I’ve now seen the designer run, tech rehearsal and official opening of this production, from workout duds and a piano in a rehearsal studio to costumes, wigs, a lively orchestra, a full set and actual sound effects, as opposed to someone at the director’s table saying ring-a-ling in lieu of a bell when a door opened.

Also, don’t be scared, but I swear that Audrey II (the person-eating plant from outer space, in case you’ve been living in the Himalayas the past 65 years) has actually grown in the process.

According to the Natural History Museum website, “there are currently around 630 species of carnivorous plant known to science.” They are divided into five categories – Snap Traps, Pitfall Traps, Adhesive Traps, Suction Traps and Snare Traps. I would guess that Audrey II is a snap trap but it might be a combination or a different kind altogether, as this list is based on known, earth species.

Spoiler alert – Audrey II is really a puppet. I have a puppet thing, but not a fetish. (Certainly not like Woogie’s shoe fetish in There’s Something About Mary.) I’ve seen Avenue Q multiple times and one year attended the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art, which almost took me in the opposite direction, as if Pennywise had shape-shifted from a clown to a puppet.

Anyway, a shout out to Josh Bernaski for his work manipulating Audrey II in this show. As someone remarked to me – it must be awfully hot in there.

As is the norm, Audrey II’s off-stage voice is performed by someone else, in this case Juwon Tyrel Perry, who, thanks to some pre-show negotiations with Alan Mencken, gets to show his face and treat us, as a form of encore, to the Oscar-nominated song, not normally in the stage version of the show, Mean Green Mother from Outer Space.

Steve McDonagh, a foil of sorts as the shop owner Mr. Mushnik, not to be confused with the shop owner Mr. Maraczek from She Loves Me, provides the expert glue from start to finish.

Adam Fane, playing 10 parts, with different voices and different physical presences, once again brings unending comedic energy, especially as Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. Normally, I might say that he steals the show, but that’s tough when the leads present unforgettable performances.

Alina Taber honors Ellen Greene, the revered, original stage and movie musical Audrey, while bringing her own interpretive touches to the role, including one walk-off reaction that brings a roar from the audience. Coincidentally, Greene’s father was a dentist, though hopefully not a sadist.

In the other iconic role, Andrew Linden, as Seymour Krelborn, is as big a nebbish as you’d ever want to see, until he isn’t. As Agatha Christie once wrote – “everyone is a potential murderer.”

Because everything old is new again, Little Shop has its own, updated version of the Greek Chorus, the Street Urchins, played here to the hilt (not Hilty, as in Megan, who played Audrey in the 2018 Broadway Center Stage production) by Kiana J. Beverly, Donnalesly Fondjo and Aneesah Jemei, with voices and dance moves that would amaze the ancients, just as they thrilled today’s audience.

This is the best stage version of Little Shop I’ve seen. I heartily recommend that you buy a ticket and plant yourself in the audience.