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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Feed me, Seymour!, 2 Mar 2004
I was a little doubtful on straying away from recording of Little Shop featuring the wonderful Ellen Greene, but boy, am I glad that I did! This CD is the first available to contain the entire score, including all the reprises! On top of that, there are 5 great bonus tracks, sung by Menkhen and Ashman (the composer and lyricist), which are a real treat! (and explain some of the more random lines in the final version of the show!) The cast is superb, from Audrey right through to Audrey II! If you love Little Shop, and haven't heard this recording yet, buy it! It's well worth the money, and should even please other traditionalist Greene fans!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Little Shop of Horrors comes to Broadway for first time..., 13 Dec 2003
I've recently performed this show at my school, so was very interested to hear this new recording. I was quite pleased with it as there are a few changes which were cool. There's new, slightly funkier orchestration, and even some new vocal backing/vocal arrangements in many of the songs (most obvious in 'Suppertime', 'Skid Row' and 'Suddenly Seymour'). A few of the performances weaken at times but you have to see this recording for what it is as a new modern adaptation of the show. Kerri Butler delivers a very different Audrey which is kind of a mix between Christina Aguilera and a disney character. I personally thought it worked well though. Seymour is played pretty decently. Audrey 2 is also slightly different again to anything we've heard before, sounding at times a bit like Luther Vandross. Another highlight is the rendition of Mrs Luce in 'Meek Shall Inherit' which is hilarious! There are also 5 bonus tracks, material by the songwriters which didn't make it into the show. I thought this was quite interesting to put in. Generally I'd say buy this CD if you are familiar with the show. This new interpretation is great and the CD comes in a nice pop-up like package.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fresh...exciting...and about time!, 25 Nov 2003
This CD of the classic Menken/Ashman Rock Musical "Little Shop of Horrors" is what the original should have been. The wonderful score with strong orchestrations by Menken's orchestrator, Danny Troob, seem to add a 4th Dimension to the wonderful score. I say this becuase the orchestra has been expanded from 6 members to 10...so that's a bigger sound. And there is a less synthetic sound in this recording compared to others. Mushnik and Son has a brand new orchestration that completly transforms the stlye of the song from a Tango to a Jewish Dance sound. A song new to me upon listening was "Call back in the morning", which is an effective number with reprises of "Mushnik and Son" sung over a new melody. It's nice to have the Act finales and a brand new 2nd Act Entree, and the reprises are effective too...and really make the story easy to understand without having to be in the theatre. The performances are strong and you must remember when listening to the CD that the Dentist is not played by Steve Martin, nor is Audrey played by Ellen Greene, so those strong performances are not there. But there are still strong performances none the less. Particularly Kerry Butler's performance (the peak of which is in Suddenly Seymour). Her performance is a tad weak in Skid Row, but it speeds up quickly during the rest of the score. I do feel that the musical as a whole lacks a big show stopper prior to the finale, as which the movie has the oscar nominated "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" and a song to that standard sung by our plant in the show would hasve been a good addition to the stage musical. The "guest performances" from Howard (Ashman) and Alan (Menken) at the end, with the cut demos from the movie and show are a treat. Even though I don't find the songs particularly strong in the context of the musical, it's still a rare treat to hear two talented composers perform their own songs...very well. This CD is thoroughly reccomended to those who love the movie, and I am sure it won't be long until the NY Production appears in The West End...let's hope so.
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