The special effects and sheer visual spectacle made this production of Little Shop of Horrors a big, memorable piece of eye candy. KC Rep's entertaining musical was stimulating and eye-catching on many levels — literally so in the case of its multitiered stage. It was like watching a 24-hour TV news channel, full of split screens and scrolling type, or watching a video online while perusing other sites simultaneously, but on a much larger scale. Add the colorful lighting and costumes (including some sparkly nightclub dresses for the three-woman chorus), and the two hours left our eyes giddy. And then there's Audrey, the exotic talking plant (engineered by Grace Hudson) that feeds on human blood and grows bigger and bigger and bigger. How did they do that? Operated by a hidden puppeteer, the giant, scary mouth opened wide, the better to eat the characters. Cool.
