The original cast recording of the 2003 revival of
Howard Ashman and
Alan Menken's campy classic musical Little Shop of Horrors is the most lavish package yet of the show's funny, scary, and sweet songs. Collecting all 22 songs that appear in the musical as well as five demos of songs that didn't make it into the show or the 1986 film, the album is equally worthwhile for fans of the entire Little Shop of Horrors phenomenon as well as fans of this particular cast. As Seymour, Hunter Foster's voice is nebbishy but surprisingly powerful, especially on "Grow for Me," "The Meek Shall Inherit," and "Now (It's Just the Gas)," a duet with
Douglas Sills' sadistic dentist, Orin.
Sills' Orin -- and, for that matter, Kerry Butler's Audrey and Michael-Leon Wooley's Audrey II -- are good, but their performances seem indebted to
Steve Martin,
Ellen Greene, and
Levi Stubbs' characterizations in the film. Nevertheless, "Dentist!," "Somewhere That's Green," and "Feed Me" sound great. The less show-stopping songs like "Da-Doo," "The Meek Shall Inherit," and "Prologue/Little Shop of Horrors" work well too, and show off DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, and Carla J. Hargrove as Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronnette, the musical's cross hybrid of a girl group and a Greek chorus. The demos at the end of the album are also worthwhile, expanding on character development and plot twists while underlining what a potent team
Ashman and
Menken were. Of particular interest are the two Orin-oriented tracks: "A Little Dental Music" is a clever homage to the Muzak played in dentists' offices and the pain that those songs try to mask, while "I Found a Hobby" plays a little bit like a prequel to "Dentist!," and was probably removed for that reason -- but it's so funny in its depiction of young Orin as a budding sadist that it's a shame that
Ashman and
Menken couldn't fit it into the show. "The Worse He Treats Me," meanwhile, delves deeper into Audrey and Orin's dysfunctional relationship, recalling
the Crystals' "He Hit Me (It Felt Like Kiss)." "We'll Have Tomorrow," a hopeful duet between Audrey and Seymour, may be the best of the demos. A poignant love song with an aching melody, it may have been too serious to fit with the rest of the musical's dark humor and innocent romance. On the other hand, "Bad," which was written for the film of Little Shop of Horrors, doesn't live up to its title, but it does sound like a rough draft of "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space," which did appear in the film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. This album is a lovingly crafted homage to Little Shop of Horrors' staying power; like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it's a classic because it's still outrageously good fun. ~ Heather Phares