PicksInSix Review: Disney's The Little Mermaid - Drury Lane Theatre

This ‘Little Mermaid’ Has Got Legs!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Sparkling performances that shimmer from head to tail highlight director Scott Weinstein’s delightfully bewitching and hugely entertaining revival of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” that opened Thursday at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook. The royal love story—with Alan Menken score, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, and book by Doug Wright—is anchored by the stunning presence of Sarah Kay as Ariel and her stalwart Prince Eric played by Patrick Johnson. The timeless classic is a heartwarming fantasy adventure in a world that includes whimsical puppets, gorgeous costumes and magical special effects that will take your breath away.

That love story begins when Ariel, who has yearned for a new part of the world, away from the isolation of the underwater kingdom ruled by her father, King Triton (Anand Nagraj) and from her siblings, the Mersisters, saves Prince Eric from drowning. Fleeing from her father’s rage when he discovers what she has done, Ariel is lured into a pact with her evil aunt Ursula (Sawyer Smith) to trade her enchanting voice for the opportunity to explore the world in human form. But it all comes with a heavy price of Disney-style drama.

Ariel’s glistening underwater world is the work of scenic designer Tijana Bjelajac who crafts rock formations and massive stone laid columns together with sheer fabric all highlighted by Anthony Churchill’s projections and Ryan O’Gara’s lighting to simulate the mystical ocean depths and the stately kingdom that bursts with the color and rich texture of the costume design by Ryan Park and Zhang Yu. Those finely-feathered and floppy-finned friends in Ariel’s oceanic sphere—the creative artistry of Chicago Puppet Studio—come to glorious life in Kasey Alfonso’s superbly choreographed ensemble sequences. Music director Ellie Kahn brings out the brilliance in the iconic Menken/Ashman/Slater score performed in fine form by the Drury Lane Orchestra under the direction of Chris Sargent.

Michael Earvin Martin is terrific as the crab companion Sebastian, leading the company in the crowd pleasing “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.” Maya Lou Hlava’s Flounder, with the array of Sea Creatures, Gulls and Animals, are sure to make you smile. Landree Fleming shines as Scuttle in the playful “Positoovity|Positaggity” and you’ll love the zany antics of Matt Edmonds as the kooky French Chef Louis in “Les Poissons” along with the wonderful, and often hilariously understated, work of Rob Lindley as Grimsby, the Prince’s dutiful Guardian.

Few Disney villains compare in sinister scope to the sea-witch Ursula and Smith’s commanding presence in the role as the cunning sorcerous, with a couple of slippery eel sidekicks like Ryan Michael Hamman (Jetsam) and Leah Morrow (Flotsam) in tow, is magnificent. The trio are chilling in “Daddy’s Little Angel” and Smith brings the house down in a dazzling performance of “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”

It’s a night of fun filled comic chaos that keeps bubbling up with Kay’s marvelous, multi-layered performance at the heart of the show. Her exuberance, youthful charm and soaring vocal talents make Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” at Drury Lane a joy to watch and a destination for the holiday season and New Year.   

PHOTO|Brett Beiner

Drury Lane Theatre
presents
Disney’s
The Little Mermaid
100 Drury Lane
Oakbrook Terrace
through January 12, 2024

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PicksInSix Review: Little Shop of Horrors - Paramount Theatre

Boy Meets Girl Meets Bloodthirsty Plant.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

There’s a little show about plant food and world domination that’s getting a big-stage theatrical revival at a theatre near you. The smash hit 1982 Off-Broadway musical “Little Shop of Horrors” featuring book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken is currently blooming nightly in a fast-paced and highly entertaining production directed by Landree Fleming at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora.

For the humble and lovable Seymour Krelborn (Jack Ball), being on Skid Row as a junior employee at Mushnik’s Flower Distributors is looking more and more like a dead-end job every day. It doesn’t help that the awkward and inept Seymour is hopelessly infatuated with his coworker, Audrey (Teressa LaGamba), who happens to be entangled with a sick, demented and abusive lover Orin (Russell Mernagh), the nitrous oxide addicted dentist from hell you love to hate.

The Mushnik flower shop is on a perennial bubble of its own. With his inventory shriveling and not one sale for the day, the dejected Mushnik (Gene Weygandt) is about to throw in his trowel and pull the door shades down for the final time. Grasping for a hopeful life-vine, Audrey urges Seymour to bring out his newest project, a fascinating and irresistible plant he has dutifully named “Audrey II” in honor of the woman of his dreams.

What starts out as fun-loving camp turns quickly to ghoulish satire with a succulent score and a top rate ensemble led by Ball and LaGamba as the unwitting marks for the charismatic, and inherently evil, foliage from another planet that has a taste for world domination and fresh hemoglobin. It’s Ball’s Seymour who is first enchanted into feeding his own fancy for fame and fortune until those closest to him begin to succumb to Audrey II’s insatiable erythrocytic appetite.

Along the way, Ashman and Menken’s brilliant collaboration shines in the capable hands of music director Kory Danielson who conducts the Paramount Band and choreography by Michael George and Mariah Morris. LaGamba’s lofty and poignant rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green” and the superb duet with Ball “Suddenly, Seymour” are particular highlights. Standout performances abound from the Urchins—Lydia Burke (Crystal), Tickwanya Jones (Ronnette) and Marta Bady (Chiffon)—who serve as the show’s Greek chorus, to Weygandt’s irascible turn as Mushnik in “Mushnik and Son.”

The magnificent multi-level Skid Row set is the work of Jeffrey D. Kimec. Add Jose Santiago’s crisp lighting and Yvonne Miranda’s evocative 60s era costumes and you have the perfect backdrop for the ever-present, and all-consuming, Audrey II—voiced by Je’Shaun Jackson and puppeteered by Adam Fane—designed and created by Skylight Music Theatre and the props team who are working overtime for this show and make Paramount’s “Little Shop of Horrors” a creeping-crawling hit that’s good to the last drop!     

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

Paramount Theatre
presents
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
through October 15, 2023

23 East Galena Boulevard
Aurora, IL 60506

(630) 896–6666

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HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCALS

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PicksInSix Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

“LOOKS LIKE PLANT FOOD TO ME!”

Spring has sprung and world-domination waits just a few turns off a major artery on North Southport, courtesy of the delightfully comic infusion of L. Walter Stearns’s crisply directed production of the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman 1982 musical “Little Shop of Horrors” that opened over the weekend at Mercury Theater Chicago. With an all-star company that includes the enormously talented duo of Christopher Kale Jones and Dana Tretta, rocking music direction by Eugene Dizon and Alan Donahue’s Skid Row set, a fantastic fit in the historic confines of the Mercury, “Little Shop” is a twisted, taut and terrific hit!

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As the story goes…stuck away on the other side of town in a rundown neighborhood, Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists caters to, well, nobody. Desperate to keep the store open and with no options in sight, Mr. Mushnik (Tommy Novak) has been taking out his frustration on those closest to him: his loyal-yet-extremely timid horticultural protégé Seymour Krelborn (Jones) and the sweet, but emotionally disturbed, assistant Audrey (Tretta), who is cowering in fear of her abusive boyfriend, the maniacal dentist Dr. Orin (David Sajewich). As a Greek chorus—the charming and talented trio of Nicole Lambert, Adhana Reid, Shantel Cribbs—leads us along the not-so-rosy garden path, Seymour happens on an extraterrestrial solution:  a hungry, carnivorous plant that feeds off people’s hopes and dreams and whatever else they can humanly offer, that he affectionately names “Audrey II.”

Before you think that this sounds heavy, the truth is that all of the despicable activities in “Little Shop” are driven by and meant to fulfill the evil machinations of Seymour’s blood-thirsty companion. So, with that much of the absurd story in hand, you are free to lean forward into the lush performances of the tunefully rich Menken/Ashman score to see how this all turns out for the star-crossed lovers. It is familiar territory for the versatile Jones who played Seymour at Ford’s Theatre, has toured with “Jersey Boys” and recently headlined a sold-out Bobby Darin concert series at the Mercury. He takes a deep dive into Seymour’s milquetoast skin, displays a brilliant comic range, oozes the simple charm of the role’s innocence and showcases his formidable vocals all night long—but at no point more so than in his soaring anthem with Tretta, “Suddenly Seymour.”

It is easy to see why Seymour, and everyone else, falls for Tretta’s Audrey—a sensitive and touching turn for one of Chicago’s bright rising stars who appeared last season as Gilda Radner at the Mercury. Tretta’s nuanced and heartfelt performance of the signature ballad, “Somewhere That’s Green,” is truly remarkable.    

Novak is perfect as Mushnik, whose suspicious nature causes things to start unravelling. As the evil Dr. Orin, Sajewich is diabolically delightful and then has loads of fun in a multitude of characters, from Bernstein and Mrs. Luce to Skip Snip.  The leafy, lounging flycatcher-in-the-room is a technical marvel designed by Martin P. Robinson, expertly animated by Sam Woods and voiced by the phenomenal Jonah Winston, who also has a big finish.

Ashman’s script continually winks to the colorfully uncoordinated costumes which are the stellar work of designer Serena Sandoval. With Kristof Janezic’s lighting and top-flight sound by Carl Wahlstrom, every detail of Stearns’s high-flying production, from the Christopher Chase Carter choreography to the ruddy Skid Row atmosphere and fanciful suburban billboards promising “TRAIN fares are SO CHEAP!” combine to make “Little Shop of Horrors” a slithering, smashing success!

PHOTOS|Brett Beiner

MERCURY THEATER CHICAGO
Presents
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
through April 28th
3745 North Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL
(773) 325-1700

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PicksInSix Theater Review - Drury Lane "Beauty and the Beast"

BOOK-BOUND BELLE CHARMS BROODING BEAST

Just when you thought that we could not be more different, along comes a beautifully, rich production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” now playing at Drury Lane Theatre, to provide clear proof that we are really not that different at all. Everyone of us, just like the Beast and his manor full of minions, need a little love before it’s too late and the bloom is off the rose. That includes the sweet and lovely Belle, who spends every waking moment with her face buried in a book, a sort of shield to deflect awkward situations and ward off unwanted advances. It all adds up to a lot of Disney-stylized drama that make this visually-stunning, live-action fairy tale, tick-tock-tick all night long.

“Beauty and the Beast” was Disney’s first Broadway venture almost a quarter of a century ago, which is reason enough to bring a teapot, candle, clock and feather-duster back to life in the surefire holiday hit. Directed at Drury Lane by Alan Souza, with choreography by Ron De Jesus, the musical is an expanded version by the same team responsible for the original 1991 animated film classic — book by Linda Woolverton, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice.

In case you do not have a family member, or know anyone under thirty-five, to ask, the book-bound heroine Belle (Erica Stephan) charms the brooding Beast (Brandon Contreras) at the center of a love story that challenges us to see people for who they truly are. Belle represents the dreamer in us all, holding in her hands the key to transforming the Beast who has been dwelling in a dark, introspective place for a long time. Words matter to the fearless Belle and Stephan is perfect, delivering gorgeous renditions of “Home” and “A Change In Me.” The magically dark and mysterious Kevin Depinet set, a series of grand staircases and multiple levels framed in the ever-present rose, allows for multiple scenes including a lofty, strategic setting for the commanding Contreras to render the powerful Act I anthem “If I Can’t Love Her.”

On the more sinister side of the tale, the comic foil Gaston (Mark Banik), and his side-kick Lefou (Paul Michael Thompson), slink and slam along in their single-minded pursuit to corner Belle’s affections. As events unfold, Belle’s father Maurice (Mark David Kaplan) stumbles into the manor where a clever cache of spirited souls dwell — Lumiere (Tony Carter), Cogsworth (Nick Cosgrove), Babette (Sierra Schnack), Mrs. Potts (Bri Sudia) and her son Chip (Sophie Ackerman), Madam de la Grande Bouche (Catherine Smitko) and Monsieur D’Argue (Billy Rude). With the curse in place and time growing short, something must be done to break the spell. But they are all intimidated by the Beast and his house rules, that is until Belle arrives to make a bargain for her father’s freedom and give them reason to hope.

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The company numbers are terrific — including the opener “Belle,” “Something There,” and the show-stopper “Be Our Guest,” with the enormous talent of Carter, Sudia, Cosgrove and Schnack leading the way. Sudia is everyone’s favorite teapot, providing one of the night’s most memorable moments with a lush and lovely performance of the title song.

The Drury Lane Orchestra is in top form under the direction of Christopher Sargent. Belle’s stunning yellow gown, and all of the marvelously detailed costuming, is the work of designer Ryan Park. With Ryan O’Gara’s lighting and a dizzying array of ingenious properties from designer Cassy Schillo, “Beauty and the Beast” has something for everyone.  

PHOTOS|Brett Beiner

DRURY LANE THEATRE
Presents
DISNEY’S
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
through January 27th, 2019
100 Drury Lane 
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 
(630) 530-0111 
 

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PICKSINSIX Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

“OH GOD HOW I MIST YOU!”

Oh pod how you tease… Seymour Krelborn has a lot of problems. He lives and works at a flower shop on skid row. His boss is not very nice to him. He is in love with his co-worker Audrey who is being abused by her boyfriend, the sadistic dentist who enjoys causing pain. Then there is the sick plant he discovered during a solar eclipse that he has been fretting over. Nothing works, no matter what he tries. “I’ve given you plant food and water to sip. I’ve given you potash, you’ve given me zip! Oh god how I mist you. Oh pod how you tease. So please – grow for me.”

Captivating performances… ‘Little Shop of Horrors’, now playing at Drury Lane in all its joyfully macabre and touchingly poignant splendor, is the product of the first collaboration of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken — an early ‘80s time capsule for the team who later developed Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ before the 40 year-old Ashman succumbed to AIDS in 1991. The Drury Lane incarnation, keenly directed and choreographed by Scott Calcagno with musical direction by Roberta Duchak, includes a top-notch company led by the captivating performances of Kelly Felthous and Will Lidke whose star-crossed love story — like just about everyone else — runs smack into the jaws of a ravenous leafy bottom feeder.

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Richly enjoyable comic romp… Things are looking up for everyone early on around the Mushnik Flower Shop. Seymour has a thing for Audrey who imagines a better life of her own. And while business is booming, Mr. Mushnik worries that Seymour’s new-found popularity could disrupt the first real opportunity in years to balance the books. Of course, there is only one key ingredient that helps make Audrey II, the aforementioned bottom feeder, grow. Once things start to sprout there is no turning back for the young and ambitious Seymour whose wish to escape the dead-end prospects of a skid row existence to live happily-ever-after with Audrey are only a few gallons of hemoglobin-enriched plasma away. It is all a clever setup for the dark and richly enjoyable comic romp that follows.

Powerhouse voice… Kelly Felthous is on fire as Audrey with a powerhouse voice that flows effortlessly through the beautiful anthems ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ and ‘Suddenly Seymour’. Felthous evokes a truthful innocence that aligns perfectly with Will Lidke’s frenetically awkward charm. Ron E. Rains is perfect in the role of Mr. Mushnik, and shows off some nifty footwork in ‘Mushnik and Son’ with Lidke. Steven Strafford, in multiple roles including Dr. Orin Scrivello D. D. S., nails ‘Be A Dentist’ and ‘Now’. Rounding out the ensemble in plain sight is the fabulous trio of Melanie Brezill (Ronette), Candace C. Edwards (Crystal) and Melanie Loren (Chiffon) who, with Strafford, make the cast appear much larger than it is with split-second costume changes and high-energy numbers including the title song and ‘Skid Row’ where Edwards particularly shines.

Eerie and fiendishly fun… Audrey II is voiced by the incomparable Lorenzo Rush, Jr. and animated by puppeteer Matthew Sitz. The teaming of these two seasoned performers bring the eerie and fiendishly fun Martin P. Robinson designed plant to glorious life. Rush’s deep, booming, blues vocals in ‘Git It’ and ‘Suppertime’ rock.

Be careful what you wish for… 1313 Skid Row is realized in the efficient and rugged staging by Kevin Depinet, enhanced by Ryan O’Gara’s lighting design and Linda Myers costumes. Chris Sargent directs The Little Shop of Horrors Band in this throughly entertaining musical sendup that just might have you whispering, “Be careful what you wish for.” and “Don’t feed the plants!” on your way home.

PHOTOS|Bruce Beiner

Drury Lane Theatre
Presents
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS 
through October 28, 2018
100 Drury Lane
(630) 530-0111

WEBSITE

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