'Little Shop of Horrors' now playing at Acting Company

The rock musical "The Little Shop of Horrors" has opened at The Acting Company in Yuba City and runs through Nov 1.

I'm seeing it at the matinee on Sunday. I expect it will be top notch as are all the shows directed by Debbie Collier. Co-directing this is Heather Cowell.

Composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman put this stage show together based on the low budget 1960 black comedy film of the same title by Roger Corman.

This is slightly different, since movies are usually made out of plays, instead.

It is about a fumbling florist, often described as a nerd, who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. Don't let that bother you. It's much funnier than it might sound.

It has several popular songs, including the title song, "Skid Row" and "Suddenly, Seymour." Many are done in the doo-wop style.

I Googled some of the songs to refresh my memory and, yes, they are great. The movie version with Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and Vincent Gardenia was, as one reviewer put it, "one of the most unappreciated films of the '80s."

I happened to see this in Berkeley when I escorted two young girls to it at their mother's request. The next show I took them to was "Rocky Horror Picture Show," also in Berkeley.

To give you an idea of how out of touch I was, I wore a suit and tie to the chagrin of the girls, who costumed up for the event. The others figured I was a bodyguard, or a cop or otherwise "from the authorities."

"Little Shop of Horrors" has been produced all over the world, from Broadway to Buenos Aires, from Toronto to Tokyo and from Stockholm to Singapore.

The cast includes several new faces and voices: Marina Smitz, Angelica Obregon, Taylor Marta, Selina Davis and some already well-known. Those would include Chris Collier, Jeff Graham and Joe Moye.

TAC is located at 815 B St., Yuba City. Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $15.

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Also coming up Oct. 3 at TAC is a Magic Theatre production of — and I quote — "Æsop's Æxcellent Ædventure."

It is a production directed by Jeff and Brandon Graham describe as a romp through some of the more famous works of Æsop and the Grimm brothers.

John Elliott plays Æsop. The cast also includes Brenna Souza, Heidi Winrich, Kathleen Hansen, Mary Scully, Aaron Hutton, Tad Crother, Julian Barkley-Brinson and Victoria Vlasova.

The shows are at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturdays only. Tickets are $5.