'Horrors' among Acting Company's best shows

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

I've already seen the first act and highly recommend the show. For a combination of reasons, I had to leave at the intermission. I hope to see the whole show this weekend.

Co-directed by Debbie Collier and Heather Cowell, this is probably one of the best shows TAC has put on. It features great acting, singing, sets and costumes.

It is all about a nerd employee, Seymour (Keith Gagnon), in a failing florist shop who is desperately in love with beautiful co-worker Audrey (Elizabeth Halvorsen). Problem is, Audrey is in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend (Jeff Graham), and she cannot get out of it.

Just as the little shop owner, Mushnik (Chris Collier), is about to close the business, Seymour brings out a strange plant he has developed and named Audrey II. The plant immediately draws customers and saves the operation.

But this plant keeps growing and soon reveals a thirst for human blood.

Collier is also the music director, and she accomplished a lot in balancing the recorded music and the singers.

The singers were tight and lively. Selina Davis, Taylor Marta and Angelica Obregon open the show with a prologue and the song "Little Shop of Horrors." The trio is then woven into several numbers.

Halvorsen, an especially good-looking love interest, does a great job with "Somewhere That's Green." A new voice at TAC, Gagnon was also very good with "Grow for Me."

I particularly liked the "Dentist!" number Graham did while backed by the trio.

The set Cowell designed for this Alan Menken/Howard Ashman black comedy is impressive. It is well laid out with good entrance and exit plans and convincing props and decorations.

The most intriguing of all, however, is the plant that keeps growing. I could not tell if it was constructed locally or was obtained from a prop house, but it is a highlight of the show.

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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Now playing at the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts is "Pygmalion," the famous play by George Bernard Shaw.

Since the last show is a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, you had better hop to it.

"Pygmalion" tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics who makes a bet with his friend, Colonel Pickering, that he can successfully pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette.

This 1913 play was turned into the 1956 musical "My Fair Lady."

Wendie Marks directs it, with James Murphy playing Henry Higgins and Madeline Kellogg playing Eliza Doolittle. Shawn Lukeman plays Colonel Pickering and Derek Olsen plays Eliza's rascally father, Alfred Doolittle.

The play is at the Marysville Community Auditorium, 1919 B St., Marysville.

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Director David Wheeler brings laughter to the stage with Moliére's play "The Miser," which opened Friday at the Lee Burrows Center for the Arts, 624 E St., Marysville.

Miser Harpagon's greed motivates him to marry off his daughter and son into loveless, but wealthy, marriages.

However, as Wheeler explains it, Harpagon has no idea that his daughter, Elise, is in love with his head servant, Valére.

Meanwhile, Harpagon's gambling son, Cléante, is in love with Mariane, but, unfortunately, Mariane is betrothed to Harpagon.

With all these love interests, this can only be a French play.

Add a quirky matchmaker and a servant (who also serves as a chef, coachman and judge) to the mix, and you have a comedy that will no doubt keep you chuckling for days.

"Moliére is the great master of comedy, and this is his funniest play. The audience can expect a fun, physical night of humor," Wheeler said.

Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays to Oct. 25.

Tickets are $8 general or $5 student/senior. They can be purchased at the Yuba Sutter Mall, Yuba College Public Events or at the door. Call 741-6829 for more information.

Award-winning journalist and author Tom Nadeau has written for and acted on stage, screen, radio and television. Write to him at theaterland @gmail.com.