LSOH: Complete Comedy or Mix?

[Singin' In The Rain]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:21pm

Hey Guys
i'm doing little shop of horrors at my high school and playing seymour and i guess i was wondering your opinions on whether the whole show is just a big goof or if some parts are sincere and sad at times-certain examples of this seriousness would be the end of the meek will inherit or when seymour feeds Audrey to the plant-are there some parts in a show filled with comedy where there is a sad/touching aspect in it?
Thanks a lot

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:23pm

Some parts of hilarious, and some part CAN be heartbreaking if done right in my opinion. Underneathe everything, Seymour and Audrey are lonely people, which is inherrently saddening...

[Smaxie]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:47pm

Howard Ashman's original Off-Broadway production achieved a mix of camp and heart that I haven't seen equaled, in any other production, or the film, for that matter. When Audrey sang "Somewhere That's Green," both in the initial version and in the reprise, you were surprised by how much you cared for these characters, as much as the rest of the show was a hoot. The supporting characters can play the heightened cartoonishness of the materlal, but I think there has to be an earnestness to the performances of Audrey and Seymour, without knowingly playing the comedy of the roles, in order to achieve the perfect balance.

Updated On: 2/12/06 at 10:47 PM

[Horton]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:51pm

I think that this is not a decision for mebers of BWW, but rather for your director.

[BrightEyedInNYC]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:54pm

don't play audrey or seymore for laughs. they must be played with all sincerity and their naivity will naturally come out as humor at the right times.
somewhere thats green is so heartbreaking when done correctly.
the end, when he feeds her to the plant is sad, but there is humor mixed in...audrey says, "when i die...which should be very shortly..."
the supporting characters should definately be played as big charicatures.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:58pm

I find the underlying themes to actually be somewhat serious - poverty and what you will do to escape it.

So, to play it all for laughs would undermine what I think is the underlying heart and emotion of the story.

[BrightEyedInNYC]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 11:14pm

and i do agree with horton. depends on the concept your director wants to go with.

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 11:21pm

As a former LSOH director I must say that the best result comes when you play this material as serious as possible.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 12:44am

I agree with any and all comments made that one shouldn't play for laughs. What's funny is the writing that when played sincerely becomes all the more funny. And there are moments in the show that can absolutely break your heart.

Every production I have seen that only played for laughs was truly an artistic failure---never seen this tactic work for LSOH.

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 12:47pm

At its core, it's a parody of B-grade Sci-Fi flicks. But I do agree that Seymour and Audrey are the heart of it. In my personal opinion, I think the piece just starts to lose its ...brightness and campiness towards the end. "Audrey's Death" can be a poignant, heartbreaking moment. Even before then, I think the characters start to flesh out and stop being 2-dimensional architypes/parodies -- they turn into real people.

Ah...the magic of theatre.

~Sam