DC Players to present ‘Little Shop of Horrors’

Though Defiance College’s DC Players’ production of the off-Broadway hit, “Little Shop of Horrors,” is the first in the Defiance area, it has played literally around the world. Productions have been staged in Buenos Aires, Sydney, Vienna, Toronto, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Budapest, Rome, and Tokyo, just to list a few. Not bad for a modest little show based on an even more modest movie.

As a 1960 Roger Corman horror comedy, it was completely filmed in just two days of effort. The stage version, which Defiance audiences will enjoy, with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, opened  in the off-Broadway Orpheum Theatre on July 27, 1982.  Menken and Ashman are more widely known as the award-winning team behind Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Rave reviews of “Little Shop” have included The New York Times: “This horticultural horror will have you screaming with laughter;” Woman’s Wear Daily: “The … style is so infectious one can’t help getting caught up in this adorable little spoof … Little Shop is giddy, irresistible entertainment;” and the New York Daily News: “There is a surprise ending. I won’t tell you what it is, but keep your week killer handy!”

In 1986, the little show filmed in two days, became a multimillion-dollar, all-star film musical. The cast included Steve Martin, as the leather-jacketed Elvis-like dentist who becomes the first of the voracious plant’s victims. Bill Murray appeared in a role, cut from the stage version, which was played by Jack Nicholson in the 1960 film.

The show is filled with zany characters: Seymour, the clerk who finds the plant and witlessly nourishes it, is but a down-and-out loser; Audrey, Seymour’s secret love who is the name sake of the plant (Audrey II), is little more than a ditsy bimbo; Orin, Audrey’s abusive, swaggering, motorcyclist boyfriend, is a caricature of an Elvis wannabe. The plant, Audrey II, requires a series of puppets, each larger and more demanding of fresh meat—and two actors: one to manipulate the puppets and one to bring voice to a rhythm and blues tune, “Feed Me,” pretty close to James Brown himself!

DC faculty and staff may attend the Wednesday, April 2, preview free of charge. DC Students may attend any performance free of charge. In both cases, reservations are recommended.