Director George Nelson hopes audiences resonate with the cautionary messages of the horror comedy
Campus and community audiences will enter the weird and wacky world of Seymour Krelborn and his man-eating plant from outer space when "Little Shop of Horrors" opens on March 6.
BYU's "Little Shop of Horrors" opens March 6 in the Pardoe Theatre. (Madeline Mortensen/BYU Photo)
"I grew up watching 'Little Shop of Horrors'and have always loved the musical for its zany plotline and lovable characters," said Jaymie Inouye, who plays Audrey. "It really is a wonderful story, and we are leaning into the human moments rather than playing just for laughs."
The horror comedy rock musical by songwriting duo Howard Ashman and Alan Menken — of "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast" fame — is based on a 1960 film by the same name and was released as a now-beloved movie musical in 1986. While its quirky, dark humor and macabre premise have solidified the show's status as a cult favorite, audiences have also long been drawn to the surprisingly poignant messages in Seymour's love for Audrey and his efforts to secure a better life for the two of them.
"It's a modern-day Greek tragedy in many ways," said director George Nelson. "It's a very tender story about people who have nothing and want something, but when it appears before them, they're seduced and end up losing what they had. If we look at this as a cautionary tale or a parable, we can see how Satan will bind us in — that's exactly what the plant does to Seymour. It's that flaxen cord we read about in the scriptures."
Nelson hopes that audiences resonate with these cautionary messages and are able to identify struggles and vices in their own lives, symbolically represented in Seymour's story by a plant bent on world-domination.
"I want audiences to see the heart of it," said Nelson. "I'm moved to tears in many places in the play because of people I know who have been caught in situations like this; they want so desperately to have what they don't have that when something comes along that proves too good to be true, they don't see the reality of it until it's too late. But we also want to send a message of hope. We know salvation is offered. As they sing in the show, 'we'll have tomorrow.'"
Visit byuarts.com for tickets and show details.