A LITTLE SHOP
WITH A BIG BITE

NCTC’s colorful, high-energy revival
feeds on terrific voices, sharp comedy,
and one increasingly hungry plant

New Conservatory Theatre Center starts its 2026–27 season with a musical that is a fun musical as well as a dark comedy. With book and lyrics by the late, great Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, Little Shop of Horrors began as a 1982 Off-Broadway musical based on Roger Corman’s 1960 cult horror film. In his first full season as NCTC’s Artistic Director, Ben Villegas Randle hits it out of the park by choosing and directing Little Shop to launch the season. With horror, romance, and one catchy song after another—Ashman’s witty lyrics and Menken’s irresistible Motown- and doo-wop-inflected score still amaze—this production is  wholly irresistible.

The action takes place in the early ’60s at a struggling flower shop on Skid Row, where nerdy florist Seymour Krelborn (Roeen Nooran) works for the slightly overbearing Mr. Mushnik (John Mannion) and pines for receptionist Audrey (Bría Gaia Padilla Irizarry). Unfortunately, she’s dating Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. (Ryan Patrick Welsh), a sadistic dentist who verbally and physically abuses her. Seymour’s fortunes change when he acquires a strange Venus flytrap-like plant, which he names Audrey II after his longtime crush. The exotic specimen attracts customers and brings prosperity to the shop, but there’s a catch: it feeds on human blood. Seymour starts by supplying his own, but as Audrey II grows, so does her appetite—and soon a few convenient human sacrifices begin to look awfully tempting.

Three neighborhood denizens are Ronette (Kamilah Cole), Crystal (Jas Cook) and Chiffon (Vanessa Mendy). They serve as a kind of Greek Chorus letting the audience know what’s happening and foreshadowing what may be ahead. In the opening number, “Skid Row (Downtown),” Cole, Cook and Mendy—with powerhouse voices—set the tone with wicked good harmonizing.

As Audrey II becomes a neighborhood attraction and a cash cow for the formerly struggling shop, Seymour finds that his blood alone can no longer satisfy it. The plant, voiced with delicious menace by William Schmidt, demands increasingly substantial meals with the famous command “Feed me, Seymour!” Meanwhile, Audrey begins to fall for the newly successful florist, and the pair finally acknowledge their feelings in “Suddenly, Seymour.” But Seymour’s success comes at an increasingly gruesome price as his botanical meal ticket becomes more powerful—and considerably hungrier.

Randle keeps the action moving at a lively clip, and the energetic cast throws itself into Leslie Waggoner’s choreography. Welsh is especially entertaining, creating a parade of characters in addition to the sleazy dentist everyone loves to hate. With the help of Chris Steele’s costumes and Laundra Tyme’s wigs, he can disappear and return moments later in a three-piece suit, dress, or new hairdo as an entirely different person.

Audrey II is brought spectacularly to life by puppeteers Zion Wheaton and Mudd the Two Spirit, working with Dave Haaz-Baroque’s terrific puppet design. Even when the carnivorous plant is swallowing an entire person, the mechanics remain invisible. Matt Owens’ colorful set, strewn with just enough trash and graffiti, gives Skid Row an appropriately rundown appearance.

Musical director Jad Bernardo leads a terrific band—Amanda Wu Chroust on bass, John Doing on drums, Mike Smith on guitar, and Ben Visini and Bernardo on keyboards—that gives Menken’s score infectious drive. The musicians, hidden behind the scenery, are very much a part of what makes this Little Shop bloom. With a killer cast, a bloodthirsty bloom, and a score that refuses to wilt, NCTC’s Little Shop plants itself firmly in the “feed me more” category.

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photos by Lois Tema

Little Shop of Horrors
New Conservatory Theatre Center
Decker Theatre, 25 Van Ness Ave. at Market St. in San Francisco
Wed–Thu at 7:30; Fri–Sat at 8; Sun at 2
ends on October 25, 2026
for tickets (sliding scale starting at $35), call 415.861.8972 or visit NCTC

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