Sadistic dentists, florist shop owners, two lonely hearts and a blood sucking, flesh eating plant came to life at Tyler Junior College on the Wise Auditorium stage this past month.
Rebecca Faulds directed “Little Shop of Horrors” for the first time at TJC.
“I’m nervous right now,” said Faulds before the show started. The producer spoke of how she never really did a play quite like this before.
Originally “Little Shop of Horrors” was an off-Broadway comedy written by Howard Ashman and composed by Alan Menken that was later converted into a movie. Both were based on a low-budget film directed by Roger Corman in 1960. The story is about a florist who breeds a new type of plant that feeds and thrives on human blood.
Unlike many of the other programs put on by TJC, “Little Shop of Horrors” received a PG-13 rating. Faulds, the director, said she was a little concerned about the content being too strong for the younger kids.
“Its not like the Disney plays,” she said.
The play boasts about 21 actors, all of which have their own special way of adding to the play.
“Each of the actors definitely added to the depth of the play no matter how small the role. Like the dentist, he was a great addition even though he was a smaller character,” said Amanda Pierce, a TJC student and audience member.
“Little Shop of Horrors” attracted a bigger crowd each night it played and say a great crowd interaction at each showing.
Because the play is so different from the type of plays the Tyler Junior College Speech and Theatre Department usually produces, it allowed the actors to have a lot of fun with their characters.
“I just got into the whole music thing this past fall. This is my first acting experience,” said Andy Smith who played Orin, the semi-sadistic dentist.
Krystal King, one of the Audrey II puppeteers stated that she thought the show was gradually getting better as performances went on.
“The show took way more work than you would think,” she said. “We rehearsed for six weeks and our rehearsals were from 6 o’clock usually until about 9 at night. We worked hard on this.”
