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Director/choreographer Stephanie Klemons takes a different approach to “Little Shop of Horrors.”
In some ways, she said, the musical — the first collaboration between composer Alan Mencken and lyricist and playwright Howard Ashman based on the cult 1960 Roger Corman film — — is a classic, and she considers it a classic.
“I generally believe you do justice by doing classics,” she said. This show, in particular, is scripted that way and limited by its license to do it in a certain way.
It focuses on two simultaneous love stories – between Seymour Krelborn, an assistant at the nebbishy florist, and Audrey, his colleague at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florist, and Seymour and the strange, unusual and annoying carnivorous plants he discovers Between (and named “Audrey II”) at an Asian market during a total solar eclipse.
Typically, Audrey II represents a collaboration between a team of puppeteers who move the plants and an actor who provides the voice.
However, “five years ago Will Tris [the Rep’s artistic and executive director] Come to me and say, ‘What do you think of Audrey II being played by one person? What if you see strings?
“It’s a very different world now,” she added. In the past five years, she has had the opportunity to “explore more exciting things.”
“We’ve moved the puppet a few degrees,” she explains. Audrey II “is still a puppet, but we sort of used the idea of a wizard from The Wizard of Oz to show the audience more of what’s going on behind the scenes.”
“I manipulate plants and sounds,” says David Lamar, who plays Audrey II. “I’m the main character.”
LaMarr explained that Audrey II was taller than usual in the production. “I’m going to wear high heels.”
LaMarr said they took a different approach to the sound, which has a slightly higher range than you’ll hear on most productions where the voice actors match, or at least try to match, the quad-top bass Levi Stubbs, who voiced Plants in the 1986 film version.
“With the help of Stephanie’s direction and vision, the sound was very much my own interpretation,” Lamar said, noting that during his return audition, “we played in the audition room and came up with some Different stuff. I just happen to fit the bill.”
Instead of calling the shots, Audrey II was “more flirtatious and charming, seducing Seymour into doing things”.
Stephanie Klemons directed and choreographed “Little Shop of Horrors,” produced by Reps. (Democrat Gazette Special Issue/Stephen B. Thornton) “Scary thing,” added Seymour’s Greg Laucella. “This goes beyond what’s in the text.”
“Little Shop,” he said, was the first show he saw on Broadway.
“It was a full circle moment. I was about to enter my freshman year of high school; I took the train from Connecticut. That was the first time I went to New York without my parents.”
The production, he said, “in a way takes convention and makes it unconventional.” It shakes up the stereotypical Seymour and “creates a beautiful way to tell this story.”
“Instead of treating Seymour as a caricature, we rooted him in reality—not avoiding archetypes, but digging deep, rooted in realism. Everything he does in the show is a battle and a voyage of love. .”
As a director, Clemons “allows us to do things ourselves,” he said. “The best idea wins. She allows you to play and ask questions. She is the mama bear who guides us.”
“We’re all little Seymour,” says Tara Tagliaferro, who plays Audrey “I,” and has her own problems with love — especially her relationship with narcissistic and abusive dentist Orrin Skerry Vero’s relationship.
“I just wanted to be in the moment with this girl,” she said. “I love her deeply; she makes me cry. She has accepted” her situation; “she hasn’t healed herself yet, but all she wants is to be loved.”
She also has an inspiring experience working with Clemons. “The callback felt like the first day of rehearsal,” she explains. “We only played for 45 minutes.”
Clemons owns four Broadway musicals, including all three of “Hamilton” composer Lin Manuel Miranda. She was an associate choreographer on Miranda’s “Hamilton” and “Bring It On: The Musical,” and performed in “Highlands,” Miranda’s first Tony Award-winning performance in a musical. She also played “IF/Then” on Broadway starring Idina Menzel (from “Wicked,” https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/apr/06 /plant-based-entertainment/ of Frozen and Rental fame).
“I come from an acting background, being on stage with other people,” she said. “My background is 50% of the show, so I can see both sides of the table.”
Her approach to directing: “Like in any production, sometimes directors come up with bad ideas like everyone else, but I believe in ‘give me the best idea in the room’ and stick with it,” she explains.
Being a director and choreographer on the musical allowed her to “weave all the decisions, especially for a show like this. No one really dances but the urchins”—three young women acted as the Greek choir, commenting on the moves and helping to move the musical. Oh, she admits that in the song “Mushnik & Son” there is a tango between Mushnik and Seymour.
The cast also includes Joey Calveri as Orin, Buzz Roddy as Mushnik, Alexis Richelle as Chiffon, Brianna East as Ronnette and Claire Fossey as Crystal.
Clemons praised the Repertory Theater staff and the way they worked with the designers she brought on board.
“The insiders at The Rep were really great; they helped build a really cool animation set. I got a lot more ‘yes’ than I was used to.”
‘little shop of horrors’
- What: Composed by Alan Menken, book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, based on the 1960 Roger Corman film, by Charles Griffith screenwriter
- when and where: Tuesday through Thursday 7pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm and 8pm, Sunday 2pm through April 30, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. Today’s show is a preview. PG-13 adult situations and violence. This production is in memory of William “Byl” M. Harriell, “beloved community member” and founder of Little Rock production company Bylites.
- Sponsor: Wright Lindsey Jennings, Cranford Co. and Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort
- Tickets: $25-$65; $25 rush tickets available one hour before opening
- information: (501) 378-0405; TheRep.org
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