The Theatre Department presented its Spring musical “Little Shop of Horrors” March 22-24. The 80s cult classic is a whirlwind of genres, blending campy sci-fi satire with dark comedy and budding romance. The show revolves around Seymour Krelborn, a hapless florist shop worker who stumbles upon, and proceeds to raise, a smooth-talking, man-eating flytrap dubbed Audrey II.
“We picked ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ as a department because we knew that we had a fabulous group of students who had experience with puppet-making,” said theatre teacher Kayla Sharp, who directed the production. “We wanted to play to those strengths.”
Though well prepared for the creative requirements, Sharp said they faced some small problems early on. In January, when the musical was starting up, a cold snap led to a string of snow days, which heavily impacted scheduling and left the cast struggling to make up missed rehearsals.
“We had some weather issues,” Sharp said. “We always plan like we’re going to get snow ,and we often do, which is stressful even if you plan for it.”
That’s not all that went awry in the initial stages of production, as the plant puppet from a past show that Sharp and her colleagues had originally planned to borrow turned out to be unusable.
“We had found a puppet originally from another school… but by the time we got it back to Northwood, it was not functional,” Sharp said.
Students who were “eaten” by the plant emerged scraped by nails protruding in the interior. Sharp soon decided it would be better—and safer—for everyone if they built their own model instead. Despite these complications, the biggest upset of all came much later into rehearsals, only a few weeks before opening night.
Members of the cast who were also a part of Northwood’s a capella group “Pitch Please” faced a scheduling conflict. They had progressed to the second round in an a capella competition which would take place in Atlanta, GA on the Saturday of the final performance of the musical. Forced to choose between performances, they decided to leave the “Little Shop of Horrors,” a show now without multiple central characters.
“One thing that is a big struggle for our students is that they’re involved in multiple things, and that can be great, because they’re well rounded, but it can also be a struggle for whenever they have to make a commitment to the musical,” Sharp said.
Some ensemble actors and Sharp herself stepped up to assume the missing roles, with minimal time to make the adjustment. Sharp was hesitant to take the stage, though it was not the first time she’d had to fill a student’s shoes, saying she does “not enjoy performing,” and much prefers to be “backstage running things.” She attempted to find someone else to voice Audrey II before taking it on herself.
“The show went on, even though it seemed like it was going to be a disaster,” said junior Marcus Jackson, who starred as Seymour. “Ms. Sharp and the cast did an amazing job.”
– By Chase Miller
