Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre is closing its summer season with a reinvented production of the award-winning horror-comedy rock musical Little Shop of Horrors, running for 27 performances from August 11 to September 3.
Directed by the Capitol’s artistic director Rob Kempson, the production stars Amir Haidar as Seymour, Tahirih Vejdani as Audrey, Tyler Murree as Mr. Mushnik, Michael De Rose as Orin, Chris Tsujiuchi as Audrey II, Michelle Yu as Crystal, Taylor Lovelace as Ronnette, Sierra Holder as Chiffon, with Joel Cumber as puppeteer and musicians David Schotzko, Gabriela Laconsay, and Matt Ray performing live music.
“For me, Little Shop of Horrors is the ultimate in camp classic — which feels like the perfect tone for a mid-summer musical,” Kempson says in an August interview with Keith Tomasek for Stratford Festival Reviews. “Our approach to everything at the Capitol is the spirit of reinvention though, so this will be a Little Shop unlike any that you’ve seen or heard before. The goal is to honour the parts of the legacy that speak to us now, without feeling bound by those traditional approaches.”
Original premiering off-Broadway in 1982, the musical is loosely based on the cult low-budget 1960 black comedy film of the same name directed by Roger Corman and notable for a young Jack Nicholson’s small role in the film as a masochistic dental patient (he was 23 years old at the time).
With music by Alan Menken and lyrics and a book by Howard Ashman, the musical follows a hapless florist shop worker named Seymour, secretly in love with his co-worker Audrey, who finds and raises a mysterious plant. After naming the plant Audrey II after his secret love, he discovers it feeds on human blood and flesh.
Menken composed the music for Little Shop of Horrors in the style of early 1960s rock and roll, doo-wop, and early Motown. The Grammy-nominated score includes several well-known tunes including the title song, “Skid Row (Downtown)”, “Somewhere That’s Green”, and “Suddenly, Seymour”.
The musical has since become popular with community theatre groups because of its relatively small cast. A theatrical version of Little Shop of Horrors was released in 1986, directed by Frank Oz starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Green, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, and the voice of Levi Stubbs as the flesh-eating plant. It received two Academy Award nominations, one for best original song and one for best visual effects.
“Most people know Little Shop from the 1980s movie or a community production,” director Kempson says in a media release. “I wanted to create a fresh, full-scale version for the Capitol, bringing in some of the country’s most talented actors, designers, and musicians to make our biggest show of the summer an unforgettable night at the theatre.”
Several of the cast and crew in the Capitol’s production have connections with the Stratford Festival. Tahirih Vejdani (Audrey) has appeared in Stratford Festival productions including HMS Pinafore and Treasure Island, costume designer Joshua Quinlan worked on this year’s drama Casey and Diana, and lighting designer Michelle Ramsay worked on Women of the Fur Trade. Choreographer Genny Sermonia has appeared in several Stratford Festival productions, including West Side Story, and choreographed Gypsy on now at the Shaw Festival.
Along with Quinlan, Ramsay, and Sermonia, other creatives behind the scenes include Jeff Newberry (music direction), Haneul Yi (assistant music direction), Deanna H. Choi (sound design), and Brandon Kleiman (set design).
Kleiman, who previously designed the sets for the Capitol productions 9 to 5: The Musical and most recently The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom, is a multiple Dora Award nominee and two-time winner. This summer, his set design can also be seen in Rent at the Stratford Festival and The Sound of Music at Thousand Islands Playhouse.
“The set design for Little Shop embraces the world of the mid-century horror slash b-movies, from which the original film and musical took its inspiration as well,” Kleiman says. “From there, I’ve turned up the volume on the shapes and colours because our horror movie is also a campy musical comedy with a heart of gold. The story is outrageous and the design has to follow suit.”
“Some highlights for Port Hope audiences will be the four puppets we use to Audrey II to life,” Kleiman adds. “As well, I hope seeing the live band above the shop will be a thrill — all the music is live.”
Little Shop of Horrors runs at the Capitol at 20 Queen Street in Port Hope from August 11 to September 3. Evening performances take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, August 11th (preview night) and Saturday, August 12th (opening night) as well as August 16 to 19, 23 to 26, and August 30 to September 2. Matinee performances take place at 2 p.m. on August 14, 15 and 16, 19 and 20, 22 and 23, 26 and 27, 29 and 30, and September 2 and 3.
Tickets are $48 ($40 for those under 30) plus fees and are available in person at the Capitol box office (open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday), by phone at 905-885-1071, or online at capitoltheatre.com.
