THE “EVOLUTION” OF LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Beginnings in film

Originally, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was a film created by that genius of low-budget films, Roger Corman, in 1960. His brother offered him a large office set from another film that had just wrapped, and bet him that he couldn’t make a film with it. Corman arranged for the set to be redressed as a flower shop. The story goes that Corman and Charles B. Griffith wrote the script in one night, rehearsed for three days, and shot it in two-and-a-half days with a budget of $27,000. Corman used three cameras at once and shot every scene with only one take. Included in this cult hit is a scene featuring a young, up-and-coming actor, Jack Nicholson, in a small role as Wilbur Force, the dentist’s masochistic patient.

Although Corman has described his original film as humorous, especially in its use of Jewish humor, it was more in the traditional horror genre than its successors. In the stage and film musical versions, the storyline is lighthearted and campy, despite fairly gruesome scenes, with the action punctuated by songs.

Off-Broadway

Who knows what it is that inspires people? In 1982, the bizarre little film was adapted for the stage by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, who later went on to write songs for Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. The new musical had its world premiere on May 6, 1982 at the WPA Theatre. It opened off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre on July 27, 1982, and ran for 2,209 performances. The production, directed by Ashman, was critically acclaimed and won several awards including the 1982-83 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the London Evening Standard Award for Best Musical.

The musical is faithful to the comic tone of the film, although there are a few slight changes to the story. The setting is moved from Skid Row in Los Angeles to Skid Row in New York City. Seymour’s hypochondriac mother is omitted and Seymour becomes an orphan. Also dropped is the subplot involving two investigating cops as well as the character of the gleefully masochistic dental patient (Jack Nicholson, of course). Three new characters are introduced: a “Greek chorus” of female black street urchins named Crystal, Chiffon and Ronnette. The evil plant, now called Audrey II, has been changed from a strange breed of Venus Fly Trap to a creature from outer space, though still some kind of “flower.” Interestingly, Canton native Lee Wilkof played Seymour in the original off-Broadway cast.

1986 Movie

In 1986, well-known director Frank Oz helmed a screen adaptation of the stage musical. The budget was reportedly $30,000,000---over one thousand times the budget of the 1960 Roger Corman original. The film was generally faithful to both the original and the stage versions. The character of the masochistic dental patient, played in the original by Jack Nicholson and cut from the stage version, was added back to the story and played by Bill Murray. Rick Moranis played Seymour, and the cast included well-known actors Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell, Levi Stubbs, Jim Belushi, John Candy, and Christopher Guest. The film’s biggest change is its ending which was re-shot when it received negative reviews from test audiences, rejecting it as too disturbing. Oz’s subsequent re-edits made the film lighter and thus more palatable to general audiences.

1991 TV Cartoon

No, we are not kidding. Following the success of the 1986 film, Frank Oz developed an idea for a prequel with Seymour as a junior high school student. Warner Brothers turned down the concept, but the idea was made into an animated children’s cartoon. Despite the gruesome theme of murder and abuse presented in previous versions of the story, this incarnation of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was aimed at children and was thus not violent. The plant—here called Junior—doesn’t eat humans and blood, but a variety of foods. The 30-minute program aired on FOX from September of 1991 to September of 1992.

2003 Broadway Revival/2004 National Tour

In 2003, a new $8 million revival of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was planned to open on Broadway, and to kick off the revival, a $1 million pre-Broadway start-up production debuted at the Actor’s Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida on May 16, 2003. This out-of-town tryout received mixed reviews, and producer Marc Routh announced that Broadway production was being canceled.

But the production was not quite dead. In an effort to save the show, producers obtained the services of veteran Broadway director Jerry Zaks, and recast nearly everyone in the show. Miraculously, the show finally made its Broadway debut at the Virginia Theatre on October 2, 2003. Hunter Foster, who played Seymour, was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award® for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance.

On August 11, 2004, a national tour of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS began just as the Broadway version was about to close in New York, and it’s now eating the hands….er, uh, it’s now eating OUT of the hands of people all around the country.