A sexy but clueless flower shop girl, a dentist with a penchant for pain, a nerdy but lovable flower shop assistant and a singing man-eating plant all hit the stage this week for MSU Theatre’s performance of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” The cast consists of 12 chorus members and seven principles. MSU theatre instructor Marianne Ulmer serves as director of the musical, written by Howard Ashman.
Ulmer said she was not originally going to choose “Little Shop” for this year’s performance.
“I was looking for what I thought was a small musical,” she said. “I went to Atlanta in June with a friend to see ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.’ It was very dance heavy. I looked at my friend 20 minutes in and said, ‘We can’t do this.'”
Ulmer received many early requests to do “Little Shop” and said she is happy she decided on it.
“It has so many little things involved such as the plants,” she said. “It is really fun.”
The cast echoed her thoughts.
“I love the show,” senior psychology major Markii Bout said. “It’s such a sweet story. Sad, but sweet.” Bout plays Audrey, who works at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florist and has an abusive dentist boyfriend.
Senior industrial technology major Paul Hartsell plays Orin, the brutal boyfriend. “He is disturbed … insecure, if nothing else,” Hartsell said. “[Orin likes pain], hence his profession of dentistry.”
The show is set on Skid Row in a flower shop owned by a conniving Mr. Mushnik, played by Grant Alexander, a freshman theatre and English major.
“I knew I wanted to be a part of [‘Little Shop,’]” Alexander said. “I’ve been a big fan since high school. I love playing Mushnik. He’s completely different from me in terms of culture. He’s a bully. It’s fun to yell and push people around.”
Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon, played respectively by Maggie Spann, M.J. Etna and Yuri McSwain, make up the female singing group.
The girls’ roles are like that of a Greek chorus, Etna said.
“We work well together as an ensemble and improvise movements,” Etna said. “We tried to work more as a group rather than as individual characters.”
“We are the eyes and ears of everything,” Spann said. “We foreshadow sometimes.”
The music for the performance is played by pianist Michael Rushing. The songs were original compositions by Alan Menken for the first “Little Shop.” Each song exemplifies the characters’ thoughts.
Cast member and senior geosciences major Scott Gunter said the song “The Meek Shall Inherit” sums up the whole show. Gunter plays Seymour Krelbourn, the shop assistant that starts all the commotion with his blood thirsty plant Audrey II, played by freshman communication major Matthew Crane.
“Here’s this guy who has nothing his whole life and then he has the world offered to him on a silver platter. He just has to keep feeding this man-eating plant, and it changes his life,” Gunter said. “He can get the girl, be successful, but he has this internal conflict. People pressuring him saying, ‘Sign this contract. Do it, do it, do it.’ And he knows it’s wrong.”
The chorus not only sings but also dances. All choreography was designed by communication major Jonette Wilburn.
“Jonette did an excellent job with the choreography,” Hartnell said.
“I love in the first act where [the chorus] is doing the slow motion thing during the song. It takes everything I can to keep a straight face,” Gunter said. “When you have a chorus that is so dedicated to their characters, it’s amazing. They’re a good group of people. We have so many talented people.”
“We’re lucky that we have students who will do the work and enjoy it,” said Melanie Harris, an MSU professor in charge of costumes. “I loved doing the girl group’s dresses because I don’t often get to do sequins, satins and glitzy girly stuff.”
“It’s a fun experience. You get to work with lots of new material,” she said.
The musical will take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 each night on the McComas Hall main stage. Admission is $10 for general and $5 for MSU students, staff and senior citizens.