A man-eating plant, a nerdy florist and a love story gone awry is what you can expect in the LRHS All-School Musical, Little Shop of Horrors which runs from Thursday March 12-Saturday March 14. This darkly comedic musical will truly eat you up with anticipation as you witness the ambitions of a simple man on Skid Row and a plant with an insatiable appetite for humans. Tickets can be purchased online at www.lakeland.booktix.com.
This musical is about a man named Seymour who lives in a depressing town where he is pining for a girl named Audrey. He quickly gains fame from discovering and raising a man-eating plant that he names Audrey II after a total eclipse. Seymour must satisfy not only the plant’s growing appetite, but also his own hunger for fame and power. The musical has romance, murder, dancing, and a lot of laughs. Seymour must keep up with the demands of this other-worldly plant by feeding her human bodies all night long.
The show has several memorable musical numbers, but sophomore Maggie McGinty who plays an urchin in Little Shop Of Horrors said her favorite number was “Skid Row”.
“I love to sing and rehearse a song called Skid Row because the entire cast gets to be in the number,” said McGinty.
This truly shows how connected the cast is to the music and each other.
Photo courtesy of Mattea Petri.
Junior Jovie Kazimir who plays Audrey II said, “I love ‘Sominex/Suppertime II’. It’s a short scene between Audrey II and Audrey, Seymour’s lover, which takes a dark turn.”
Mattea Petri said her favorite musical number was ‘Dentist’ for sure! I think it’s a really fun scene for all of us.”
“My favorite song is ‘Grow For Me’,” said senior Kiera Sherlock, who plays Audrey. “My favorite song I sing is probably ‘Suddenly Seymour’.”
With many fun musical numbers in the show, audiences can expect the positive energy to translate onstage.
The cast of Little Shop Of Horrors said the audition for this musical was really fast-paced, taking less than five minutes per person. McGinty said, “The audition process is very short. You get called in with a prepared monologue and a song from the show [demonstrating to] the director what he needs to see.”
It’s a lot of pressure to perform on the spot in auditions, but this cast managed to hold it together and give it their best.
“I went in, said my lines [that] I was instructed to for the character, and then I sang the song. After that, I was dismissed. I just stayed in character and made sure to match everything I was saying to how the character would act and talk in the show.”
This talented cast said that putting together this musical has been really fun, but admitted that saying there weren’t any obstacles would be an understatement.
“I didn’t partake in this, but making the plants and ensuring they are functional in time is a difficult task,” said Sherlock.
McGinty explained that with all the snow days LRHS had this year, it really put a hold on putting together this musical and took away a lot of valuable teaching time, and it was really hard to get back into it.
Petri said she thinks the biggest obstacle was the show itself.
“I think putting a show together is an obstacle within itself, but hopefully by the time we hit the stage, all of the different aspects that make a show have been conquered by our talented cast, crew, and directors,” Petri said.
Putting together a musical can be very hard, but this cast managed to sing past it and work their hardest.
“Line memorization and building the large puppets were probably some of the hardest things to do for this production,” Kazimir admitted.
While putting this musical together, there were also memories made between the cast members on and offstage.
For Sherlock, who is performing as one of the leads in her last show, it was special spending time with her costars one last time.
“Me and my best friend Mady (who plays Mrs. Mushnick) get to see each other a lot more than usual,” said Sherlock. “I’m so happy I get to work with her for my last show.”
Photo courtesy of Jovie Kazimir.
“My favorite memory was probably when Matthew was singing during one of the songs, then fell into the garbage can and got stuck.”
Petri’s favorite memory was “finding out about the show and being cast, because I think the whole theater department was pretty psyched.”
McGinty went on to say that her favorite memory was “The rush of quick changes and tech week gives a certain feeling of teamwork. Getting to spend so much time with your cast really brings you all together by the end.”
This cast has truly grown close over the time they spent practicing with each other and they are all excited for opening night to create even more memories!
This cast is super excited for opening night and showing the whole school of LRHS all of the hard work, achievements, and memories they made while putting this musical together.
Kazimir said, “It’s a funny and funky show and I definitely would attend if I were you.” You can get your tickets at booktix.com. Come out and support your fellow schoolmates and see the man-eating plant come to life on the LRHS stage!
