A perennial with the appetite of a vampire
B-movie director Roger Corman’s ode to a carnivorous plant opens at Albuquerque Little Theatre this weekend. Bumbling floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant resembling a large venus flytrap. But this perennial shares a vampire’s thirst for blood.
“Little Shop of Horrors” opens on Friday, Oct. 7, and runs weekends through Oct. 30.
ALT executive director Henry Avery is already primed for the horror comedy rock musical, having ordered the people-eating plant Audrey II from a California vendor.
“It’s a parody of all the horror and science fiction movies,” he said. “It was like an inside joke that became a classic.”
The musical is based on the 1960 black comedy that helped launch the career of Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient. The music, composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, bops to early 1960s rock ’n’ roll, doowop and early Motown. It premiered off-Broadway in 1982, where it enjoyed a five-year run. Director Frank Oz transformed it into a 1986 film starring Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, John Candy and the Four Tops’ Levi Stubbs as the bellowing Audrey II.
ALT’s version of the leafy extraterrestrial will be anchored by puppeteer Mickey Gammill, while Moe Reese helms the vocals.
Poor Seymour has a crush on Audrey I, the flower shop worker who resembles a hybrid of Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe. He christens the plant “Audrey II” to impress her.
“Unfortunately, this plant needs blood to stay alive,” Avery said. “It’s fun. When you think about it, it sounds kind of terrifying. The plant ends up eating virtually everybody.”
“Little Shop of Horrors” stars Emily Melville as Audrey; Ron Gallegos as Seymour; and Nicholas Handley as the sadistic dentist Orin. The cast also features Eddie Dethelfs as shop owner Mr. Mushnik, Gigi Guajardo as Crystal, Adrianne Valdez as Ronnette and Kayla Fallick as Chiffon.