Starring S. Youth

[FilmFan720]

For the record, I like the show. And I am very excited for you. It is a fun show to work on!

Do you know, are you renting the plants (I'm assuming you are). There are some awesome ones out there.



Edited By FilmFan720 on 1190927630

[Sonic Youth]

I don't care a lot for Little Shop of Horrors, more than half the songs annoy me,

LOL! Sheesh, you guys can't pretend you love the show, just for a day?

If you're going by what you hear on the soundtrack, I understand. They don't carry over well on record. But in the show, they work great.

As for third character/fourth character, only award nerds care about that (who's leading? who's supporting?) Here's what it comes down to. Seymour and Audrey are the leads. Everyone else is equal and very significant support. No Beatrice Straight roles here. I'm all throughout Act I and the first half of Act II... before my tragic demise.*

Filmfan, I didn't see any low cut shirts or push-up bras. But during the choreography auditions, I saw twenty very pretty young ladies dancing around, sashaying and hip-swinging. Can't complain, can't complain.

*P.S., I saw the cast list. I'm third-billed. *raspberry!*

[Big Magilla]

Except, Magilla, when Steve Martin took the role on the big screen. I can't remember for sure, but I doubt he got fourth billing...

Sorry, but he did, behind Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene and the great Vincent Gardenia as Mushnick.

[Akash]

Sonic, I didn't see this before but congratulations! Hope you're having a great time and good luck.

How will you ever find time now to post a thousand relevant articles for us each day?

[OscarGuy]

Except, Magilla, when Steve Martin took the role on the big screen. I can't remember for sure, but I doubt he got fourth billing...

[99-1100896887]

Well done, Sonic. Horrors is a fun show to do--especially if you have a great looking plant! You have plenty of time on stage as Mushnik to make an impression, even though the character gets eaten. You must send us the reviews.

[FilmFan720]

Congrats Sonic. I ran spotlight for the show in college, and it is a crowd-pleaser to be sure. It is the kind of show that if handled with a good hand, it is a very fun evening at the theatre (of course, this coming from someone who spent the run of the show 20 feet above the cast, looking down on several women in low cut shirts and push-up bras...what is not fun about that??). And I would say Mushnik is the fourth character, but after the voice/body of Audrey II. Still, in an eight-character musical, you can't complain.

Keep us updated on how the show is going.



Edited By FilmFan720 on 1190913455

[Big Magilla]

Oops. You're right about "Closed for Renovation". The songs appear in a different order on the two cast albums.

Mushnick and The Dentist may be in a race for third most important character but the actor playing Mushnick is generally billed over the actor playing The Dentist. Not my favorite musical either, but Mushnick's songs are a highlight.

[OscarGuy]

Actually, Magilla, Closed for Renovation was in the original production off Broadway. I have the original cast recording and it's there.

And I think Mushnik is in a close race for third-most-important with the Dentist.

Gratz, Sonic, on the part.

I don't care a lot for Little Shop of Horrors, more than half the songs annoy me, but I do think three of my favorite showtunes come from this production: "Skid Row", "Somewhere That's Green" and "Suddenly, Seymour"



Edited By OscarGuy on 1190911101

[Big Magilla]

Don't be so modest. Mushnick is the third major character in the show, right behind Seymour and Audrey. In addtion to "Ya Never Know" and "Mushnik & Son" there was a third song written for the character in the recent Broadway revival called "Closed for Renovation". Is your company doing that version or reverting to the original one?

[Sonic Youth]

My theatrical career soldiers on. I am now appearing in my very first musical. Yeah, me.

Altoona Community Theatre is presenting "Little Shop of Horrors", and I thought it would be fun to give it a try. (Plus, my wife insisted.) I'm never nervous during non-musical auditions. You get up, you read, you do the best you can. But I have never sung before a group of people since I played the Mock Turtle in 6th grade. And I had to sing a capella before 35 other auditionees (over two nights, fifty people auditioned for eight roles, four of them male), as well as a crew of 10. And it was clear that nearly everyone else had some experience with musical theater. You have to be a good singer, naturally, but there's also some a particular sort of verve that I can't quite explain, which seasoned musical theater fans are able to get across. Many of them were very good; you could tell this wasn't THEIR first musical auditions. And I was scared shitless.

But I got a part. I'm stunned, but I did it. It's not Seymour, unfortunately. That would have been the prize. (And check out my picture again. I look like a Seymour.) But I got the part of Mushnik, the cantankerous flower shop owner. LOL! It was the last thing I expected, since I'm only in my thirties, but it's a great part. And I get eaten by the plant... my first death scene!

I enjoy the movie well enough, but it's one of the most egregious altered endings in the history of motion pictures. And it uses only half the songs from the stage show. Going by the movie, you'd think Mushnik is a non-singing role. Not so. I sing a duet with Seymour, I sing a minute-long introduction to another song, and there are several full-company songs where everyone gets a line or three. They're going to have to age me 25 years, and I'm disappointed that I probably won't be recognized by anyone afterwards. But, hey...

Plus, musicals really pack 'em in, and I was told last week that people were already calling asking for ticket availability. They're expecting sell-out crowds for this one.

Anyway, that's the exciting news. That I was able to sing in front of a crowd of people and be so well received was a real step forward for me. And I'm so glad to be part of a show I loved when I saw the original off-Broadway production when I was about this high. (Points.) This was Mencken and Ashman's high point, as far as I'm concerned. And singing? Cavorting? Making people laugh? Being more Jewish than usual? In front of a crowd of a thousand, for four shows? It's going to be great fun.

[99-1100896887]

I can sense your excitement, Sonic. As a former theatre teacher with countless plays and musicals under my belt, each performance is a special event and holds great memories when the run is over. And you make lots of new friends, in your new choice of town.
Well done. Nice pictures, too. So that's what you look like!
Cam .

[Damien]

Congrats on a successful debut, Sonic. It's always struck me that the applause meter at curtain calls is much more about the roles than the performances. Banjo and Lorraine are the two characters (besides Whiteside) who always garner the greatest attention because of their outrageousness. (Jimmy Durante played Banjo in the movie; Marty Feldman in the TV version with Orson Welles in the early 70s.) Both Carrie Nye and Jean Smart received Tony nominations playing Lorraine in revials of the play.

And it is a beautiful theatre!

[Sonic Youth]

I would say that's wise advice. I'd have figured I would be asked to bow before those two, but no. I come out third-to-last, after those two. And guess what. Tonight, I received quite a few laughs with my "straight" lines - which aren't straight in the colorless sense, but witty dead-pan - and I received nearly as much cheers in the audience as the two show-stoppers Banjo (the wacky film comedian) and Lorraine Sheldon (the aging full-of-herself diva) when I took my bow.

Wow, this acting thing is so exhilarating. What a great time. Unfortunately, in my first scene the star completely blanked out and forgot his lines. And I don't yet have the skill to smoothly ad-lib in order to transition the scene back. Oh well, we skipped a portion of the script but we managed.

[FilmFan720]

Aah yes Sonic, you are becoming a true actor:)

1000 seats is about the small end of a Broadway house (probably not one of the musical houses, but one that can just hold straight plays). Still, not bad. I'm impressed with the crowds you can bring in for a straight play...is it an artistic community?

I have never gotten to act in one of those glorious old houses, but I did get to rehearse once at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, IL. It sounds very similar. You can feel the history around you, and it adds a very magical sense to everythink. Cherish these moments.

In a funny tidbit, one of my college directing texts (I forget whose) has a great section on blocking curtain calls. He uses The Man Who Came to Dinner as his example, as it has smaller characters (the Marx Brother character) with less stage time than other roles, but garner greater applause. He argues that you have to give Harpo a later curtain call than the straighter roles purely to save the actor's egos, because he will naturally get the most applause. So it's not just you...this is a historic feeling for the Bert's of the world:)

Tripp