Dark comedy and DARK comedy

I've recently seen Little Shop of Horrors (at Ford's Theatre) and Sweeney Todd (at the Signature). Both were quite good, and I got to think how both are dark comedies...only Little Shop has more of an emphasis on "comedy" and Sweeney is definitely more on the "dark."

Little Shop was really quite good. Plus Audrey and Seymour were played by Jenna Coker-Jones and Christopher Kale Jones, who are married in real life, which makes it super cute. (Also, they made these fun videos about preparing for the show--Road to Skid Row One and Two.) It also had my girl crush Felicia Curry; seriously, I love her. She's so, so talented and is cute as a little button. And the dentist? Evan Casey, who I raved about as Mordred in Camelot earlier this year. He also rocked this.

The stage version of Little Shop is quite different from the movie version with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin and Ellen Greene. Of the 18 songs in the stage version, there are maybe 9 or 10 that I remember from the movie. (Admittedly, it's been a long time since I've seen the movie.) And the stage version is much darker--there's a lot more death. Though some of those deaths--the more moving ones, even--are played for laughs. It was almost confusing.

Credit to Jenna Coker-Jones. In the early part of the show, I felt like she was too much trying to imitate Ellen Greene's voice, but that faded by the end of the night. I'm not sure whether that was intentional or I just got used to it, but she was fabulous. They all were, honestly. It really is a fun show.

Sweeney Todd is NOT a fun show. I absolutely loved it. But it also totally freaked me out. Edward Gero's Sweeney had a tendency to stare out into the audience and it was like he was looking right at me and I kind of wanted to run away. I was sitting in the back row of the audience, in front of a passage that actors use to make certain entrances; at times I could hear them walking behind me and I was totally on edge. But in a good way.

Gregory Maheu was Anthony--and let me take a moment here on the name "Anthony." I had a flatmate when I studied in England named Anthony, and it's pronounced almost "Antony", but not quite. They did the same thing here. I could never quite get the sound right, so always misprounced it. Sorry!--and he was absolutely adorable. Seriously, he looks like Jude Law. He also could sing and act well.

My main problem, acting-wise, with the show was the Judge, played by Chris Van Cleave. There's a scene where he sings "Johanna" and is literally whipping himself for impure thoughts and it just did not work. I never felt that he was worked up to the point that whipping would be necessary. He was good in other parts--the "Pretty Women" duet with Sweeney was great--but that early misstep bothered me throughout the night.

I also want to compliment Sam Ludwig's Toby. I'm not sure why his hair had to be all weird, but it was a great performance. Sherri Edelman's Mrs. Lovett was also great.

I'd be more specific, but it's been a month since the show. I do highly recommend it--really, ignore the Post's review. Totally off the mark.

Edit. The Post just reviewed Little Shop. Ignore that review, too.