Little Shop Of Horrors: Robert S. Marx Theatre

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park recently staged Little Shop of Horrors. The show was co-produced with Portland Center Stage at the Armory. The show revolves around a failing florist shop, a man-eating plant, and a low-life flower shop assistant, Seymour. Audrey is a worker at Mushnik’s flower shop as well. Audrey is stuck is a toxic relationship with an evil dentist and Seymour is willing to go extreme lengths to save Audrey. By mere chance, a strange plant shows itself one day while Seymour is at the market. This plant is named Audrey II and Seymour will continue to feed this plant until it becomes more powerful than he is. Bill Fennelly, the director, staged the show in a unique and interesting way. He took this show back to original …show more content…
The Robert S. Marx Theatre houses a variant thrust stage with semi-circle seating. This space causes for a very intimate set design and causes the audience to feel and respond as if they are a part of the show. Michael Schweikardt was the set and puppet designer of the show. The set was a display of naturalism with parts of realism and expressionism. Theater can never be fully realistic because of the presence of the “fourth wall”. The design had curved facing with a cartoon-like street painted on the front of it with a bacon stretching the full length around the unit and stairs amending to it. There were 2 automated doors that slid open revealing a flower shop, which moved downstage on a track system for scenes inside of the shop. Inside of “Mushnik’s Flower Shop” was a counter with a cash register on top of it, dirty floors and walls, a meta work table, and cabinet. In the second act, when the store is popular and successful, there are renovations done. The design choice to have the flower shop on tracks and to recess into the set was brilliant. It allowed for more stage space when scenes were happening in the streets. If I had to change anything about this design would be having a better location for the dentist office. It would have been nice if a flat was rolled out on stage to change the scenery. The scene would have been more effective and dramatic if it was confined by scenery pieces instead …show more content…
Technically speaking, this show was wonderful. This is one of my favorite theaters to watch a show in because of the stage and seating layout. As an audience member I actually felt like I was standing on Skid Row watching these events take place. Each element of the show work symbiotically to create a successful show. It was very apparent that every designer met with each other and all had the same goal in mind. If the audience didn’t feel like they were a part of the show, the ending made sure that they did. I loved how the theater was taken over by vines and the final rise of the plant. This show will always hold a special place in my heart because it began my career as a theater