When Simone Gundy takes the stage as Crystal, one of the DoWop singers in Little Shop of Horrors with Theatre Under the Stars at the Hobby Center it will be a full circle moment for her, she says.
“I was actually cast in the show in high school as a senior and I was playing the exact same role,” she says. “I went to Senior Skip Day and ended up doing some slightly underage drinking and tried to show back up at rehearsal and got in trouble for it and got kicked out of the show.
“So this is literally a full circle moment for me. I get to come back and redeem myself as a much more wise adult,” she says, laughing.
Horror, comedy and the rock music of the early ’60s combine for the fascinating if occasionally unappetizing (sorry) musical Little Shop of Horrors with lyrics and book by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. It’s the story of a shy florist shop worker, Seymour, who comes into possession of a mysterious plant that as it turns out, feeds on flesh and blood. Seymour discovers this when he happens to prick a finger and the plant perks up.
The plant becomes a local sensation and drawing card. Flower shop owner Mr. Mushnik. who is not the nicest of bosses, offers to adopt Seymour, determined to keep Seymour and his plant on the premises. All this while Seymour, who is in love with co-worker Audrey but doesn’t tell her so, names the plant Audrey II in her honor.
Audrey II grows ever larger and so do its appetites. When Seymour stops feeding the plant his blood, Audrey II demands he gets supplies elsewhere and promises to answer any and all of Seymour’s wishes if he does so. Other people fall prey to Audrey II’s voracious appetite including human Audrey’s cruel boyfriend Orin Scrivello, who became a dentist because he enjoys inflicting pain.
Gundy (Joanne Jefferson in Rent and Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act the musical) and her fellow DoWop singers — Sarah Sachi as Ronnette and Kiara Caridad as Chiffon — narrate and act as a sort of a Greek chorus throughout the musical. “They push the story along,” she says.
Others in the cast include Rob Riordan as Seymour, Mary Kate Moore as Audrey, Dion Simmons Grier as Audrey II, Mark Ivy as Mushnik, and Dan DeLuca as dentist Orin.
Little Shop of Horrors premiered off-Broadway in 1982 and has become a standard in professional musical theater as well as high school and college productions ever since. Many theater critics have dubbed it “the perfect show” for its blend of eccentric humor and real life problems.
“I think the reason is so successful, the reason that it is the ‘perfect show’ is because it perfectly straddles the line between camp and sadness,” Gundy says. “A great story line and a great moral of the story.”
“Some of it is really funny but there are other layers. The part of the show where [Mr. Mushnik] asks Seymour to be his son. There’s an actual reality in that, a fear that ‘Gosh if I lose this, lose all my success. I lose my legacy,’ Seymour is a guy, he’s a guy of longing. He’s longing to get out of Skid Row. He’s longing and pining for Audrey. He’s longing for a father figure. Those are all real things. And Audrey, she’s funny. She has this high squeaky voice. But Audrey at the core, she’s dealing with domestic violence.
And then there’s the memorable songs including “Suddenly Seymour,” Feed Me (Git It) and “Somewhere That’s Green.” Not to mention the DoWop bits.
“The music, it’s some of the best music. The wordplay. The show is being musically directed by Dr. John Cornelius who is amazing. He touched on that one of the first days of rehearsal. He talks about the lyrics, there are so many intelligent things. Even at the beginning of the show you feel the sturm und drang in the air,”
Performances are scheduled for October 22 through November 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sunday, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8801 or visit tuts.com $34.50-$138.50.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
