THEATER:

Veteran director Kent Johnson, who’s been staging community theater productions in Orange County for more than 40 years, showed the Huntington Beach Playhouse he still has all the right moves early in 2007.

Johnson’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors” — a musical satire in which most of the cast is consumed by a man-eating plant — towered above the field and captured top honors among shows mounted by the playhouse this year.

This columnist’s review described the show as “a terrific package of camp, spoof and ‘50s nostalgia, careening gleefully over the top with equal parts of horror and hilarity.”

Placing second in the seven-show field for 2007 was the popular drama “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” directed by Carl DaSilva. This columnist called the Huntington Beach production “a play brimming with tantalizing acting challenges, most of which are splendidly conquered.”

“The Cemetery Club,” a play about life and friendship during the advancing years, directed by Autumn Browne, was No. 3 on the year-end list. Fourth was an import — the comedy “Lend Me a Tenor” from the Huntington Beach High School’s Academy of Performing Arts, staged by Earl Byers — while Robert Rotenberry’s production of the campy farce “And Then There Was Nun” ranked fifth.

In the latter show, Karen Merrill’s brilliant sendup of Katharine Hepburn earned her top honors in the individual acting department, along with Michael J. Keeney, who excelled as the troublemaking McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

A playwright who took the leading role in his own show, Jeffrey Krueger, earned high honors for “The Legalities of Love.”

Completing the 2007 honor roll at the playhouse were Oriana Nicole Tavoularis for “And Then There Was Nun,” Jake Wells in “Lend Me a Tenor” and “big nurse” Holly Jeanne in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Golden West College also hit some high notes in 2007, and these will be recounted in next week’s column.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.