The show opens with a voice proclaiming: “On the 23rd Day of the Month of September in an early year of a decade not too long before our own, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence, and this terrifying enemy surfaced as such enemies often do in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places.”
Little Shop of Horrors spins a lively tale about an alien plant creature from outer space. Seymour Krelbourn, a forlorn florist's assistant at Mushnik's Skid Row Florist, unfortunately buys one of the tiny mysterious plants and brings it back to the shop, where he works. He names the plant Audrey II, in honor of his secret love, a beautiful blonde co-worker, named Audrey.
Seymour tends the plant lovingly, but discovers a shocking fact that Audrey II is not interested in ordinary plant food and water; its preferred diet is blood, that is...fresh blood!
Seymour starts feeding Audrey II with his own blood, but he gradually grows weaker and weaker as the plant slurps up his blood with a growing appetite. The animated, R&B-singing plant grows evermore ill-tempered and foul-mouthed as Seymour struggles to satify its insatiable hunger.
In response to Seymours growing reluctance to give more of his own blood, the plant, which has grown to a monstrous size cons Seymour with an offer to grant Seymour his heart's desire in return for finding a continuing supply of fresh blood.
Meanwhile, Audrey's boyfriend, Dr. Orin, a sadistic dentist gets into the act, but unfortunately ends up with an overdose of nitrous oxide, which he has inhaled - to increase his pleasure as he causes pain for his patients. He exits the world and Seymour adds him to the plant’s ravenous diet. But matters only grow worse after that and by the end of the show, practically all of the principle characters have been devoured by the “mean-green” plant monster.
The very entertaining Boulder Dinner Theatre’s production stars Brandon Dill as Seymour and Joanie Brosseau-Beyette as Audrey, with A.K. Klimpke as Dr. Orin. Wayne Kennedy plays Mushnik, the flower shop owner. Robert Johnson is Audrey II’s powerful voice. Lexi Strickland, Claire Grout, and Emily McComber play Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette.The theatre orchestra is directed by Neal Dunfee.
The musical score was composed in a 1960's rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown style. Among the hit tunes performed by the exceptionally talented cast were: Skid Row (Downtown), Da-Doo, Grow for Me, Dentist, Feed Me (Git It), Somewhere That's Green, and Suddenly Seymour.
Little Shop of Horrors originally opened Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre on July 27, 1982 with music and direction by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. It was critically acclaimed and won several awards including the 1982-1983 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. When it closed on November 1, 1987, after 2,209 performances, over five years, it was the third-longest running musical and the highest-grossing production in off-Broadway history. It has been performed all over the world and was made into a film, directed by Frank Oz, in 1986. It had never run on Broadway until it was revived at the Virginia Theatre on West 52nd Street in New York in October 2003.
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