The original ending on stage Warning SPOILER had the plant winning and devouring everyone. In the production I saw, during the closer (Don’t Feed the Plants) tendrils and vines shot out over the audience on wires while more dropped from the ceiling to bring an interactive element into the play!
You are right about the staginess of the movie. Frank Oz made a concious decision to keep it on an obvious set to maintain the fantasy aspect of the play.
The only drawback to the production I saw was that the Audrey character had a weak voice, so “Suddenly Seymour” lost a lot of its impact.
Heh, yeah. Once I realised that Alan Menkin had done the music for both of those shows, it became clear that the same person had written them. Still, that seems fairly typical for most composers in the musical theatre world; if you’ve got a great theme, why not bring it back in a slightly different form in another show?
BTW, Eonwe, you’re eligible to pick a movie for us – post here if you’d like to. Otherwise – DeVena, Draelin, Lamia – Bueller – someone …
Oh, and TwoTrouts – thanks for the spoiler. That definitely sounds like whatcha might call a socko finish!
Well, what a small world it is…I think I went to high school in a small community just to the south of yours…that is, if the production your high school put on was the fall musical of…1989 or thereabouts…
And, (again, if I recall correctly,) rumor had it that someone in your orchestra was not satisfied that “Mean Green Mother” wasn’t in the original score, so he got a copy of the movie soundtrack, transcribed and arranged it himself, and then added it back into your stage production.
I’d say more, but I would just like to be sure that this is the same production we’re talking about…
Thanks for the reminder! I’m in 
I remember the first time I saw it, catching on early that Rick Moranis was being set up as the romantic lead. “That’s a romantic lead?” I said to myself. I was impressed enough by “Somewhere That’s Green,” Then “Suddenly Seymour” started and I was blown away by both of them.
It’s one of my favourite musicals all the way through.
Woodbury High School’s fall musical in 1989 was Little Shop of Horrors. I auditioned, didn’t get in and then helped paint sets.
If there were changes to the orchestral score, I never knew it, but stranger things have happened.
And let’s not forget the wonderful scene with Steve Martin’s sadistic dentist meeting his match in Bill Murray’s masochistic patient - comedy gold!
Been a very long time since I’ve seen it on stage. My copy of the film soundtrack is on vinyl and I don’t currently have the means to play it.
But, IIRC
In the stage version, the dentist sings as he suffocates in his special nitrous oxide helmet.
Mushnik’s song about making Seymour his son was included when the sitcom Head Of The Class devoted a few episodes to the class production of Little Shop Of Horror’s.
The year the musical film was released, a Downtown number was part of the Comic Relief fundraiser. It had no recognizable stars, and no characters, just anonymous people singing an incredibly depressing song.
Various folks have wanted the original ending released since the film came out. I think I gave away my Little Shop issue of Cinefantastique, but the crew who worked on it were always unhappy that nobody would see it.
Odd Trivia
Fox Kids Network had a series based on the musical. It was titled Little Shop. Rather than being an alien, Audrey 2 was the lone survivor of the earth’s long-vanished vegozoic age. It sucked.
You are so right! The scene with Steve Martin and Bill Murray is a classic of comedy, IMHO. Bill Murray does a much better job as the masochistic patient than Jack Nicholson’s over-hyped role in the original.
And… let’s not forget to mention the cameo appearances by John Candy and Jim Belushi! All that was needed was Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd to round out the Comedy Kings of the '80s.
You’re right. I think that is one of the details which made the stage version have a lighter feel (to me at least) than the movie version. Seymour was planning/trying to convince himself to kill dentist when the dentist conveniently drops dead.
Plus Christopher Guest as the first guy in the store after Audrey was put in the window, doing the Johnny-Depp-as-Ed-Wood thing.
I love the old Corman horror films, whether they be the cheap quickies or the stylish Price-Poe flicks. Too bad he’s now doing soft-core horror that ends up on Cinemax.
I’m hoping for an eventual musical of BUCKET OF BLOOD. Yay Dick Miller AND Severn Darden!
It’s another coincidence that you guys chose this movie so soon after I joined up here, because this isn’t just one of my favorite musicals, it’s one of my favorite movies outright. When I’m channel surfing and find it on, I watch it almost every time.
Count me another one who was wowed by Ellen Greene. Great singing, and quite the hottie. I thought she did a good job of bringing how she talked into the way she sang. I’ve certainly heard worse.
I forgot until I just read it that she did Audrey on stage for a couple of years before she did the movie.
I’m also one of the people who liked the ending. For whatever reason, I was very attached to Seymour & Audrey by the end, and I’m not sure I would have liked it as much if they’d died. The times I’ve seen it on stage I thought Seymour was a lot less likable so I was good with that ending. But in the movie I liked them enough that I wanted them to not necessarily save the day but at least get out alive.
Ah. I see.
I went to Park Senior High, in the Grove, at that time. I was in the Park fall musical that year, and our shows were scheduled at the same time as yours. Your director was kind enough to let us watch one of the last rehearsals.
I remember that Ms. Mushnik was really good in the role. I had met that actress (her name escapes me) before, through choir stuff and speech team (I think). I also thought that the way the chorus came out during “Suddenly, Seymour” (in choir robes, parading across the back, scattering flower petals) was really cool.
Ms. Mushnik may have been played by Laura Wolf, but I’m not certain. (Among other things, I’m not sure why I would remember her name when I can’t remember the names of any other leads. I remember the names of several chorus members. Of course, that makes sense, I was a freshman, and some of the chorus members were friends of mine prior to the show Most of the leads, including Ms. Mushnik were seniors).
That was her. Laura Wolff. And the musical prodigy was Doug somebody-or-other…
Can’t tell you Doug’s last name, though I remember his face and his musical gifts well. I think it started with an S and was tricky to spell.
When I first saw “The Little Mermaid” in a cinema, I noticed the similarities but didn’t realize the same person wrote the songs for both. My friend & I would then sing the tune “Part of Your World” with the words “Somewhere That’s Wet.” That refrain from “Somewhere That’s Green” is just SO stolen from “Part of Your World.” Or vice-versa.
Saw the stage production of LSOH in San Diego before the movie was ever made. One of the best ever!