What’s up with all these Little Shops? Canada’s Stratford Festival revived the kitschy 1982 Alan Menken/Howard Ashman musical this summer, and two new productions start performances on the same day this autumn, on either coast of the U.S. The Off Broadway production is helmed by Tony-winner Michael Mayer and features Hamilton star Jonathan Groff as the hapless flower shop attendant Seymour, while the Pasadena Playhouse version has George Salazar (Be More Chill) in the same role. It may be that, in a world in which the previously unthinkable is the new normal (climate apocalypse, fake news), the story of a flesh-eating plant that threatens humanity captures the tone of the times. —K.F.

The Pasadena production of Little Shop of Horrors is playing at the Pasadena Playhouse, in Pasadena, California, through October 20. Buy tickets here.