To be honest, when I found out the Hillcrest Drama Group was doing Little Shop Of Horrors, I didn’t know who I’d play. Little Shop of Horrors, or LHS for short, is a dark comedy musical about Seymour, a shy flower-shop worker who discovers a strange plant he names Audrey II (or “twoie” as a nickname). As the plant grows, Seymour learns it survives on human blood. Audrey II brings fame and success to the struggling shop, but its demands quickly become dangerous. As Seymour tries to keep feeding the plant and protect the woman he loves, Audrey, he realizes the plant has plans of its own, plans that threaten everyone around them. The story blends humor, horror, and catchy music while exploring themes of ambition, morality, and temptation.
From the small information that we had gotten about the show, I assumed I would most likely be typecast again. Throughout my last 3 years in the drama group, I’ve played 8 roles, with only three of them being female, and most of the time when I’d get a male part it would be a leading role. According to my friend Serenity Arrington (our Audrey), the reason is because I have “range”, but I never thought I’d be the main character in my last show. This is insane to think about because I was the main character in my first musical, so it’s a full circle moment for me now that it’s over.
Our shows ran from November 20th-November 22nd, with about three months in advance to prepare. This was my most demanding musical for me since I sang 12 out of 18 songs and they all ended with high notes. Surprisingly, the main problem for me was the low notes. I mean it makes sense since I’m not actually a man, but there was extreme pressure on me because I felt like if I didn’t do Seymour’s character correctly, I would regret it because this was my final musical. So I worked hard for the last 2 weeks before the show (I know, my procrastination is horrible) trying to make sure my voice was good, that I executed all the stunts like falling on stage in the beginning, while watching the Broadway performances until the songs were stuck in my head so much I started singing them during class. Just so I could make this performance a memorable one.
Even though I was extremely nervous about our opening night, I would say it was actually our best. I did forget my prop gun for the dentist scene but nobody (or at least not my director) noticed enough to call me out on it. The biggest issue came from backstage, where someone tripped over the speaker cord during “Ya Never Know”, cutting the music completely. But it felt like all the years of being told to continue the performance even when everything went wrong during practice came back and helped us out because we continued the show like nothing happened, which was great! The first night was good, two left to go!
Then there was another problem: I started to lose my voice in the second show. What really kills my voice during this entire musical is “The Meek Shall Inherit”. Afterwards, Seymour does a lot of screaming because the plant is driving him insane since he has to continue to kill people to live the good life that he has. While the arguing scene between Seymour and the plant is my favorite, it really started to affect my voice to the point on Saturday morning, it hurt to speak. Luckily thanks to our musical director Ms. Chaney, I listened to her advice and got some raw honey. No, it doesn’t taste good, but it was good enough to get me through the show, and I was relieved.
This show definitely has made me respect actors more for their hard work when it comes to doing plays and musicals in such a short time. I get it that technically they aren’t a high school student with a bunch of projects, but they still pull off stunning performances for months straight and don’t look tired at all while doing it. This musical has become my favorite, and I’m so grateful I was given the opportunity to be the main character for my last musical. I’m definitely going to miss the Hillcrest Drama Group when I graduate.
