The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Young People Center staging ‘Little Shop of Horrors’
EAST HAMPTON >> Year in and year out, it is the gift that keeps on giving — and giving doubly.
The Young People Center for Creative Arts gives area theatergoers the opportunity to enjoy first-rate productions of Broadway favorites featuring a seemingly endless supply of talented young performers. At the same time, YPCCA’s productions also give those talented performers their first real experience of the thrill of live theater.
This week, YPCCA’s summer camp is back with four performances of the zany and innovative black comedy, “The Little Shop of Horrors.” The play opened Thursday at the middle school and will continue with performances Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and a matinee performance at 2 p.m. Sunday.
YPCCA’s usual performance venue at the high school isn’t available this year as crews push ahead with the ongoing renovation of the school. But YPCCA officials are already looking forward to the 2017 season when the high school auditorium will once again be available and — finally — air-conditioned.
“Little Shop” is a story of a boy, a girl and a carnivorous plant. The play has a unique pedigree. It began life as a low-budget (really low budget: reportedly the film cost $30,000) 1960 film directed by B-movie genius Roger Corman. Today, the film is mostly remembered for giving a young 23-yearold Jack Nicholson an early supporting role as the “Wilbur Force,” a masochistic dental patient.
In 1982, “Little Shop” was reinvented as an off-Broadway musical with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. The musical quickly became a cult classic and it launched Menken and Ashman on a profitable — and award-winning — career as composer and lyricist in demand for Disney. They produced Academy Award-winning films “Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast,” among many others. “Little Shop” the musical became a 1986 movie starring Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and, in the Nicholson role, Bill Murray.
Now, the story of Seymour, his hoped-for girlfriend Audrey and the man-eating plant Audrey II (modeled on a Venus flytrap and named in honor of Seymour’s true love) has come to East Hampton. It may be a “little” play, but this is a large production. There are 63 people on stage, co-choreographer Jennifer Friday said Wednesday.
In an effort to give as many people as possible the opportunity to perform (and because of the persistent heat), “We are double casting,” Friday said.
That means two different casts will perform the play, which also means “With four shows, each performance will be a little different,” she said. “This is one of our biggest shows.”
“And, it’s been kind of a challenge to revise this (to accommodate) this entire large ensemble,” she admitted.
YPCCA continues to get a steady stream of quality performers and the company can mount a full-scale, all-singing, all-dancing production in just four weeks. Part of the reason for the ability to mount a production in such a short time is the sense of camaraderie that pervades the camp.
“We’ve had a big influx of young kids this year,” Friday said. “And there’s this nice energy. The older kids have been good mentors,” Friday said. Sitting alongside her was an enduring symbol of the commitment of performers (and their families) across the region to the success of YPCCA. Melinda “Mimi” Jones “is our golden ticket-holder,” Friday said. “She’s been to every one of our shows.”
“My son and daughter were in the very first show,” Jones explained. And now, four of her five grandchildren are performing — and they will be joined by the fifth shortly. Jones’ daughter Kim was introduced to YPCCA by its founder, Mike Mansfield, “who was my daughter’s drama teacher.”
And, in turn, Kim introduced her brother Steve to YPCCA. “It had a profound effect on both my children,” Jones said. “They still do theater. They weren’t ‘sports kids,’ so this gave them something to do. And it puts some many different groups of kids together from different places and they become friends forever,” Jones said.
Kim is married to former town councilor Tom Cordeiro, and their son Mason has one of the lead roles as Seymour in “Little Shop.” Mason first enrolled in YPCCA seven years ago. “It’s kind of in my blood,” the lanky young man said. YPCCA “feels like a second home to me. It frees me to express myself and to challenge myself,” he said, adding “I’m definitely going to do theater in college and after that.”
Like so many other people connected to YPCCA, Mason marvels at the pool of talent available to YPCCA.
“East Hampton is kind of a small town and no one really knows about it. But there are a lot of people who become big stars,” he said.
Observing Seymour’s infatuation with Audrey the person and Audrey the person-eater is a sleek chorus of three women with names rooted in early ‘60s girl groups: Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette.
The three young women who play them in one of the casts are, in order, Brianna Phillips, Vanessa Lagerstrom and Katrina Schwartz.
Lagerstrom describes their roles as being “a Greek chorus.”
“We’re ‘the cool kids;’ we’re in the background, commenting on things and moving the story along,” Lagerstrom said. She was the first of the three women to become involved in YPCCA.
“I’d been doing theater since I was seven or eight,” she said. “I was told about it seven years ago, when I was 10,” she said. “I knew I had to come and join. The people here are great, and it’s such a great environment.”
Lagerstrom told Phillips she should try out for a place with YPCCA, too.
“I always did sports,” she said, primarily soccer and track. But performing was something that always had intrigued her. And now that she is involved in performing, Phillips says there are obvious parallels between doing sports and performing, including thinking and discipline.
Schwartz is a senior — Phillips and Lagerstrom are both juniors at the Classical Magnet School in Hartford — but Schwartz was the last of the trio to get involved in YPCCA.
“It’s definitely a challenge — and to do this all in four weeks. But it’s definitely a great environment, with great connections and great energy,” she said.
On stage, Seymour is interacting with Audrey II, which was designed and built by Jason Gagne, one of a cadre of volunteers who help out year after year.
At the risk of upsetting Audrey, the “flower” looks like an outsized psychedelic green Big Mac. It’s pretty awesome,” Friday said. “What I really love is that we are just so fortunate because there are so many great people in the community who come out to help us,” Friday said.
For her part, Jones was the picture of contentment.
“It’s such a thrill, seeing the second generation” of Joneses performing on stage. “And someday, there will be a third generation — but no time soon,” she said.