Photo: Dominique Allen Lawson and Rob Johansen (Audrey II, Manipulation) in the IRT’s 2024 production of Little Shop of Horrors. Photo by Zach Rosing.

For the first time in over a decade, Indiana Repertory Theatre is offering a musical, with “Little Shop of Horrors” on stage through May 19.

Some thoughts:

— The big-dog regional theaters in most cities park at least one musical on its schedule. Mixed in with the dramatic work at Arena Stage in Washingtton has offered “Oklahoma!,” “The Music Man,” and, on stage as I write this, the lesser-known Michael Friedman show “Unknown Soldier.” McCarter Theatre in Princeton recently announced its world premiere of “Empire Records.” La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego is launching “The Ballad of Johnny and June,” four of the five shows Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre has in its 24/25 season are tuners, Milwaukee Rep has scheduled the new musical version of “Prelude to a Kiss” along with “Lumberjacks in Love” and “The Last Five Years,” and, well, I could go on. Indiana Repertory Theatre, during the Janet Allen years, avoided such shows.

— Yes, there were some songs in the IRT’s “Finding Home: Indiana at 200” program, but there hasn’t been a full-on musical on its stages since 2013’s meh “A Little Night Music.”

— Not that there has been a shortage of musicals in Central Indiana. On the full professional front, Actors Theatre of Indiana and Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre pack their schedules with both tried-and-true shows and newer works, as do, in community theaters, Footlite Musicals, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, and others. And for years, Buck Creek Players could be counted on to offer a music unlikely to been seen elsewhere (including “The Rink” and “Parade”). And for a while we could count on the Phoenix to give us the likes of “Fun Home,” “Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Avenue Q.”

— Side note: I do miss Bob Harbin’s summer musicals at the Athenaeum.

— Having the IRT — the area theater with the greatest resources — include the occassional musical is an interesting sign from Benjamin Hanna, new artistic director. Not only is he closing his first season with “Little Shop of Horrors” but opening his second with “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

— What do the two have in common? No heavy choreography, no choruses, small-ish casts, and little to challenge the sensibilities of audiences (although I’m curious to see if there’s any pushback from long-time IRT subscribers over a certain song in “Spelling Bee”).

— “Little Shop” seems to have become the go-to show for many regional theaters across the country (with unaffiliated productions happening this spring at Ford’s Theatre in D.C., the Guthrie in Minneapolis, a dinner theater in Milpitas, CA, and elsewhere). Head to New York City and you can catch Corbin Bleu in the off-Broadway hit revival (in a theater less than half the size of the IRT). Safe to say, it the little-show-that-could has become a staple. Which is understandable given the strength of the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman career-launching score. And a bit odd given that there aren’t many hit musicals with fatalistic endings.

— Based on a micro-budget 1960 horror comedy flick, “Little Shop” concerns a nebbish in a skid row flower shop who becomes the conduit to a blood-hungry plant’s plan to take over the world.

— Given the puppetry needs of the play and the specific setting, there’s not a whole long of wiggle room for creative staging. There is, however, room for thoughtful casting. When it comes to the two leads, this proved to be the strongest factor in the IRT’s rendition. Other companies may give in to the urge to cast plant-growing Seymour and his low-self-esteem love Audrey in the style of the musical film version’s Rick Moranis and, indelible, Ellen Greene. Instead, here, Dominique Lawson and Lucy Maria Godinez, offer charmingly fresh takes on these easily cartooned characters. The show works best when actors firmly anchor the sincerity to the silliness. That’s most clear here in Godinez’ gorgeous take on the song “Somewhere That’s Green” which is strengthened by the fact that it natural grows out of her scene work before. And when the duo team up for “Suddenly, Seymour,” the sweetness soars. We want these two to share a tract house far from urban skid row, complete with a fence of real chain link. That desire helps propel the show.

— Elsewhere, the cast is largely servicable, with the exception being a badly miscast Kyle Patrick as the brutal dentist Orin and a parade of other characters. While often clicking together vocally, on opening night the trio of Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon seemed under-rehearsed and never quite reached their potential. But the puppeteering delivered, as did Allen Sledge as the voice of the plant. The offstage band delivered the goods and was well served by the sound mix.

— Would “Little Shop” have worked better if it were littler? I know it wouldn’t be economically or design-wise feasible to put this one up on the IRT’s smaller stage, but of the three most recent times I’ve seen “Little Shop,” I felt that the spaces were too big — that its ideal home is a more intimate one. I think the positive reaction to the off-Broadway run has been helped by the fact that its theater only holds 270, much like the theater where the piece first launched. Among other issues, in larger spaces, the downer ending has never quite landed for me.

— All that said, I’m looking forward to seeing how future musical endeavors play out in the Ben Hanna era at the IRT.

For more information, visit IRTlive.com