Translated review from Dagur, published on 8.6.1999: Taken from Tímarit.is
Review by Gunnar Stefánsson
Reykjavík Theatre Company: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Translation: Gísli Rúnar Jónsson. Translation of lyrics: Magnús Þór Jónsson. Director: Kenn Oldfield. Set design: Stígur Steinþórsson. Costumes: Una Collins. Lighting: Ögmundur Þór Jóhannesson. Sound design: Gunnar Arnason. Music director: Jón Ólafsson. Premiere on the Main Stage of Borgarleikhúsið (The City Theatre) on June 4th.
"Little Shop of Horrors is professionally staged this time. The greatest beauty of the work is the music, but the singing was admittedly somewhat lacking in being generally well-rehearsed."
"The City Theatre's expected summer hit," said Morgunblaðið about Little Horror Shop in the newspaper before the premiere. Little Horror Shop is a well-known and popular comedy musical - with horror - and was shown here fourteen years ago, in the Old Cinema on behalf of the then-existing Hin Theater. I saw this show for the pleasure of it, and I remember best that it was there that Edda Heiðrún Backman first emerged as an acting and singing star in the role of Audrey. And a similar thing is happening now: Þórunn Lárusdóttir, a young actress, comes, sees and conquers in that role. It doesn't spoil the expected popularity that Eurovision star Selma Björnsdóttir herself is here in a trio of three singers, who are a kind of link between the main characters and the audience. Now enough has been said for people to understand that there is no need to fear that Little Shop of Horrors will break the City Theatre's coffers - and that is probably the measure of the house's continued success, as was pointed out in the newspapers the other day when the theatre director's management style was discussed. Or what? The big theatres in the city rely on pop musicals and are committed to that branch of theatre.
The Little Shop of Horrors is a pop musical with a chill, I said.
It takes place in a flower shop somewhere, the play is actually set in the style of Gísli Rúnar who also translated Sex í Sveit, another mainstay of the City Theatre. In this flower shop, a young man, Baldur Snær, works under the protection of the scoundrel Markús. Baldur has bought a small plant in Hveragerði and is caring for it. However, his thoughts are mainly tied to his colleague Audrey, but she has a boyfriend, a sadistic dentist who mistreats her in every way. Now it comes to light that Baldur's plant is not all there is to it. It feeds on human blood, and as expected, it drags that filth in its wake as the play progresses. The Little Shop of Horrors is professionally staged this time.
The greatest beauty of the work is the music, but it is true that the singing was somewhat lacking in general. Valur Freyr Einarsson, who played the role of Baldur, was particularly lacking in sharpness, but his acting was well-structured. As previously mentioned, Þórunn Lárusdóttir excelled in singing, and also played the innocent and kind-hearted Audrey with distinction. Her song, "Somewhere that's Green", was breathtaking and undoubtedly the standout moment of the show. In the role of dentist Broddi Sadó - which Laddi delivered so pricelessly in the last showings - is now for Stefán Karl Stefánsson. He takes on various other characters, with great physical agility, but the text delivery is not up to the same par.
The trio Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir, Selma Björnsdóttír and Regína Osk Óskarsdóttir, delivered their part well, both in singing and in movement, but it was clear that Selma's performance was the most professional, which will surprise no one.
Eggert Þorleifsson has made an impression on most of the shows at the City Theatre recently and was still in a big role here as Markús the flower merchant. Nothing came as a surprise in Eggert's performances on stage, and I don't think a singing role particularly suits him. In the perspective of the stage, and becoming more and more prominent as time goes on, is the plant that Baldur calls Audrey II. It is a technical achievement in its completion and it is impressive to see it open its red mouth. There were two people in the plant. The voice was Bubbi Morthens. His singing was much better than the words. Ari Matthíasson was in charge of the movements. Towards the end, the plant rises to its full power and it was a magnificent final scene.
The Little Shop of Horrors is a particularly clearly composed work and works purposefully on the emotional planes where the magnetism is greatest, on the one hand love and romance (and appropriate level of sexual content) and crude humor, on the other hand blood and horror. Here, therefore, professionals are at work who know what "gets" with the audience. After all, it was clear at the premiere, right before it began, that something exciting was coming. The ending may not have been quite as grand as the beginning might have suggested. But so what: this was a smooth performance by Kenn Oldfield. Stígur Steinþórsson's set design is good and Una Collins' costumes deserve special praise. It is therefore likely that Morgunblaðið's prediction of an expected summer hit at Fine Arts will come true. The play's program, however, is a disgrace to the City Theatre, completely devoid of substance, and clearly designed to ensure that the audience doesn't care about knowing anything about the work or its history, the authors, or anything else related to it.
