In this new series, AILUROPHELLE are going to explore the best plays and musicals that are either new, going on tour or include LGBT+ characters.
For the first musical, I'm starting with Little Shop of Horrors. If you've never seen it, a film was made in 1986 with the music written by Alan Menken and a story by Howard Ashman. It's a spoof horror musical, taking the mick out of the classic horror movies from the 50's and 60's. It's very like War of the Worlds, just with blood hungry plants instead of Martians. With a tag line of 'don't feed the plants' it sounds a bit naff, but the combination of the comedy and music makes a great musical.
For what sort of ending you want to see, you have a choice. The musical has the 'bad' ending, and the newer version of the film does. I won't spoil anything, but 'don't feed the plants' only really works with the 'bad' ending.
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| GIF taken from tumblr.com |
However, there's a rarer one which is happier. This ending was put in after the film had been out for a short while, and the makers realised that test audiences weren't responding well to the gory ending that comes out of nowhere. The happy ending was more common until a new release of the DVD was brought out in 2012, and I now can't find the happy ending anywhere.
The reason that I'm bringing this musical to your attention is because it will be heading out on a UK tour soon. Although there's only a few dates at the moment, hopefully there should be more added since the announcement is quite recent. From the performance photos I've seen, the staging looks incredible, yet one of the most important elements of the stage won't be revealed until the first performance.
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| Image from theguardian.com |
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| Image from www.broadwayworld.com |
Audrey II is a vital part, and has been interpreted in a few different ways.
Sometimes the ever growing plant is a giant puppet, sometimes it's just a static plant with a person singing next to it, and sometimes it's a person holding a plant.
You'll only be able to discover the magic of this tour if you go and see it, so find out the dates (at the moment) here and book your tickets now!
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