Audiences will eat up Little Shop of Horrors — if they can hear it

Rainbow Stage's take on the 1982 musical dark comedy Little Shop of Horrors leans heavily, and effectively, toward the "comedy" rather than the "dark."

Really, there's nothing too horrifying about it — except, perhaps, for Rainbow's infamously problematic acoustics.

Based on Roger Corman's charmingly low-budget 1960 B movie, the musical (which was itself later adapted into a film, in a classic case of Hollywood devouring itself) follows hapless schlub Seymour (Chris George), who works in a failing skid row flower shop run by cantankerous Mr. Mushnik (Robb Paterson).

The only bright spot in his life is his co-worker and secret crush, Audrey (Gabi Epstein) — until the arrival of a "strange and interesting" plant Seymour discovers, a Venus flytrap-looking creature that brings him fame and the promise of fortune.

The only wee hitch is that the plant has an insatiable appetite for blood — human blood, to be specific.

Deep roots in fun, goofy romp

What ensues in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's likable 130-minute (with intermission) musical is mostly a fun, goofy romp.

But it also has deeper roots, making subtle commentary on the gap between rich and poor through its skid row setting (nicely realized through Lisa Hancharek's attractive and versatile set) and its warning that getting rich sometimes means turning nasty, and feeding people to a carnivorous plant from outer space.

And it veers into dark territory, too, with Audrey's relationship with her weirdly sadistic and abusive dentist boyfriend, Orin (a good, though not-quite-weird enough, Jesse Grandmont).

But it's entirely possible to enjoy the musical without digging into its socio-political soil. Menken's doo-wop-inspired tunes are catchy and likely to leave you humming standouts like the titular opening number or the sweetly soaring ballad Suddenly, Seymour.

The cast members have strong voices, especially the trio of Lisa Bell, Colleen Furlan and Rochelle Kives, who act as a sort of streetwise girl-group Greek chorus, and also get to show off the best of director Ray Hogg's lively and snappy choreography.

The six-person live band under musical director Paul De Gurse provides solid backing for the singers.

Opening night sound issues

Ashman's lyrics and books are clever and filled with plenty of one-liners — several of which, unfortunately, fell victim to poor sound on opening night. Whether a product of the notorious acoustics in Rainbow's outdoor stage or because of first-show kinks with balance, some dialogue and singing on opening night was more or less inaudible.

That's a shame for Hogg's sharp production, and his talented nine-person cast. In the leads, George is nicely nebbish as Seymour, while Epstein finds an engaging vulnerability as Audrey.

But local veteran Paterson steals the show in his scenes as the perpetually griping Mushnik, showing off his ample comedic chops.

The homicidal plant, Audrey II, is brought to ever-expanding life through a series of increasingly larger, and cleverly designed and manipulated, puppets. Providing the vocal work for Audrey II, Simon Miron shows off a strong voice, but one that seems too pure and genteel for the creature, and so Audrey II never quite conveys the menace it should to give this production a slightly darker edge.

But it entertains satisfyingly without getting terribly dark. It is, after all, really a story about a boy and a girl — and their flesh-eating plant.

And that's plenty for musical theatre fans to chew on.

Little Shop of Horrors runs at Rainbow Stage until July 14.