BWW Interviews: Devil is in the Details of Otterbein's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

By PAUL BATTERSON

The Devil has undergone many facelifts in pop culture. He's been a slick salesman (Mr. Applegate in DAMN YANKEES), a sleazy lawyer (John Milton in THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE) and even a sexy female (BEDAZZLED).

In the dark musical comedy LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Beelzebub is an eight-foot tall, man-eating Venus flytrap, who lures a hapless florist shop worker into a Faustian deal with disastrous consequences.

Preston Pounds, who plays hopelessly nerdy Seymour Krelborn in the Otterbein University production of LITTLE SHOP, says learning to interact with a gigantic plant puppet was one of the many challenges of putting the show together. The show opens 7:30 p.m. July 11 at Fritsche Theater in Cowan Hall.

"The technical elements are pretty challenging," says Pounds, a senior from Idyllwild, Calif. "The Audrey II has no facial expressions and he's being manipulated by a puppeteer with a voice that's coming from somewhere else. You have to have competent puppeteers to make the plant look realistic."

"The props, the puppets and all the special effects we've been able to do are really cool," adds Madison Tinder, a junior from Texas. "I've never had to do anything like (responding to a gigantic puppet on stage) before. It presents some big challenges but it's really fun."

To get the actors comfortable with the enormous singing plant, director David Caldwell had John Henry Carter who provides the voice of Audrey II sit in a chair so Pounds and Tinder could learn how to interact with the plant before they were introduced to the gigantic puppet.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS centers around the relationship between the hopelessly nerdy Seymour and Audrey, his beautiful co-worker. After trying to get the Venus flytrap to thrive, Seymour makes a grisly discover after pricking his finger on a rose. A few drops of blood makes the plant grow. However, as it grows, the plant, dubbed the Audrey II, begins to speak and makes a deal with the botanist. If Seymour continues to supply him with blood, the plant will deliver anything the floral shop worker desires, including a relationship with Audrey.

If it sounds like the plot to a B movie, it should. The idea for the musical came from the movie of the same name produced by Roger Corman, the king of the B horror movies. However LITLLE SHOP was given its musical voice by the team of Howard Ashman (lyrics) and Alan Menken (music), who also helped with musical production to Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID.

"It's a very, very dark comedy," Pounds says. "It reminds me of FAUST. Seymour sells his soul to the devil a.k.a the plant and backs himself into a pretty bad corner as he continues to feed it. It's a parody of musical theater in some ways. That aspect makes it funny."

Pounds, who was in previous productions of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, SPRING AWAKENING and HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING at Otterbein, says he was constantly told by friends that he should play Seymour.

"What I like about the role is Seymour's very genuine. He tries to please everyone around him and it fails miserably," Pounds says. "It's easy to fall in the trap of playing him as this pratfalling nerd. My biggest challenge is giving Seymour honesty to make his decisions seem real and based in truth. That makes him even funnier."

One of the challenges for Tinder, a native Texan, is mimicking Audrey's Bronx-inflected voice. (Picture Fran Drescher on helium.) She worked with Melissa Lusher, an Otterbein professor and dialect coach, to get the voice just right.

"I had done another similar accent when I was in GYPSY, so it was kind of easy to get back into it," Tinder says. "Learning a new accent is always difficult but it's been a blast getting to do this voice.

"When I found out I got the role of Audrey, I fell in love with the character. For the environment she lives in, she still has a sweetness and innocence about her. She's really sweet and she has a good heart. I liked being able to explore that vulnerability."

Rounding out the rest of the cast are Kyle Hansen (Mr. Mushnik, the florist shop owner) and Harry Sanderson (Orin Scrivello, D.D.S, a sadistic dentist and Audrey's hoodlum boyfriend) and Marina Pires (Chiffon), Monica Brown (Crystal) and Haley Jones (Ronnette) as the three urchins. The urchins, who each draw their names from 1960s Motown girls groups, serve as primary story tellers and push the plot forward.

Under the musical direction of Dennis Davenport, Ashman's lyrics (i.e. Seymour's lament "I keep asking God what I am for and he tells me 'Gee I'm not sure'" in "Skid Row") and Menken's music should keep the musical moving a brisk pace.

However theater goers should be forewarned. The musical version of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is varies sharply from the musical movie (1986) that starred Rick Moranis, Ellen Green and Steve Martin. Without giving too much away, the ending is much, much different.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS opens 7:30 p.m. on July 11 at the Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall. It will be performed at 8 p.m. July 12-13, 18-20 and 25-27. The show will also have 2 p.m. matinee performances July 14, 19 and 21.