'Little Shop' comes to Little Theatre

Sep. 17—Suddenly, Seymour is taking the stage at the Historic Atlas Theatre.

It's been a long time coming, but the main character of the cult-favorite musical Little Shop of Horrors is hardly the star of the show. That title would go to the 10-foot-tall, foul mouthed, carnivorous plant — a big, mean mother from outer space.

Little Shop of Horrors enjoys an odd history, first appearing as a comedy film of the same name in 1960. This variation of the story was largely ignored, though well received, and only regained prevalence when it was adapted into an off-Broadway production in 1982. The show, which featured a small cast and small musical accompaniment, played to equally small audiences.

The show's popularity grew rapidly from being a community theater production to occupying some of the bigger stages in the U.S. and London — a place it, really, was never meant to be.

The 1986 film, which starred Rick Moranis; Ellen Greene, who played the lead role of Audrey in the original production; and Steve Martin, only increased its presence.

Little Shop is a worthy example of a diamond in the rough. Even today, replicating the original off-Broadway version of the stage play is the most intimate, and effective, way to present the off-kilter story.

Director and longtime Cheyenne Little Theater Players member Rory Mack is keeping this at the forefront of the cast and crew's preparation for Sept. 23's opening night. Those who expect a re-creation of the popular movie adaptation will be, hopefully, pleasantly surprised.

"People that are only familiar with the movie have a lot of surprises, because the ending is different," Mack told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle at Thursday night's rehearsal. "Some of the music is different. It's a different experience."

The Little Theatre production is an attempt to present the musical how it was originally intended.

"This is the 40th anniversary year of Little Shop of Horrors being off-Broadway," Mack said. "It was off-off-Broadway — way off — and it played in a theater that seated about 100 people. That was their regular. They just they started selling it out and selling it out, so they moved it to a bigger theater that was about at 350 capacity and then kept selling that out.

"This is not designed to play to 1,000 people. This is designed to be an intimate, close show because the audience should feel claustrophobic."

Simple stage

The stage is simple.

It features the storefront of the small, failing plant shop where the socially awkward Seymour works and lives in the skid row of an unnamed city. Mr. Mushnik, played by Jacob Smith, and co-lead Audrey, played by Kristen Kasper, are typically seen there with him.

More often, he's caring for Audrey II, a mysterious plant that begins to draw business to the store.

Characters step through the single doorway of the shop, singing doo-wop inspired show tunes in the street, while background singers perform and interact with characters throughout the play. Graffitied brick walls stretch out into the audience, and sometimes characters maneuver between tables during numbers.

It's an elevated performance. The cast manages not to dip into being silly — a difficult balance to strike.

"Even in the introduction to the script, it says, 'These characters need to be sincere,'" Mack said. "It's not a heavy handed parody or anything like that. These people need to live in a real world that they live in, yet they need to emulate the movies of the 1950s and '60s."

Audrey

This is especially true when it comes to Audrey. It takes a big personality and a bigger voice to recreate the original character played by Greene, a difficult task for any actor.

After a stint in Washington, D.C., Cheyenne native Kristen Kasper returned not only to her hometown, but to the Little Theater. She landed the lead role of Audrey in her first production since she moved away in 2015.

"It's hard to separate myself from her, because a lot of Audrey really is Ellen Greene," Kasper said. "It's kind of like bringing my own light and perspective to the role, but maintaining her innocence and her persona."

The actors of Little Shop seem to share a perspective on this production — they're all stepping into a bucket-list role. This applies to both Kasper and Marshall Brown, who will remain on-stage almost constantly as protagonist Seymour, as well as the inhuman star of the show.

Trevor Warren carries the same excitement as his co-leads. The funny part is, the audience won't see his face, except for one scene in the performance. But he voices arguably the most important character in the show — Audrey II.

Audrey II

Audrey II is a strange role to play, and one of the only aspects of the CLTP production that will borrow more heavily from the movie than the original stage play. Warren, a resident of Fort Collins, Colorado, has been making the hour-long commute up to Cheyenne nearly every day for the past several weeks to lend his sonorous voice to the plant's imposing presence.

"I've done theater for years and years and done nothing even close to this," Warren said. "I warm up, generally, for about two, two and a half hours before the show. It's a combination because (his voice) has to sit very, very low, but then he has to do the same thing when he's on the other end and go way higher."

Since Warren is voicing Audrey II, he's tucked behind the curtains the entire time while puppeteers, Amanda Byzewski and William Blansfield, are controlling the increasingly large variations of the plant.

To prepare, Warren and the puppeteers would sit next to one another, repeating lines and sticking to one vocal inflection that the puppeteers simply have to trust Warren will hit the mark during every single show.

Though they're still a week out from opening day, the pairs have rehearsed enough to be well in sync.

"It takes time to get used to it, but when the show comes and you start talking, you start seeing it come together," Warren said. "It's a lot. It's very challenging. It's a lot of work, but in the end it's it's incredibly rewarding."

Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.