audience that this production won’t be your average regional summer theatre experience.

As soon as Ira Denmark, playing Skid Row flower shop owner Mushnik, enters the stage, he has command of the audience’s attention, with his booming voice and comedic timing. He purposefully overpowers the nebbish Seymour played by Topher Nuccio, a flower shop employee and orphan who develops a plant species that will change their lives forever.

Nuccio’s portrayal of Seymour is, rightly, understated and anemic, where Stacie Bono’s Audrey, another flower shop employee and Seymour’s love interest, is charming and captures the audience’s heart with her rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green” where she shares her dreams of living a normal life with a white picket fence and an “ironing machine.”

Though a little spastic at times, Erick William Whitehead steals the show with his multiple roles, changing and entering and exiting the set in an array of costumes, sometimes within seconds. His rendition of the evil oxide-sucking dentist, Olin, kept the audience engaged and rooting for whoever he happened to be at the time.

Perhaps the one with the most memorable voice of the entire evening didn’t even spend time on stage. Lamont Whitaker, with his commanding baritone voice, played the role of Audrey II, the massive blood-eating plant, who gets its way and one by one finishes off each of the stars of the show.

The show is being held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. now through August 7 at the , 1661 Bay Head Road in Annapolis. Tickets are $18 to $35. For ticket and other information, go to www.infinitytheatre.com.