Production begins for Little Shop of Horrors

April Allen | A&L Co-Editor

Little Shop of Horrors 10.1.12 mixdown by TheTackOnline

Interviewer: The Little Shop of Horrors cast has been selected, and the production is in rehearsals for the performance starting on Oct. 26th. The musical will be two weekends with two matinees.

Bethany Larsen: I’m Bethany Larsen. I am an associate professor of theater, and I’m director for Little Shop of Horrors. Little Shop of Horrors is a musical that was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menkin who also, by the way, wrote The Little Mermaid and a whole bunch of other Disney movies. They wrote the musical based on a 1960’s sort of B horror movie that happened to star Jack Nicholson, and it’s honestly not a very good movie, but the play that they made is very funny and full of great sort of 1950’s ‘60s style music. It’s about a plant that wants to take over the world.

Interviewer: What are the performance dates?

Bethany Larsen: Oct. 26th and 27th at 8 p.m., Oct. 28th at 2 p.m., that’s a Sunday, and November 2nd and 3rd at 8 p.m. The fourth is at 2 p.m. so we have two weekends, two matinees, and that’s unusual for us because typically we have our shows on Wednesdays through Saturday nights in a row and only on one week. We are hoping this will allow people to get the word out. If you don’t you know some people in town who are maybe older who don’t like to come out at night. They have an option; they can come in the afternoon. When you choose to put on a play, when you are trying to decide what plays to do, there are a number of things that come into that equation. One is what kind of play is good for our students? What kind of play do I want to direct? What kind of technical and scenic challenges are we able to tackle because we can’t do everything here? When I was thinking last year about what to do this year, I knew I had lots of great, talented performers who were actors and singers, and I thought, you know we really need to give them one more shot at a musical because we typically do a musical once every three or four years and so this would just be another opportunity for them to really show the full range of their talents. I love the play and I knew I would probably have actors to fill it. My technical director/scenic designer said yeah I want to make that plant. I want to build those plants so I thought okay we will do that.

Interviewer: If you were in the play which character would you play?

Bethany Larsen: In this play oh I would be an urchin; I would want to be an urchin because the urchins are sassy, and they are they get to sing lots of different styles of music, and I just think it would be really fun to play one of those urchins.

Bethany Larsen: Originally the play was performed by seven people, and one person played every role that wasn’t Audrey, Seymore, Mushnik, or the Urchins. He played every single other role so it was originally a small cast show. I could have cast, you know seven to ten, but because we had so many talented people audition, I felt like I could cast twenty people, so I did.

Interviewer: I talked with two cast members, Cindy and Jared.

Cindy Barahona: I am Cindy Barahona. I am a senior, and I’m majoring in art with a minor in theater.

Jared: I am Jared Roth. I am an English education senior, and I have theater minor as well. My character name is Tiny, and I am a member of the ensemble.

Cindy Barahona: I am Crystal. I am one of the urchins.

Jared Roth: With the ensemble we are kind of the support system the with songs the extra voices that provide a little more dynamics to the songs, and then we provide the little extra movement and activity on the stage during some of the scenes.

Cindy: I am Crystal, one of trio from the urchins so I’m also with Rhonda and Chiffon, and we kind of witness everything that’s happening

Jared Roth: Kind of like the Greek chorus of the show, if you will. They are always there, always commenting through songs, soulful music and what not.

Cindy Barahona: Very much, very soulful.

Interviewer: How often do you rehearse?

Jared Roth: Let’s see. We have rehearsal Sunday through Thursday from 6:45 to 9:30

Interviewer: What is your favorite thing about musicals?

Cindy Barahona: It’s just the feel that you get from everyone. You bond with all other characters. You discover so many things through the people that you’re working with; I mean everyone. You come into practice and everyone is just alive and even though learning choreography can be difficult sometimes, it is very fun. It’s just very exciting. I love it. I love musicals, just absolutely love ‘em. So, I always enjoy music.

Jared Roth: I’m going to agree 100 percent with what Cindy said, aside for the dancing. It’s not exactly my area of expertise. More so the getting to mingle with so many different people that I probably wouldn’t get to meet otherwise that’s by far one of my favorite things. With this show in particular, I really like the idea that we have so many fresh new faces because, you know, with the two of us graduating in May you know there is going to be somebody there to take our place, if you will.

Interviewer: Bethany Larsen says each cast member will rehearse an average of 15 to 20 hours a week. This is a very fun play, and it will be interesting to see what the plant that’s going to take over the world looks like.

CAST LIST

Voice (Not Unlike God’s) ZACHARY SCHMIDT
Crystal CINDY BARAHONA
Ronnette KELSEY DAVIDSON
Chiffon BONNIE KELLER
Mushnik STEPHEN CONDON
Seymour TAYLOR BURGRAFF
Audrey KYLIE PETERSON
Corker (Ensemble) ZACHARY SCHMIDT
Lady (Ensemble) KADIE DENNISON
Angle (Ensemble) DENNIS ARTEAGA
Mamarama (Ensemble) KATY RUBINO
Geezer (Ensemble) SETH MECKLENBURG
Tiny (Ensemble) JARROD ROTH
Cupcake (Ensemble) ANDREA NICHOLSON
Zigs (Ensemble) NICOLE BOYSEN
Beans (Ensemble) ALEC SINDELAR
Muffin (Ensemble) ARIK OSTLER
Hopscotch KATRIN MUSEL*
Jacks (Ensemble) BEATRICE WALKER*
Headline (Ensemble) DALTON WALKER*
Orin IZAAK PLUNKETT
Audrey II Voice JACOB PEDERSEN