The theater and music programs at the University of Missouri-Rolla will present the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” this March on the Leach Theatre stage.
Performances will be held at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 1, through Saturday, March 3, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4, in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall, 10th and Main streets in Rolla, Mo. Admission is $8 for the general public and $5 for UMR students with a valid student I.D. For ticket information, contact the Leach Theatre Box office at 573-341-4219.
“Little Shop of Horrors,” written by Howard Ashman and composed by Alan Meken, is based on the 1960 film by Roger Corman.
In this gleefully gruesome musical, Seymour, a poor assistant at Skid Row Flower Shop, allows his craving for fame and fortune to seduce him into playing nursemaid to a man-eating plant. Between bites, the carnivorous Audrey II, named after Seymour’s secret love, brings down the house by singing rhythm and blues à la Otis Reading or James Brown. “The growing plant’s demands for more, more, more are accompanied by witty parodies of ‘60s music,” says John Woodfin, instructor of philosophy and liberal arts at UMR and director of the musical.
The cast of “Little Shop of Horrors” includes the following UMR students:
Three UMR students serve as assistant directors for the musical: Adam Blinzler, a senior in physics from Kansas City, Mo.; Diana Meyers, a senior in ceramic engineering from Blue Springs, Mo., and Katie Nisbett, a freshman in mechanical engineering from Rolla, Mo.