Don't feed the plant!

During the second weekend in April, the Salmon High School drama department produced the play "Little Shop of Horrors". I really love this particular play; it holds a special place in my heart. The last musical play I was ever in was "Little Shop" during the fall of my senior year in high school. So, I was very excited when I heard last fall that our high school would be producing the play this spring. The high school here only does a big musical once every other year, so it was even more exciting to me that this was the play they chose!

 

I talked to all my elementary school students about the play the week before the performance, and I told the kids a little about the story line to get them interested in it. There is no auditorium in Salmon, so the drama department had to create a set from scratch inside the gym. I told the students about the set, too, because the transformation of the gym adds to the magic of the play. There was also a live student orchestra playing, which was super neat! It was the first time I'd seen a high school play in Salmon where they had live music with it!

 

They ran the play 3 nights, and I went to the show two of the nights. On opening night, I took Josh. He'd never seen the play before, and he found it funny and interesting. On closing night, I took my 3 older boys. They all really liked it, too.

 

The full set--I thought it was very creative and perfect for the space:

The orchestra was stage right (they were AWESOME!):

The actors did a phenomenal job, and I was so proud of them! I truly enjoyed watching them perform their portrayals of the characters. Audrey and Seymour and Orren the Dentist and the Plant's voice were all spot on! Afterwards, I got some pictures with the plant that they rented for the play:

"But whatever they offer you, DON'T FEED the PLANT!"

When we had our cast party in high school, my director's wife made everyone a little plant as a gift, or token, for all our work in the play. If you've seen the play or the movie, you know that at the end, they cut pieces of the blood-sucking, man-eating plant to distribute to every home in America. Kris, Mr. Bahr's wife, was sweet to make an original for each of us that were involved in the play to have as a keepsake. I still have mine, and I took it with me on closing night, to get some photos of my past meeting the present...

 

The part I played when I was in the student show myself was "Ronnette", a Doo-Wop girl. It was my most favorite part I have ever played. I loved it so much--I loved singing solos as well as in a quartet, I loved the costume changes and the pretty make-up, I loved the fun dialogue and saying lines full of attitude, I loved doing all the dance moves and learning choreography. I was truly blessed to have that role; it was such a great match for me!

 

The BRHS Doo-Wop girls in 1996:

 

I was the only senior in this group: Heather, Kala, Kassie, Amy. I enjoyed working with these talented girls!

We even got to wear wiglets to create more of a "beehive" look:

 

Chad was our Orren the Dentist, and he was fabulous!

I thought the Chinese costumes and choreography for this one song were whimsical and fun!

I know it's hard to tell here, but we got to wear hair-net stockings (is that what you all them?!) that I loved, and I still own the original pair that I was wearing in this photo. I am talking {singing} to Seymour, played by John R., holding the plant in its beginning stages:

This was the last song of the play, and you can kind of see the giant plant behind us under the wall that is being dropped down. We just cut baby plants from it, and we're singing "Don't Feed the Plant". I loved our set, and the steps that you can see in the left of the photo are what we used to enter the stage at the beginning of the show.

I wish I had a camera of our entire cast all together--Audrey was played by Andrea, and Jacob was Mr. Mushnik, and the plant's voice was John J., and the puppeteers were Stephanie and Kacey and Jon O. It was quite the cast, and we had a fabulous time working together, and performing it together. We really bonded, and being in this play changed me. It truly was a magical experience being involved in it, and I still hold it in high regards as the best theatrical production I was ever involved in.

I was so grateful for the experience to go and see the SHS production of "Little Shop" in April, because it really lifted my spirits and flooded my brain with so many good memories from my past! I haven't performed in so long; that part of my soul is unused and feels dead. But seeing the play really awakened my passion and love of the theater, and revived my memories of why I {used to} love performing!