It may have taken several of my lunchtimes, countless arguments arguing about weather to go left or right first with a dance move, and many, many rehearsals, but the end result of the Little Shop of Horrors musical was worth every single minute. The Little Shop of Horrors is a musical (described as a “Horror Comedy (and slightly satirical) Rock Musical”) which follows a florist by the name of Seymour Krelborn, who discovers a new plant/fly trap (which he names Audrey Two after his crush also named Audrey who works at the shop, I know, really romantic) which he uses in order to increase his fame and fortune, but the plant only grows and eats one thing, human blood. But, (sorry for the spoilers) the plants plant all along was world domination, and Audrey Two basically eats all the characters in the end. So it’s not the happiest ending, but we made it worthwhile. Here is a  link to a website where you can find a summary and more details about the musical.

I was a part of the ensemble/chorus, and if I’m being honest, I thought this was kinda lame at the beginning. But, as time went on, I realized how important the ensemble was to the play. We were in for basically the whole of act 1, and two song

s in act 2. Without the ensemble, it would have been a completely different play. There were two main splits of the ensemble, the male and the female, and the female split even further into sopranos (high parts) and altos (middle parts). I was a part of the female sopranos, and I have to say some songs were incredibly hard with the high notes, but I’m proud of myself for being able to execute some of those notes the way I did. I also had to solos, one in “Skid Row”, and one in the Finale song as well. My favorite song was “Git It”, which is sung by Audrey 2 and Seymour, and I felt like this was the best part of the play and both characters did so well during this song. But the favorite song that I performed in had to be the finale. Not only was the music really good, but the way that we choreographed it, and made it so that we finished off with a big showcase was really amazing. The way that the song works is that it build up, it starts of slow and soft, but builds up into an epic finale with fast pace and lots of sound and lights. And overall, I think this was a great way to end the play with.

 

Another big part of being a part of the ensemble was the amount of choreography that we had to learn. For many of the songs, we were coordinated as a group to do the same movements (and I’m not saying any names but it was particularly hard for a few people to figure out which side was left and which one was right) overall, I think this was one of the hardest things for me during the process. But, I can’t say anymore without giving a shout out to the live band, which was amazing. The band consisted of Mr Kim (our music teacher) conduc

ting, a pianist, a bassist, a drummer and an electric guitarist. Personally, the electric guitar was my favorite, since I have always wanted to play the electric guitar, and the way the band played was amazing, and they definitely added to the atmosphere of the play.

 

I think that one of the reasons the musical went so well was the casting choice made by the directors Ms. Jackson and Mr. Kim. We owe everything to them (especially after all of our chaotic rehearsals) but they were amazing directors and thanks to them we produced one of the best musicals OSC had ever had.  Every single cast choice was perfect, from the main character Seymour, to the malicious (and slightly crazy) Dr. Orin, and most especially Audrey 2, the carnivorous plant. They all embodied their characters so well, and it was slightly concerning how well they were able to play their characters.

In the end, this was my favorite production that I have ever taken part in at OSC, and it was such a learning experience which I will always hold close to my heart.