`Horrors'! Hungry for a musical spoof?Byline: Paul Denison The Register-Guard The cast list includes three ``plant manipulators,'' but the plant actually does all of the manipulating in "Little Shop of Horrors," a musical about a potted plant on a high-protein diet Noun 1. high-protein diet - a diet high in plant and animal proteins; used to treat malnutrition or to increase muscle mass diet - a prescribed selection of foods . Opening Friday at the Cottage Theatre, this spoof of 1950s sci-fi movies ends with a song called "Don't Feed the Plants" - very good advice that unfortunately comes too late. Inspired by a 1960 Roger Corman movie with a screenplay by Charles Griffith, "Little Shop of Horrors" opened off-Broadway in 1982 and ran for more than 2,200 performances. The 1986 movie version had a yummy cast: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene Ellen Greene (b. February 22 1951, Brooklyn, New York) is a singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions,[1] , Vincent Gardenia gardenia: see madder. gardenia Any of the approximately 200 species of ornamental shrubs and trees in the genus Gardenia, in the madder family, native to tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. , Steve Martin Noun 1. Steve Martin - United States actor and comedian (born in 1945) Martin , James Belushi James "Jim" Edgar Belushi (born June 15, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, musician and younger brother of the late comedian John Belushi. Belushi currently stars in the sitcom According to Jim. , John Candy John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto, Canada branch of The Second City, often playing lovable losers and characters with bad luck but big hearts. , Bill Murray and Christopher Guest. OPENING THIS WEEK If you've seen the movie but not the stage show, be prepared for more songs and a sadder ending. The book and lyrics are by Howard Ashman, and the music is by Alan Menken, the team who scored "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale (type 425C -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). The first published version of the fairy tale was a meandering rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in " and "Aladdin." Director Peg Major says the stage version includes several songs that were not in the film, including an extended version of "The Meek Shall Inherit," "You Never Know," "Mushkin & Son," "Closed for Renovation," "Call Back on Monday," "Now (It's Just the Gas)" and the finale, "Don't Feed the Plants." Major says she likes the stage ending better than Hollywood's. "It makes the show a little darker, with more of a B movie feeling to it," she says, adding that the unhappy ending both surprised and pleased cast members who were familiar only with the movie. Major's Cottage Grove cast features Johnny Ormsbee as Seymour Krelbourn, a lowly flower shop assistant who develops a risky Faustian bargain with an exotic plant; Erika Johnston as Audrey, the girl of his dreams; and Ken Major as Audrey II, charitably described as "an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore carnivore (kär`nəvôr'), term commonly applied to any animal whose diet consists wholly or largely of animal matter. In animal systematics it refers to members of the mammalian order Carnivora (see Chordata). who offers him fame and fortune in return for feeding its growing appetite." The cast also includes Teri Page, Michelle Cordon, Miriam Major, Michael Scott, John Eaton, David Work, Mindy Linder, Eric Hope and Rebekah Hope - with plant manipulation by Chris Bursley, Davis Smith and Phil Dempsey. Major says the plant, which Cottage Theatre has rented from Olympia Playhouse, is really a monster, and making it come ravenously rav·en·ous adj. 1. Extremely hungry; voracious. 2. Rapacious; predatory. 3. Greedy for gratification: ravenous for power. See Synonyms at voracious. to life is "very hot and very, very physically exhausting" work requiring lots of upper-body strength. The music will be played live on stage by Vicki Brabham and another keyboardist, a bassist and a drummer, with synthesized acoustic guitar. Performances are scheduled for Friday through Oct. 10, and Oct. 14-17, 21-24 and 28-30. Curtain time is 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $15 at the door or $14 in advance from the Bookmine, 702 E. Main St., Cottage Grove. The bookstore's phone number is (541) 942-7414, and the theater box office is (541) 942-8001. CAPTION(S): The dentist (played by John Eaton) works with pleasure on Seymour Krelbourn (Johnny Ormsbee) in Cottage Theatre's "Little Shop of Horrors." |
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