Act-1

Production History

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Off-Broadway

The musical had its world premiere Off-Off-Broadway in 1982.. It opened Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre in 1982. The production was critically acclaimed and won the 1982–1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Howard Ashman wrote in the introduction to the libretto that the show "satirizes many things: science fiction, 'B' movies, musical comedy itself, and even the Faust legend." The cast starred Lee Wilkof as Seymour, Ellen Greene as Audrey, Hy Anzell as Mr. Mushnik, Franc Luz as Orin and the other small roles, Ron Taylor as the voice of Audrey II, and Martin P. Robinson as the Audrey II puppeteer.

The production ran for five years. When it closed on November 1, 1987, after 2,209 performances, it was the third-longest running musical and the highest-grossing production in Off-Broadway history. Though a Broadway transfer had been proposed for the production, book writer Howard Ashman felt the show belonged where it was. Since it was not produced on Broadway, the original production was ineligible for the 1982 Tony Awards. 

An original cast recording, released in 1982, omitted the songs "Call Back in the Morning" and the reprise of "Somewhere That's Green", and had abridged versions of "Now (It's Just the Gas)," "Mushnik and Son," and "The Meek Shall Inherit." It also shifted the location of the song "Closed for Renovation," appearing in the show after "Somewhere That's Green" while appearing on the cast album after "Now (It's Just the Gas)" to serve as an upbeat bridge from Orin's death to the Act II love ballad, "Suddenly, Seymour." 

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2003 tryout, Broadway and 2004 tour

In 2003, an $8 million revival of Little Shop of Horrors was planned with the goal of opening on Broadway. A pre-Broadway production debuted at the Miracle Theatre in Florida in 2003. Martin P. Robinson, who designed the original Audrey II puppets, enlisted fellow puppeteers and builders from The Jim Henson Company to create and operate new puppets for the show, ranging from the smallest plant (operated solely by Robinson) to the largest (requiring three additional puppeteers to fully control). Hunter Foster and Alice Ripley played Seymour and Audrey, and Billy Porter was the voice of Audrey II.

Critics complained that by expanding the show to fit a larger theatre, its intimacy was lost. In June 2003, the producers announced that the Broadway production was cancelled. 

The musical made its Broadway debut at the Virginia Theatre on October 2, 2003, with Foster as Seymour, Kerry Butler as Audrey, Rob Bartlett as Mr. Mushnik, Douglas Sills as Orin, Michael-Leon Wooley as the voice of Audrey II and DeQuina Moore as Chiffon. Although this was the first time it had played on Broadway, the show's success in film and numerous regional productions made it fall under the "Revival" category for the 2003 Tony Awards. Foster was nominated for the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance. The revival was fairly faithful to the original 1982 production. Changes included the expanded version of the title song heard in the 1986 film, and expanded "You Never Know" with a "WSKID" radio introduction, and a revised Act I Finale and added Entr'acte before "Call Back in the Morning." The orchestrations were beefed up for the bigger theatre to add reeds, trumpets and percussion to the original 5-piece combo. 

The production closed on August 22, 2004, after 40 previews and 372 regular performances.

On the cast album demo recordings to five songs ("A Little Dental Music", "The Worse He Treats Me", "We'll Have Tomorrow", "Bad" and "I Found a Hobby") were cut during the development process of the musical were included as bonus material for the album.

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AUDREY II PUPPET

In productions, the first puppet is a small potted plant "less than one foot tall" held by the actor portraying Seymour. He manipulates the plant himself with his hand and then sets it down, where it is moved by an unseen hand from beneath a shelf. The second puppet is slightly larger than the first and is operated by Seymour during the song "You Never Know". A fake arm in a sleeve matching Seymour's jacket is attached to the plant's pot, while the actor's real arm operates the plant. The third puppet sits on the floor and is large enough to hide a person inside, who moves the plant's mouth in sync with Audrey II's voice, which is supplied by an offstage actor on a microphone. The puppeteer's legs are clad in green tights with "leaf" shoes that serve as part of the plant's tendrils. In Act II, the largest puppet again hides an actor inside, who manipulates the puppet's mouth and often some of its branches. By this point, the head is at least six feet long and capable of "swallowing" characters. For the finale, additions can be made to make the plant appear taller and even bigger. Actors and stage hands are often used to move larger branches and roots, which, in the original off-Broadway production, spilled off the stage and into the audience. In some productions, dangling vines over the house enhance the effect of Audrey II menacing the audience.

Amateur productions of Little Shop of Horrors receive designs for building the puppets from MTI, as part of the rental scripts and scores, based on the original Martin P. Robinson designs. Some companies who have produced the show in the past and built their own puppets rent them out to other companies to recoup some of their construction costs.

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Differences between the Film and the Musical

The musical is based on the basic concept and dark comic tone of the original film, although it changes much of the story. The setting is moved from Skid Row, Los Angeles - to Skid Row in New York. Seymour's hypochondriacal Jewish mother is omitted in the musical, and Seymour becomes an orphan in the care of Mushnik. Also dropped is the subplot involving the two investigating police officers. The characters of Mrs. Siddie Shiva and Burson Fouch are also omitted, although Mrs. Shiva is mentioned as being the shop's biggest funeral account. The gleefully masochistic dental patient, originally played by Jack Nicholson, is not in the musical but is in the 1986 film, played by Bill Murray.

In the musical, the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello, is killed by suffocation from laughing gas instead of being stabbed with a dental instrument as in the film. His abusive relationship with Audrey is added to the musical to give Seymour a motive to kill him. In the film, Seymour murders several innocent bystanders, and Mushnik tricks a thief into looking for money inside the plant, which eats the thief. In the musical, Seymour tricks Mushnik in the same way when Mushnik plans to turn Seymour over to the police. The two neighborhood girls in the film are replaced in the musical by a chorus of three street urchins: Crystal, Chiffon and Ronette, named after (and reminiscent of) girl groups of the 1960s. The plant is named "Audrey II" in the musical, rather than the film's "Audrey Junior," and instead of being a crossbreed of a butterwort and a Venus Flytrap, in the musical it is a creature from outer space intent on taking over the world.

Perhaps the biggest difference is the ending. The musical ends with Orin, Mushnik, Audrey and Seymour all eaten by the plant, and the three girls report that Audrey II's progeny continues to consume people. In the 1960 film, Mushnik and Audrey survive, and the plant's carnivorous activities are discovered when its flowers bloom with the faces of its victims, including Seymour, imprinted on them. The musical references this ending in its finale, in which the Plant's four victims' faces are seen in its blooming flowers.

The change in ending of the musical contributes to its portrayal of class struggles and moral values. While the 1986 film shows Seymour and Audrey escaping to the dream suburban house, encapsulating ideals of the 1950s American Dream, the musical hints to a metaphorical portrayal of Seymour's greed as the plant. Seymour's greed gradually consumes himself and Audrey. The musical engages with ideas relating to human values in the face of capitalist culture, disempowering those who are enveloped with motivations of personal monetary gain and overlook moral values. It serves as a social commentary of commodity fetishism.

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Trivia

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• An extremely popular film adaptation of the musical was released in 1986.  Directed by Frank Oz, it featured a screenplay entirely written by Howard Ashman and featured a new song written by Ashman and Alan Menken, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" (which went on to be nominated for an Academy Award).  It starred Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene (once again transferring from the original production), Vincent Gardenia, and Steve Martin.  After the musical's ending tested badly with audiences, the filmmakers chose to rewrite the ending completely, with a happy resolution for Seymour and Audrey.  The film received many positive critical accolades.

• A Saturday morning animated cartoon entitled Little Shop, based on the musical, ran for one season in 1991. Inspired by the success of Frank Oz's film, the cartoon toned down a large amount of the dark humor and violence, but still featured the same characters.

• By the time the original closed, Little Shop Of Horrors was both the third-longest running musical and the highest-grossing production in off-Broadway history.

• The story of the musical has been parodied in various television shows, including Family Guy, American Dad, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and The Simpsons.

• The success of Little Shop Of Horrors put the team  of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken on the map.  That helped catch the attention of Disney, who hired the team to write all of the songs for the hit Disney films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.