Review: Little Shop of Horrors at South Tahoe High

I just returned from the sold-out opening night of Little Shop of Horrors at South Tahoe High. I'm still on the high, so I can only imagine how the cast and crew are celebrating tonight! In a word, spectacular. Oh, and campy, grotesque, and hilarious. Yeah, I know it's weird that I've never seen the movie (or the other movie from 1960, with Jack Nicholson?!) so my shock and surprise at the storyline is truly the highlight of my evening at the theater.

I knew it was a quirky movie with a puppet plant, but apparently, the 7- and 8-year-old girls seated behind me, knew WAY more about it, having seen it last summer at Sand Harbor.

This show opened up with instant energy, voices projecting, and great period costumes (oh my goodness, sooo many costume changes!). The choreography is incredible, of course, it's Rhonda Keen, and the set design is very creative and clever. The kids kept the energetic pace up the entire time, and the orchestra did not miss a beat. There were a couple of sound system snafus, but those will be worked out by Saturday's performance. These kids at our high school continue to amaze and impress me; we all feel sad to say "Goodbye" to the Gilbertos, but then we see the new stars on the horizon, fresh meat on the stage (pun fully intended).

And while I don't like to mention specific performers, because all 30+ on the stage in that last number are fantastic...Scott Yamaoka is truly a star in the making...and his dad is a dentist??!! Best co-inky dink of the night!

Histrionically yours,
Michelle Gomez
Tahoe Art League

For ticket information, visit https://southtahoenow.com/story/11/08/2024/little-shop-horrors-opens-south-tahoe-high-school.