little shop of horrors
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Topic: little shop of horrors
Posted By: adrene
Subject: little shop of horrors
Date Posted: 7/09/05 at 5:59am
We're doing Little Shop of Horrors in the spring. I rented the video last
night (not the 1960 one) and...hated it! Most of our actors will be
teenagers, who'll probably (I hope) love it.
Can someone give me a pep talk about this play? Is it different than the
movie? Can children attend (will their parents want them to?)
Thanks,
Adrene
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Replies:
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/09/05 at 6:43am
it's fairly much the same - LOL - sorry. The ending is VERY
different - the plant WINS in the play.
It's an awful lot of fun to produce - and the cast and audiences
always love it. The music is a bit more difficult than is
immediately apparent - and, sound is always a monster (no
pun intended) since it has to be an excellent system to pick up
the character (AudreyII) that is singing/talking offstage. Frankly,
I found the tech on this show to be an acid bath - LOTS to
concern yourself with. But the actual play - the rehearsals with
the actors - the choreography - the music - was an absolute joy
to work on. And, yes!, young actors love this play.
There is no reason for children not to attend. Though there are
some aspects of the scipt that are pretty racy (sado-masochism,
drug use, murder, etc.), somehow it comes off very innocently.
Besides, every kid has seen the movie version already anyway!
LOL
Good luck with it. Are you renting or building all the Audrey II's?
We rented and were extremely happy wiht them - building them
would have been one extra headache in tech that I wasn't
willing to put up with.
Again, good luck! And have fun!
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Posted By: adrene
Date Posted: 7/09/05 at 3:17pm
Thanks so much for your great, quick response! After that and a good
night's sleep, I feel better about it. This sentence especially helped: "It's
an swful lot of fun to produce ? and the cast and audiences always love
it."
The tech being an acid bath is a bit worrisome, since we're weak in that
department to begin with (our venue is an old, former church, basement).
We have some new people who are technically-inclined, however, so we'll
hope for the best.
We've just applied for a grant and if we get it we'll probably rent Audrey II.
If we don't?then I'm not sure. Maybe we could show the plans around
and see if anyone gets excited about the prospect.
Thanks again!
Adrene
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Posted By: JCCTony
Date Posted: 7/10/05 at 12:43am
Oh My God! I LOVED doing this show my senior year. Unfortunately I was
stung by a bee and got a ridiculous allergic reaction or something by
it because for about 7 months my face was all blotchy red so I couldn't
be in it, but I did play bass guitar for it. We rented our Audrey II.
Well I should pluralize it because you need a few actually. One small
one with wires out the bottom and a hole for the puppet mouth. One
sewningto a jacket with a fake arm so the actor playing Semore can
puppetier it and look like he's hand's free. One kinda big and then the
full size mutha! This one looked difficult to build but basically to
get the shape they used a giant balloon and did a very strong paper
mache and then peiced it together and it had a harness inside where a
techie would control the mouth and it was big enough for the actors to
go all the way in, under the techies legs and hid behind the vines and
leaves and all. I didn't start music stuff for a while so I got to play
with the puppet a bit.
Super super super fun show to do. The dentist, if he should decide to,
will have a blast designing and building his own "gas mask". Ours did.
It was a bit over the top from Steve Martins' actually. Rental of the
dentists chair might prove a hassel but that's easily worked around. We
had a very green director and this was only her second show directing
herself ever. We did Arsenic & Old Lace earlier that year.
As far as music, you need a really good piano player and just grab a
jazz bassist and drummer from band and that's about all you really need.
Have fun!!!
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Posted By: slicksister
Date Posted: 7/11/05 at 2:54pm
Let me tell you. I knew what this show was and hated the whole premise. I thought it was so stupid. Then I had let some friends talk me into going to see a community theatre production of it and I still hated it. Then I was asked by a theatre company to direct it and even though I balked I said ok. I rented the movie and still thoughtit was prettys tupid...HOWEVER and here's the part you need to listen to - producing and directing this show was an absolute BLAST!!!! I loved it, the audience loved and everyone involed init loved it. I look back on it as one of my fav shows of all time. I just watched the movie again the other day and wondered how I could have hated it. SO I say...go for it. You'll love it.
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The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
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Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 7/11/05 at 5:45pm
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you will love doing this show. it is one of my favs to do. I would advise renting the plants. buliding them is tuff to say the least. if you do have to build. find a puppett maker!
good luck!!
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/11/05 at 11:00pm
"As far as music, you need a really good piano player and just
grab a jazz bassist and drummer from band and that's about all
you really need."
I don't know - I think the orchestration loses a lot without the
woodwinds and brass. 50's rock and roll without a sax?! LOL
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Posted By: sparklegal
Date Posted: 7/13/05 at 1:23am
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I was Audrey in our high school's spring performance of "Little Shop" and can honestly say that it was the most fun and fulfilling part I have ever played. Not only did every single person on the cast love the show, but we received such a warm and enjoyable reaction from the audience. It's visually stimulating, and I felt as if the audience really got into it. Give it a chance, it's just one of those wacky shows that stresses the fun aspect and allows everyone's imaginations to run wild!
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Posted By: adrene
Date Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:23pm
Oh, you guys! I just checked back here after a few days away and I'm just
thrilled by what I'm reading! Maybe there's a chance I can not only endure
this, but...no, is it possible?...ENJOY it??!?!?!?
After reading your posts, I'm (almost) looking forward to this!
Thanks so very much,
Adrene
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Posted By: madsandconsmom
Date Posted: 7/22/05 at 3:38pm
Hi Everyone! I too will be doing Little Shop this spring at the school where I teach. This will be the first musical I teach, and I want it to ROCK! I could use any advice, tips, etc. that anyone out there could give on making this a great show! I read that some of you said it is best to rent Audrey. Could anyone tell me where I could find rental of set, props, costumes, etc. This is for a school, so I am working with a small budget, but I would be curious to see what is out there. Thanks!
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First Time Director
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/22/05 at 4:18pm
YOu can rent AudreyII puppets from Music Theatre
International - or you could check out: http://
www.mcavenedesigns.com/audrey1.htm - their puppets are
beautiful also.
You shouldn't have to rent costumes, if you're on a limited
budget - they're fairly easy to come up with.
If you're not familiar with sets, designing, construction, etc. you
might like to check out http://www.scenographics.com/ . You
can rent the design plans for the set for (I think it's about) $100.
This set is tricky, because you have to construct it in a way that
the plant can be moved on and off...also - one of the counters
needs to accomodate the puppeteer for one of the early plant
puppets. They're pretty nice designs from scenographics - and
they give you a complete shopping list, how-to directions, tool
list, etc. All you have to do is read and follow the directions.
Directing tip: cast kids who can sing. This music is harder than
it appears at first. Especially the three urchins - their harmonies
are tight and not easy - gorgeous! - but not easy.
Have fun - it'll be a ton of work - but you'll have a blast!
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Posted By: slicksister
Date Posted: 7/22/05 at 4:48pm
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As far as renting the Audreys I would check out local or nearby community colleges or Schools f Performing Arts for them. We were able to rent ourd from a School of Performing Arts. It was only an hour away so we picked it up ourselves to save a ton on shipping. A nearby state college had one to rent as well.
the only other thing we rented were a couple of wigs for the girl singers.
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The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/22/05 at 6:34pm
that's a great idea - I remember the cost of shipping those
puppets was INCREDIBLE
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Posted By: MzGalinda
Date Posted: 8/05/05 at 3:42pm
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Hey, guys. I'm new here. I am doing my very own production of Little Shop, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for the role of Audrey. I tried blocking some of the scenes with the guy playing Orin, but I'm not very good at conveying fear in the middle of the day outside in front of people (who actually think it's real) and everytime he came near me screaming I started to laugh.
I'm beginning to think I need some help.
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WOOT! They love me.
Roles
Audrey- LSoH
Galinda- Wicked
Sally- YAGMCB
Queenie- Honk
Swing- Damn Yankees
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 8/05/05 at 6:46pm
You were in "Wicked?"
how is that possible?
it hasn't been released for license yet.
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