‘Little Shop of Horrors’ review: Jonathan Groff, Tammy Blanchard get real

Suddenly Seymour is standing beside you. Like, right beside you.

“Little Shop of Horrors,” which opened Thursday night off-Broadway, is getting a much more intimate staging than when it last played New York, both on Broadway and at the large City Center.

Tight feels right, because the roots of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s terrific show are in small houses. Now the insanely catchy doo-wop musical occupies the 270-seat Westside Theatre, with a bare-bones set and not a projection in sight. Freed from dealing with the usual trappings of modern musicals, you can feel the actors let their vines down.