KCRep’s Little Shop of Horrors devours audience with unyielding musical mutilation

The cast of KCRep’s 2024 production of Little Shop of Horrors. // Photo by Don Ipock

It’s hard to serve up a bad production of Little Shop of Horrors. The musical is, even in the plot abstract, a total banger: a horror b-movie where fame and fortune come to a down on his luck orphan via horticulture haute couture… at the expense of his prize plant being an alien that feeds on human beings. A tale as old as time! Between the songs that are mostly short, straightforward bops, a short runtime, and that Roger Corman-esque aesthetic of schlock comedy, it’s just hard to bungle a staging of this. Even on short supply of budget, cutesy creativity around the special effects only lends charm, and even a cast with average talent can sort of slot into the vibes of the actual schlubby down-on-their-luck characters who belong nowhere near the world’s spotlight only serves to make their center centering in a life-or-death musical all the better.

Again, this is all to say that across a life of catching versions of this show from off-Broadway to middle schools, I’ve never encountered a version that wasn’t delightful or memorable in its own way. It’s would take a force of nature to twist this into something that wasn’t servicable.

KCRep is currently wrapping its run of the show at Spencer Theatre [4949 Cherry St] and, in its final few evenings, you must catch it. Not only is this hands down the best production of Little Shop I’ve ever seen, it might be one of the most impressive musicals to grace KC in the better part of the last decade.

Joshua Davis and Jordan Matthew Brown in KCRep’s 2024 production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. // Photo by Don Ipock

This is one of those times where the review itself isn’t really worth writing, because you don’t need to hear me methodically check every box, list off every small turn or choice that elevates this far and beyond good, you just need to get out to see it.

Chioma Anyanwu, Alyssa Byers, Chloe Castro-Santos, and Amari Lewis in KCRep’s 2024 production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. // Photo by Don Ipock

Have you seen it before? You haven’t seen it like this. The choice to have Shon Ruffin sing the Audrey II part from above the stage, among the band and visible to the audience, while Zachery Garner manipulates the gigantic plant puppetry? Stellar. Jordan Matthew Brown is a perfect Seymour, with impressive vocals and excellent comedic skills but also depths of nuance throughout Seymour’s emotional journey. Chloe Castro-Santos is sensational as Audrey. The Greek chorus of Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronette are played by Alyssa Byers, Amari Lewis, and Chioma Anyanwu, respectively—whose vocal shredding left our audience screaming and bursting into unregulated outbursts of near-Beatlemania.

The show runs through May 19, and tickets are available here.

Shon Ruffin and Chloe Castro-Santos in KCRep’s 2024 production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. // Photo by Don Ipock