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 Entertainment | October 2006 
Little Shop of Horrors Opens Halloween Night
 Ed Hutmacher - PVNN
| | The ticket price for a three-course dinner and the performance is $350 pesos. Show only tickets are $220 pesos, space allowing. Dinner begins at 6:30 pm and the show at 8:00. To make reservations or for more information, stop by the Santa Barbara Theater at 351 Olas Altas Street or call 223-2048. |
Puerto Vallarta - It’s everyone’s favorite boy-meets-girl, plant-eats-the-world love story. Mix in a catchy musical score, a doo-wop chorus line, lively dance numbers, witty dialogue, a mysterious plant with a big appetite, toss in a sadistic dentist for good measure, and you’ll discover why audiences round the world can’t seem to get enough of Little Shop of Horrors’ tasty helpings of comical fare.
The show’s auspicious origins began in 1960 as a low-budget sci-fi spoof movie by Roger Corman, with a wet-behind-the-ears actor, Jack Nicholson, co-starring as the masochistic dental patient. The movie’s campy style and morbid, tongue-in-cheek delivery found a quick audience that kept growing over the years.
In 1982 the award winning team of writer Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken (Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin) turned Little Shop into an off-Broadway hit musical, delivering one of the longest-running shows in history — 2,209 performances!
A mega-budget film version of the musical became a mega-box office hit in 1986 (co-starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and John Candy). Finally, in 2003, the Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks masterfully reworked Little Shop into a critically acclaimed Broadway run.
The recipe for Little Shop’s phenomenal popularity is, without question, its laugh-a-minute antics and Motown-inspired songs, all revolving around a plot that is, essentially, a comical variation of the story of Faust:
A geeky young Seymour Krelborn (starring Federico Fonseca) works as a menial clerk at Mushnik’s Flower Shop on Skid Row. He is secretly in love with Audrey (Graciela Ringness), his beautiful, sweet-as-a-kitten co-worker trapped in a foul relationship with a creepy dentist boyfriend (David White.)
Seymour broods over the bleak prospect of escaping his lowly status and rescuing Audrey. Seymour discovers that a mysterious plant he owns named Audrey II, in honor of his sweetheart, draws customers into the nearly bankrupt flower shop, which earns him the gratitude and glomming affection of his boss, Mr. Mushnik (Larry Schuh.)
As business begins to boom, Mr. Mushnik orders Seymour to take special care of the “weirdo” plant. While trying to figure out how to nurture Audrey II, Seymour realizes that the plant thrives on a rather unique nutrient—human blood!
As the plant grows, so does its appetite—and its demands! When the plant reaches maturity, Seymour is stunned to discover that Audrey II can talk! And sing! The giant, alien plant persuades Seymour to keep open the smorgasbord of fresh blood, this time filled with human corpses.
Bewildered and betwixted, Seymour strikes a pact with the insatiable, carnivorous plant in order to win fame and fortune—a way to get out of Skid Row. But most of all, he wants to win the heart of Audrey, the girl he loves.
Seymour agonizes over his decision, realizes his mistake and sets out to end the gruesome partnership, but is it too late? When Audrey II grows to monstrous proportions and decides to take over the world the problems really begin.
If you didn’t see the musical when it played in New York (or Sydney-Tokyo-Berlin-London-Madrid) or catch the National Tour in America, now’s your chance to feast on our own Puerto Vallarta version of Little Shop of Horrors, premiering Halloween night, Tuesday, October 31 at the Santa Barbara Theater.
Directed and choreographed by Paul Guerrero and Federico Fonsecas, the cast also co-stars Fernanda Rabasa, Veronica Garcia, and Morgan Adams as the soul-singing Greek Chorus; and Norma Schuh and Wally Lobbato in cameo appearances.
The ticket price for a three-course dinner and the performance is $350 pesos. Show only tickets are $220 pesos, space allowing. Dinner begins at 6:30 pm and the show at 8:00. To make reservations or for more information, stop by the Santa Barbara Theater at 351 Olas Altas Street or call 223-2048. |
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