Little Shop of Horrors Salisbury Playhouse until May 16

A magnificent man-eating plant dominates the Little Shop of Horrors, a brilliantly contrived classic comic musical , directed by Gareth Machin at Salisbury Playhouse, in a co-production with Mercury Theatre, Colchester.

The ambitious set design by James Button depicts Skid Row, where, amid the tenements, a florist's store has few customers - until the advent of the remarkable plant, named Audrey II after the colleague for whom young assistant, Seymour (Ben Stott), its propagator, harbours a secret passion. The human Audrey, Frances McNamee, who sings and acts delightfully,, has an unhappy relationship with Orin (Jez Unwin), a sadistic dentist who treats her appallingly,

The shop's kindly proprietor, Mr Mushnik (Simon Truby), after another disappointingly quiet day, predicts that the business faces closure.

The sudden spurt in growth of the unusual plant tended by Seymour attracts media interest, and national fame ensues, with offers of lecture tours for Seymour, who did not even graduate from high school. He hankers for life with his sweetheart Audrey, away from the city. The shop is refurbished, four phones are busy constantly and at last the despicable Orin has disappeared without trace.

What is Seymour's source of his miracle plant food?

The action unfolds hilariously, with some great musical numbers. The concealed five piece band, directed by Richard Reeday, does full justice to the score, and there are sparkling song and dance sequences featuring Crystal (Gbemisola Ikumelo), Chiffon (Karis Jack) and Ronnette (Carole Stennett. Choreography is by Nick Winston. Frances Mayli McCann and Gareth Cassidy complete the cast seen by the audience. The unseen stars, puppeteer Andrew London, and voice Leon Craig, who both did a fantastic job in bringing the massive plant so menacingly to life - took a well-deserved curtain call.

The finale, in which a specialist horticultural society had distributed cuttings from Audrey II all over America, featured miniature (soon to grow) pot plants on balconies and landings, and dangling over the proscenium as a truly horrific prospect. Happily, no-one could take this too seriously after such a great night out.

Stella Taylor