Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
Proposed by Director Ruth Mandsager
Music Direction by Jim Martinez
Play Synopsis
The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names "Audrey II" - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it, BLOOD. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II's out of this world origins and intent towards global domination!
Vision Statement
Little Shop of Horrors is a horror comedy rock musical with music by Alan Menken and lyrics and a book by Howard Ashman. The story follows a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh.
The musical is loosely based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors. The music, composed by Menken in the style of early 1960s rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown, includes several well-known tunes, including the title song, "Skid Row (Downtown)", "Somewhere That's Green", and "Suddenly, Seymour". The musical premiered Off-Off-Broadway in 1982 before moving to the Orpheum Theatre Off-Broadway, where it had a five-year run. It later received numerous productions in the U.S. and abroad, and a subsequent Broadway production. Because of its small cast, it has become popular with community theatre, school and other amateur groups. The musical was also made into a 1986 film of the same name, directed by Frank Oz.
My vision is to bring to the stage a timeless fan favorite show that is cleanly and beautifully produced within my given budget. I hope to not only expand the cast to up to 15-20 actors but to also venture into an exciting backstage experience as the show requires many specialty props and puppeteers. Normally I have my actors act as the backstage crew, but in this case, we will need a great team of "blackshirts" hopefully creatively costumed as "street people" in the world of the show.
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