Audition Information

Synopsis

For years now Little Shop of Horrors has made New York audiences scream with laughter. In this gleefully gruesome musical Seymour, a poor florist's assistant, allows his craving for fame and fortune to seduce him into playing nursemaid to a man-eating plant. Goings on surrounding the growing plant's demand for more, more, MORE are accompanied by witty parodies of sixties music. Between bites, the carnivorous Audrey II, named after Seymour's secret love, brings down the house singing rhythm and blues à la Otis Reading or James Brown!

Story

On 21 September, not so long ago, creatures from outer space invaded our galaxy intent on world domination. Some of them took the form of plants. Seymour purchased one of the plants and brought it back to Muschnik florists shop on Skid Row where he worked. He tended the plant lovingly naming it Audrey II after his fellow assistant, Audrey.

Audrey II proves to be a draw in the shop which starts to attract many visitors. The major problem, however, is that Audrey II's food happens to be blood - fresh blood! As the plant starts to grow, so does its appetite and its demands.

Audrey has a sadistic boyfriend, a dentist Orin, who regularly appeases his sadistic desires on Audrey, who realises that she really does have a friend in Seymour.

Seymour has been feeding Audrey II with his own blood but is gradually growing weaker as the plant's appetite increases. In exchange for fresh blood, Audrey II says he will grant Seymour's hearts desire. He wants to wrest Audrey away from Orin who he goes to visit. Orin overdoses himself on laughing gas which he sniffs regularly to achieve a high - Audrey II, however, has her first human victim.

Muschnik begins to suspect the worst and thus becomes the second victim when he stumbles on the secret of Audrey II's growth. By this time Audrey II is growing rapidly and entraps Audrey. Seymour rescues her yet Audrey is now dying of malnutrition. Seymour tells her the whole story of Audrey II and her victims. Audrey wants to join them - and does. Seymour is visited by a representative of World Botanical Enterprises (W.B.E.) as they wish to propagate Audrey II. When they've gone, Seymour tries to kill off the bloodsucking plant but is pulled into its heart. The representatives from the W.B.E. return and take their cuttings. World domination looms -

SEYMOUR

(Tenor - playing age of mid 20s)

Our insecure, naïve, put-upon, florists’ clerk hero. Above all, he’s a sweet and well-meaning little man. He is not a silly nerd, and therefore, should not be played as the hero of a Jerry Lewis film. Strong acting and singing.

AUDREY

(Mezzo-soprano - similar playing age to Seymour)

The bleached-blond, Billie-Dawn-like secret love of his live. If you took Judy Holiday, Carol Channing, Marilyn Monroe, and Goldie Hawn, removed their education and feelings of self-worth, dressed them in spiked heels and a short black dress, and then shook them up in a test tube to extract what’s sweetest and most vulnerable – that’d be Audrey. Strong acting/comedy and singing.

MR(Baritone)/MRS(Mezzo-Soprano) MUSHNIK

(middle aged? Old enough to ‘adopt’ Seymour as his son)

This part can be played by either male or female. Their boss. A failure of an East Side florist. His/Her accent, if he/she has one, is more that of middle class New York than of Eastern Europe. S/He seldom smiles but often sweats. Strong character actor (some singing)

ORIN

(Baritone -late 20s-early 40s?)

A tall, dark, handsome dentist with a black leather jacket and cruel tendencies. He is not, however, a leftover from the movie version of Grease. Think instead of an egotistical pretty-boy – all got up like a greaser but thinking alike an insurance salesman and talking like a radio announcer. Makes a couple of brief, but high impact, appearances. Strong character actor and singer.

THE PLANT (AUDREY II)

(Silent/Puppeteer)

An anthropomorphic cross between a giant Venus flytrap and an avocado. It has a huge, nasty-looking pod that gains a shark-like aspect when open and snapping at food. The creature is played by a series of four increasingly large puppets, manipulated by one nonspeaking Puppeteer hidden invisibly inside. The plant grows from a few inches tall, to almost filling the stage. The role requires someone with physical acting skills to portray character and emotion purely through movement, and stamina to operate the large, heavy puppet.

VOICE OF THE PLANT

(Baritone/Mezzo)

Provided by an actor on an offstage microphone, lip-syncing to the movements of the puppets. His voice is a cross between Otis Redding, Barry White, and Wolfman Jack. Think of the voice as that of a street-smart, funky, conniving illain – Rhythm and Blues’ answer to Richard the Third. Strong character singer.

CRYSTAL, RONNETTE, and CHIFFON

(Mezzo-sopranos) playing age of late teens to 20s)

Three female ‘street urchins’ who function as participants in the action (when they have dialogue) and a Greek Chorus commenting and narrating the action (when they sing together in close harmony). They’re young, hip, smart, and the only people in the whole cast who really know what’s going on . In their “Greek Chorus” capacity, they occasionally sing to the audience directly. And when they do, it’s often with a “secretsmile” that says: “ we know something you don’t know.” Strong harmony singers with good movement skills to perform tightly drilled choreographed movement. Significant presence in the show with 5-6 songs.

ENSEMBLE

(to appear in various scenes and numbers)

The minor roles of WINOS, CUSTOMER, RADIO ANNOUNCER, MR BERNSETIN, MRS LUCE, SKIP SNIP and PATRICK MARTIN also in ensemble.