It began as a 1960 horror comedy flick directed by Roger Corman before Alan Menken and Howard Ashman adapted it into an off-Broadway musical that hit the big screen in 1986 directed by Muppet master Frank Oz.
Now, “Little Shop of Horrors” gets a fresh take with a diverse cast at Ford’s Theatre in D.C. running from now through May 18.
“I grew up listening to WTOP,” actress Chani Wereley said. “Hey, mom, I know you’re listening in the car.”
“You do not want to miss this show,” actor Derrick D. Truby Jr. said. “We have some of the best singing, some of the best acting, some of the best dancing, some of the best storytelling that you’re gonna catch in this area. Of course it’s a story you’re familiar with, but the way we’re telling it and the way we’re bringing it to you all is going to be a reflection of not only regular life but the fabulousness that you love from the movie and the musical.”
Written by Charles B. Griffith, the story follows a luckless flower shop worker, Seymour, who raises a wisecracking carnivorous plant, Audrey II — named after the girl of his dreams, co-worker Audrey. There’s just one catch: the plant must feast on human blood and is hellbent on world domination, teaching us all: “Don’t feed the plants!”
“This plant from outer space comes down and starts to wreak havoc on this small community and targets this one lonely guy named Seymour,” Wereley said. “Seymour is like, ‘Wow, this cool plant,’ and the plant’s like, ‘I’m gonna help you get everything you want, but you have to kill people.’ Seymour is like, ‘I don’t know how I feel about that, but you know what? Sure, let’s kill some people,’ so Seymour kills people because he’s in love with this girl”
“Throughout the story you see him get more opportunities and fall into some pretty heavy, bad things that most of us would not condone in real life,” Truby Jr. told WTOP. “What’s interesting about playing it is that if you don’t care about Seymour or at least kind of understand the motivation behind what he’s doing, then you don’t really buy into the story, so that’s been the most challenging and thrilling part about playing this role. While this person is doing some pretty crazy things, trying to make sense of it all and find the heart behind why those things are happening.”
Director Kevin McAllister and scenic designer Paige Hathway team with the puppetry of Monkey Boys Productions to bring the killer Venus Fly Trap to life on stage.
“The puppeteering and all of the things that we have going on in the show are so much fun,” Truby Jr. said.
“The puppets that we have were I think in the off-Broadway production that’s currently running,” Wereley said. “They look classic almost and the new set is stunning and you have this [diverse] community that you don’t get to see on stage. I know, growing up, if I had seen the people on stage that are going to be on stage in this show, I would have been like, ‘Whoa, I didn’t think that was a thing that could happen.’ It’s opening possibilities.”
Indeed, the diverse cast represents people from all sorts of backgrounds.
“We have never really seen an Audrey and a Seymour that do not typically fall into the tropes that we already see in the movie,” Truby Jr. said. “I myself am a Black-identifying male actor and I’ve never really seen that in that history portrayed in this role. … While we are trying to honor all of what was done before us, if people come out to our show, they will see different bodies, different ethnicities and how that reflects into our storytelling.”
Of course, you’ll get all of your favorite Motown-style songs by Menken and Ashman.
“I think the biggest bop is the opening with urchins, you know, ‘Little Shop! Little Shop!,'” Truby Jr. said. “Our duet, ‘Suddenly Seymour,’ is always a soft spot for me because the lyrics are so beautiful,” Truby said. “Then also the patter songs that we have throughout the piece like the dentist piece between Seymour and the dentist, then ‘Closed for Renovation,’ those are all so much fun, so it’s definitely a challenge but, man, I love this music.”
“I’ve always loved ‘Feed Me,'” Wereley said. “My favorite that I get to watch every night is probably ‘Grow For Me,’ because it is so cute, you don’t even know, I’m like sitting in the corner going, ‘Oh my God,’ literally a stake in my heart, oh my goodness because it’s like, ‘I’m giving you sunlight, I’m giving you this’ … it’s so sweet and tender and not what you expect when you see the song. I think of Rick Moranis where he’s like, ‘Oh my God, Audrey, please grow for me!’ But Derrick is like, ‘Will you please grow for me, please, please?’.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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