“Feed Me, Seymour!”
The words were shouted all around Wyndi and I as we headed back to our car Friday night (Feb. 20).
The words were echoed mainly by people in their late teens and twenties as they piled into their vehicles following Tarleton State University’s presentation of “Little Shop of Horrors.”
For those unfamiliar with the show, Little Shop tells the story of Seymour Krelborn, a poor kid from the city who works and lives in a Skid Row flower shop in the 1960’s. The business gets a bump in traffic after he puts out an exotic ‘fly trap’ that catches attention. Unfortunately, it also happens to be an alien that feeds on blood and is bent on world domination. Krelborn begins to understand the plant’s plans as it grows, talks and sings.
The play is based on a low-budget 1960 sci-fi movie produced by Roger Corman and was turned into a play by writers Howard Ashman and Alan Menken who would later be responsible for music in Disney classics like “The Little Mermaid.”
The play was adapted into a 1986 movie starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia and Steve Martin. I have loved that movie since I saw it more than 30 years ago.
Heading into Tarleton’s Clyde Wells Fine Arts Center, I was nervous to watch an amateur production of something I like so much, but the Tarleton cast and crew delivered with a lot of energy, some great performances and an excellent puppet at the center of it all. By the end, Audrey II (the plant) is bigger than the cast. Jake Anderson performed inside the puppet keeping the trap flapping as Madison Freeman delivered lines and sang songs that they seamlessly timed together. Apple Wright delivered an earnest performance as Krelborn as did Carolina Williams as Audrey, the down-on-her-luck love interest dealing with an abusive dentist boyfriend.
That dentist and Mr. Mushnik, owner of the flower shop, played by London Moore and Alejandro Lujan respectively provided many of the biggest laughs in the play with some manic energy.
Did the performance replace the film I’ve loved for decades? No. But it was also a different experience (particularly with the original downbeat ending of the play) and the students staging managed to impress more than a few times.
As we head into spring, Dublin (and other schools will be staging One Act Play performances), local theatres like those in Hamilton and Granbury will stage plays and Tarleton will follow this performance with “These Shining Lives” April 16-18 at 7:30 p.m.
These local performances may not have the polish of Broadway but don’t let a bias get into the way of supporting your neighbors and aspiring actors. It’s the love of the stage that puts them on it and you can feel it sitting in the audience.
— Paul Gaudette is the Managing Editor of The Dublin Citizen and can be reached via email at publisher@ dublincitizen. com.