This year’s spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors, brought many laughs to the stage in Kellam Auditorium in a year where humor was especially needed.  The musical follows Seymour, a florist who finds his chance for success and romance with the help of Audrey II, a giant plant with an unquenchable thirst for human blood.

Director Melanie Regan ’00, Associate Chair of Fine Arts, said they chose this musical intentionally for its small cast size, which included 13 actors and a puppeteer.

“We had to choose a show that was small because we didn’t want to have large numbers on the stage, and we wanted to be able to have every single rehearsal be safe,” she said. “I was worried that because we had such a small group acting on the stage that our students who were interested in theater were going to be left out, but that’s why we had more production crew than cast members.”

Mrs. Regan said this is the first year she can recall that not a single faculty member was on the stage during the production—the whole show was completely student-run. 

“Students were given their roles, and they took them over—not just actors, but the crew,” she said. “We had this fabulous crew, and they were totally invested the whole time.”

Mrs. Regan said there were doubts about how and if the show would be performed live due to COVID protocols. 

“The whole time there was this question mark about whether we would be able to get this show out there, and because of that I really think in every rehearsal the students enjoyed every single moment because they just didn’t know what would happen,” she said.

The show was originally planned to debut outdoors in May, but because of the busy school schedule, it was moved  to the theater in April with only students and staff in attendance.  Mrs. Regan said the students were grateful and excited to share the story with an audience. 

“It really changed the vibe backstage,” said Joseph Regan, the show’s musical director. “When they finally got to do it in front of somebody, the feeling in the hall was electric. It was really gratifying to get to see the kids have that live theater experience.”

Because of its copyright license, the show was not permitted to be streamed online, but some parents of the cast and crew were able to watch the show at an open dress rehearsal.

Another unique aspect to putting on this show is that one of its main characters is a puppet, Audrey II.  Mrs. Regan said they rented the puppets (there are multiple, as the plant grows throughout the show), the largest of which was 300 pounds.

Will Zimmermann ‘21 voiced Audrey II from off-stage, while Ryan Scott ’22 was inside the puppet controlling its movements.
“There wasn’t really any instructional manual to it,” said Ryan. “So, I had to look up how other people had portrayed similar Audrey II’s. The first day I had no idea how to do it. But over time I picked up my own techniques and tried to improve on that.”

Will said he would voice his lines from off-stage while keeping an eye on Audrey II, watching as Ryan mimicked his words or actions.

“I wondered how animated you can get with a big plant, but it came through really well on stage and looked great,” Will said.

Will said he was grateful to be part of this cast for his final show at SJS. 

“I’ve only been in one other musical (Mary Poppins), and that one was fun, but this one was close knit, and everyone was great friends, and everyone was willing to step up and really cared,” he said. “We were all doing it because it was fun.”