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College Theater will continue its run of the musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Tickets cost $6 and may be purchased by contacting the box office at 610-330-5009.
The play’s four-day run began Wednesday. Anyone donating blood to the Oct. 29 blood drive organized by the Landis Community Outreach Center received one complimentary ticket.
“The peculiarities of the academic calendar almost always necessitate a College Theater production that coincides with Halloween,” says Michael O’Neill, director of theater. “This year, we decided to schedule Little Shop in that slot as a celebration and send-up of Halloween fun. The show is full of theater tricks, and it is the perfect Halloween musical treat.”
Based on Roger Corman’s 1960 cult film of the same title, Little Shop of Horrors is a blues-flavored, rock ‘n’ roll send-up of girl groups, King Kong, 1950s sitcoms, and such “red scare” sci-fi flicks as The Blob and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Recently revived on Broadway, the play remains one of off-Broadway’s most popular musicals ever, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The characters include a blood-thristy plant (Audrey Two), a nerdy floral assistant who makes a Faustian bargain with it, a sado-masochistic dentist, and an airhead femme fatale.
Musical direction is by Tom DiGiovanni ’96 and choreography by Sue Smith. Richard A. Kendrick’s scenery will hark back to the 1960 film, complemented by Vicki Neal’s lighting design and the costumes of D. Polly Kendrick, Parrott Designs.Computer science major Rusty Wandall ’04 (Ambler, Pa.) will oversee sound and electrical and computer engineering major Christopher David ’04 (Sandy Hook, Conn.) will be stage manager.
English major Tyler Cohn ’06 (Wantagh, N.Y.), who plays Mushnik, is familiar with the musical, having performed in two previous Little Shop productions.
“It’s incredibly funny in the perfectly random sense of humor that I really enjoy,” he says. “The music is great and quite memorable. The whole show is basically big and overdone and corny in the way that musicals all inherently are, except that Little Shop does it all sort of tongue-in-cheek. It ‘embraces the cheese,’ as we said of last year’s Marquis Players show, Sugar.”
Acting in the musical and last year’s College Theater production ofThe Two Gentlemen of Verona have been great learning experiences, thanks in large part to O’Neill, says Cohen, who also has learned from the director in classes.
“He’s an incredibly knowledgeable guy who knows exactly what he wants from his actors and for the production, explains Cohen. “It’s clear that every little aspect of the show has been twisting around in his mind for quite some time, and he’s very eager to put it all on the stage.He’s done a variety of shows over the years, but Little Shop really gets to show off his sense of humor. If people have as much fun watching this as we’ve had making it, then it’s all worthwhile.”
Cohen, who played the role of Osgood in Sugar last spring, will direct the Marquis Players production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brownnext semester. The Marquis Players is a student-run group that produces an annual musical to benefit charities.
Electrical and computer engineering major Amanda Driscoll ’06 (Princeton Junction, N.J.), who portrays Audrey, the female lead, enjoyed watching the “very funny musical” as a child. She’s excited about her role because it will be her first at Lafayette that is not male or originally intended for a male actor.
“Audrey in particular is enjoyable to play because she is an extremely ditsy and ‘girlie’ girl,” she says. “She is actually a cliché blonde ditz with a very complex life.On one hand, she is beaten by her current boyfriend, while on the other she is falling in love with a nerdy, man-eating-plant owner. That is the great thing about this show — it is funny even without the acting. At one point or another, it hit all of us that the main focus throughout this entire show is a talking and singing, man-eating plant from outer space.I think this is a highly entertaining show, and I hope that our audiences agree.”
Driscoll played Henry, the tap-dancing servant in The Club, in fall 2002 and Miz Spats Palazzo in Sugar. She says she has gained many friendships and improved her singing, dancing, and acting skills by participating in theater at Lafayette.
“All of the directors and musical directors with whom I have worked are very talented people who have helped me to improve upon my performances greatly,” she adds.
The cast presented a brown bag preview noon Monday at the Williams Center Black Box Theater.
CAST (with hometowns and majors):
Seymour — Jeremy Deaner ’04 (Fitchburg, Wis.), mechanical engineering
Audrey — Amanda Driscoll ’06 (Princeton Junction, N.J.), electrical and computer engineering
Mushnik — Tyler Cohn ’06 (Wantagh, N.Y.), English
Audrey II:
-Voice — Stephen Tanner ’04 (Florence, Ala.), neuroscience
-Puppetteer — Garret Nicodemus ’04 (Lake Charles, La.), chemical engineering
Do-Wop Girls:
-Crystal — Toni Ahrens ’05 (Hamilton, N.Y.), psychology and English
-Ronnette — Jessica Lenza ’05 (Hackettstown, N.J.), religion and music
-Chiffon — Lisa Oliveri ’04 (Oradell, N.J.), psychology)
Orin (and everybody else) — Ryon Clarke ’04 (East Thetford, Vt.), biology
PIT ORCHESTRA:
Tom DiGiovanni ’96 — keyboard
Dave Mitchell ’05 – keyboard (Bear Creek, Pa.), music and economics & business
Dave Castelletti ’05 – drums (Martins Creek, Pa.), music
Joe Benoit ’04 – guitar (Middletown, N.J.), psychology and music
Jared Mast ’04 – bass (Easton, Pa.), art and music