Westside Theatre — Attraction in New York

I've always enjoyed the 80's movie Little Shop of Horrors. I noticed that live shows were actually a thing again but to my dismay they were in Idaho. Actually, it was probably somewhere like Chicago but for me it might as well have been Idado. So you can imagine my excitement when a friend of mine posted on Facebook that they had just gone to see the show in NY at the Westside Theatre.

I immediately got tickets for my birthday. At the time I was a single late 20's workaholic, as well as the middle child, so I figured if I was going to take anyone, might as well try & impress my mom. So when I invited her she gleefully accepted & asked if she could go with my brother. I was saddened, but she quickly told me she was kidding & so we departed on our journey to see a live Little Shop of Horrors show.

It was a Saturday night & I made certain to make it on time. Shows typically state they won't seat you & this was one of my first. So I paid for parking & took my mother to a nearby restaurant for an appetizer & a drink. If I could remember the name of that place I would recommend it, but not to get too ahead of myself here but, Westside Theatre has some very generous cups of wine if you catch my drift. So I'm doing my best here.

The theatre itself was a comfortable size. I didn't feel squeezed in but I also was a broadway newbie so I had no idea that shows could be quite large. Looking back, this theatre was comfortable & quite genuine. I would say that any seat in that theatre would've been a great experience. With that said, I had purchased 2 seats dead center, front row. I'll never forget the extremely nice lady who happily took tickets and greeted each person as they walked in. She took my tickets and said, "Oh wow, you lucky ducks! What a view!" It was completely genuine & almost heartfelt.

The show itself was great. Jonathon Groff was the lead as Seymour, I will admit that yes, I have seen Glee. So that was cool having some familiarity with some of the cast. Audrey was played by the girl in Stealing Harvard. Even though she was my age, it was odd realizing how much older we all were. This is what the front seat offers you. I should add that it also offers you a fine mist of saliva. Yes, anyone who has been to a Jonathon Groff show will tell you that it's like sitting in front of a frothy humidifier.

My mom laughed as we covered ourselves as he sang in front of us to his heart's content. I actually felt embarrassed. I did not know if this was a common thing or if you were supposed to just bathe in the drool. Was I supposed to open my mouth like you do when it snows to catch snowflakes? Were you supposed to just ignore it & hope he turned away? I covered my face & cringed, hoping I wasn't embarrassing Groff, who was performing amazingly. Again, not to take away from his performance, just something I will always remember.

Other than the fantastic show, the wine was great. My mom loves to collect keepsakes so she saved all the plastic cups we got. They wrote the name of the show on each of them, so to this day we've kept them to remember Seymore & the man eating plants. I'll always remember how happy my mom was, although judging by how many cups we have saved, I wonder how much that had to do with the booze.

All in all, the theatre was fantastic. The drool was copious. The seats were a once in a lifetime experience which I guess isn't true because I'm doing it again. I'll be there Saturday to catch the show with Evan Rachael Woods. The theatre really is a treat & if your favorite show is playing there don't wait. If a little spit is enough to deter you from a beautiful show, then man up and bring your raincoat, cuz it...

I’m still shocked to witness Evan Rachel Wood’s outstanding performance as Audrey in this Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theatre. Growing up watching the 1986 movie, never would I have believed that Westworld’s lead female role and super star had a voice so well cast to compare to the iconic Ellen Green’s Audrey in 1986. What a voice Evan!

Darren Criss did even a better Seymour than Rick Moranis. It’s a bold statement, but it’s true! Darren is clearly a better singer than the legendary Rick, and portraying the “nerdy” character, he did to perfection. I got jealous that he kissed Evan for so long!

Bryce Pinkham made us laugh aloud with his role as the evil dentist Dr Orin, and we all were deeply impressed, and give him “mad-respect” for the many other roles that he played and quickly changed into. Even when Steve Martin was just perfect in the film, Bryce's twist and adaptation to his style fit very well. Thank you Bryce!

Stephen DeRosa was just absolutely perfect as Mr. Mushnik. Just a flawless performance. Yes, much better than Vincent Gardenia in the film. Not even up for debate.

My high-star rating comes with a disappointment however, due to what I consider the most important role. Audrey 2 was performed by the understudy, Zakiya Babtise tonight. I missed listening to Aaron Arnell Harrington and what he could do. He was out for this show. I know that to be able to live up to the performance of the late Levi Stubbs in the film, would have been impossible, but Zakiya did not showcase enough soul, grunge / raspy / monster-like vocals and personality for this hard-to-pull role. Marcus M. Martin is currently touring with Aladdin, but I know he kills this role. Clearly, Zakiya can sing, but I truly can’t even grasp the concept of a woman being able to pull off this role to what an audience is expecting. It calls for a male role. If so, it would have to be someone with an element of extreme surprise to pull it off. Tough on Zakiya.

I big bow-and-wow to Camryn Hampton, Morgan Ashley Bryant and Khadija Sankoh for their impeccable voices, melodies and attitudes as the three narrator vocalist in the show. So much fun!

In closing… my eyes were glued to Evan Rachel Woods, but the entire show was a must watch experience. Congrats and thank you for a...

My wife and I went to see the Little Shop of Horrors musical at the Westside Theatre Upstairs during our visit to NYC as part of her 60th birthday celebrations - this was the last of the 5 Broadway shows we saw during this trip to the Big Apple and it was the smallest of all the theatres we went to. Upon entry through the main entrance into the theatre we were directed upstairs to the bar area with female & males toilets. We then had to go up another flight of steps to get to our seats in the theatre. We bought tickets for the show via the Ticketmaster website and they were great value for seats on the side, 4 rows from the stage - we were so close we felt we were on stage with the actors! The Westside Theatre Upstairs is very small with a capacity for just 250 people, so it's very itimate and cosy with the stage reaching out directly to the audience - my wife likened it to our small local Guiseley theatre back in England. There was only a small cast of performers but they were all excellent. The female lead was played by Madeline Brewer who plays the Character of Janine in the hit TV series 'The Handmaid's Tail'. She has a great singing voice - who knew? There was an orchestra playing live during the musical but they were hidden behind the scenes as the theatre wasn't big enough to have an orchestra pit in front of stage. However, they were introduced to the audience by the cast during their curtain call at the end of the great show via a video link. The 2 puppeteers operating the giant alien plant also joined the cast for the...