It's not all drama on the fringe: there's also the occasional musical.

At Highgate's Upstairs at the Gatehouse (to 1^st February), a winning revival of the off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors (best known for the subsequent movie version) is a lot of spirited fun and really gets its low-budget charm, almost entirely missing from the far more lavish staging I've also seen this month of the same show at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.

Top marks, too, for a brilliant visualisation of the man-eating plant here.

THEATREWORLD

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Little Shop of Horrors

Upstairs at the Gatehouse 21 December 2002 - 26 January 2003

An exuberant and thrilling production of this favourite musical featuring one poor downtrodden young lad on Skid Row, and the apocalyptic struggle between his good nature and his dreams and desires. Not to mention his somewhat more physical struggle with that demanding, albeit 'new and interesting' piece of overgrown foliage who constantly wishes to grow just that little bit more. 

Business is not exactly blooming at Mr Mushnik's Skid Row Florists. Not a single customer all day means that Mushnik will have to close down, and so Seymour and Audrey, naively glamorous in her well-cut leopardskin outfit, will find themselves without a job. But, can there still be hope, even at this final hour?

Audrey asks Seymour to bring out his pride and joy, a small plant resembling a Venus Flytrap, which he has been nurturing in the back room for a while. Seymour can refuse Audrey, his dream girl, nothing, and so out it comes. Judiciously placed in the front window, it brings an unexpected customer dashing in who saves the day by placing a large order of roses. But Audrey II, as Seymour has named his discovery, appears to be wilting. It is only appeased by an offering of blood from Seymour's 'accidentally' cut finger. How much more will this plant-god demand in order to keep itself, along with the florists, alive?

The thorn in Seymour's side, not to mention Audrey's, is 'Doctor' Orin Scrivello DDS. This is Audrey's domineering boyfriend as well as a sadistic, pain-obsessed dentist who saves all the anaesthetic happy gas for himself. Brenden Lovett as Orin is supremely scary - this guy doesn't really deserve to live, does he?  Examine your conscience, Seymour. This tortured young chap is played with a great sense of nuance and conflict by Adam Kelly. And Susan Harriet gives a moving performance as Audrey, touchingly innocent with dreams of a simple, ordinary life, but at the same time sadly acquainted with grief.

Iain Stuart Dootson catches the right note as the pragmatic but ultimately honest Mushnik. Why do I get the feeling that honesty is never going to pay, in this world? The inhabitants of Skid Row, known as Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon (Jody Peach, Racky Plews and Vanessa Havell), are an extravagant trio who grace the show with their infectious, sensuous merrymaking.

Fantastic singing, dancing and acting from all - the performance was shot through with a tremendous energy and sense of fun. The evening went with a real swing and  the musicians led by Christopher Whitehead played with panache and style.  

And finally, that plant. Alex McNamara as Audrey II in fully grown form was a cross between Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice and The Pizza Man from, if I remember rightly, Spaceballs. Deliciously revolting and maniacally depraved. What a wonderful creation. But if you are of a nervous disposition, please don't sit in the front row as he may leap out at you when you are not looking, as one poor lady found out to her peril, and to my great joy. What more can I say but repeat those ancient words of wisdom - Don't Feed The Plants! 

Julia Hickman