Little Shop of Horrors WITHOUT the Puppets?

I've been given the oppertunity to direct a production this spring, and one choice avaliable is "Little Shop of Horrors". However, our theatre is neither large enough nor wealthy enough to afford the four plant puppets. So, here's my solution:

Audrey II will be represented by an actress. The first appearance will just be a hand sticking up from the pot, The second the entire wrist and arm up to the elbow. The third appearance (Feed Me- End of Act One) will be a sereis of leaves with the silohuete of the actress playing Audrey II projected onto the leaves. She's revealed by the leaves lowering to reveal an actress with a red dress adorned with leaves and a fierce red wig. She is then able to move around the set, truly performing the number. Act One Finale (where Audrey II eats Orin) is done by projecting the silohuetes of Audrey II and Seymour onto the scrim, and Audrey II growing by stepping further into the light, making her shadow seem to envelop the curtain.

Audrey II's fourth appearance (Call Bakc in the Morning) has Audrey II on a swing of vines, with her skirt now reaching the floor. She remains still while in public, then moves when with Seymour. For Suppertime, since we've established Audrey II can move freely, she slowly approaches Mushnik (just restore the film's dialogue about Mushnik letting Seymour go free if he gives Mushnik the plant), then, when she's an inch away from him, she embraces Mushnik as a tarp drops to the stage. We hear mushnik's screams as red blood is splattered onto the tarp. For after Meek Shall Inherit, Audrey II (Once again on her swing of vines), now has a large hoop skirt (fills the small stage) with vines and leaves draped from it. For Auredy's eating, the skirt opens in the center, revealing a small set of staris, covered in vines. Audrey step onto them, and when Audrey II is about to eat her, Auredy II and the stairs rotate as they struggle. Seymour rescues Audrey, and when Audrey II eats Audrey, she once again splits the skirt, and Audrey walks into a light shining up from the back of the skirt.
I'm going to request restoring Mean Green Mother (as other production have), and in it, aside from various vines shooting up around the stage, blocking Seymour, the entire skirt will have built in effects (lights, smoke, possibly even the Audrey II children from the movie), and will also be able to rotate around the actress. When she finally eats Seymour, vines will wrap around Seymour and (with him traveling up the stairs Audrey used) he'll be eaten as the skirt encloses eround him.

For Don't Feed the Plants, I'm going to stage it as if we've been watching a movie the entire time (complete with trailers during the pre show, ads for the snack bar during intermission), and stage the finale as a special new bulletin (using some footage I will shoot, like people buying the plants, similar to the film's original ending). Audrey II's vines will shoot thorugh the ceiling of the theatre (forming grid patterns over the audience's heads). Audrey II (with the large hoop skirt) will then be seen atop the florist's shop as she dramatically moves downstage towards the audience. She shoots a few more vines above the audience, then raises the skirt as she prepares to eat the theatre, thel ights going out as she's at the beginning of the first row.

I have a bunch of other ideas for the production, like staging the entire thing as a B movie being watched by the audience, making everything black and white, except for the plant, even making Somewhere That's Green a dream sequence for Audrey, comically dreaming of the 1960's ideal suburbia. Also, to give the idea of Audrey II taking over the city, the entire set is minuaturized buildings which represent various set pieces (a minuature of the Florist Shop is the main desk, High Rises are shelves for the flowers, etc.). So, what do you think? With the concept I've used above, would Little Shop without the puppets work?

Sounds pretty good - I think you can simplfy even further. See picture of "Ivy" from Disney's Animal Kingdom.

To be fair, I wouldn't be surprised if some of that stuff gets cut, but making a miniature mock-up of some buildings is a lot cheaper and easier than making a giant-sized Muppet. Probably cheaper, too.

I thought of this idea also! Granted, not as much depth haha but to have a sort of 'Poison Ivy' like woman to play the part. And the skirt growing longer and bigger, until it's an 'over the top ballroom dress'...MUCH larger than normal sized ones.

LOVE it, i think this is a very strong idea!

I like your creativity, but if you're looking to create an realistic atmosphere reminiscent of a B movie - having a really expressionistic and abstract portrayal of the plant will probably clash with it. You have two bold ideas that could work, but merging them may get in way of telling the story.

I saw a production that attempted this, and included the three girls as part of the plant at times. It was an awkward failure, and was ultimately laughable.

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I love your concept, but I think you should simplify to make it work.

Audrey II shouldn't be able to walk around the stage. It will be confusing for the audience and really muddy up the staging. When she's fully grown (at the third version), you could have her face away from the audience when other people are on stage and only turn out when Seymour's alone with her. The back of the costume can be built up to resemble the front of the plant with a large padded collar piece.

For the fourth version, you could have Audrey II sitting or standing on some kind of platform that lets the characters be eaten. She'd still be wearing the costume from the third version, but it would blend with some kind of curtain of vines on the platform. That way, Audrey II can open and close the curtains to eat her victims. Let the actors, music, and lighting sell the growth and final destruction rather than trying to shoot out vines all over the stage. If you can't afford the puppets, you can't afford to manipulate that many variables and do it well.

The hand to arm growth phase is brilliant. Just remember to keep it simple. Anything that can go wrong when trying out a new spin on stagecraft will go wrong many times before it goes right. The more elements you cement in place with minimal tricks and gimmicks, the smoother the production will go.

sounds awesome!

this reminds me of that show HEAD OF THE CLASS from the 80s/90s.... anybody remember it? and Howard Hessemen wanted the class to perform musicals so one season they did Grease and Hair... but one episode they performed Little Shop and they didn't have a puppet really... it was Dennis (a big guy) in like a plant costume and you could see his face and he just sang the songs... pretty hilarious! man i miss HEAD OF THE CLASS... haha

I think your ideas are great Julie Taymor, but watch the budget.

Updated On: 1/28/11 at 10:50 PM

I like the fact that you're thinking of a different way to approach the show, I've directed a production of this myself, on a non-existent budget! The puppets really arent that expensive to hire and there's even things online about making your own. I made the decision to use the plant puppets and cut down on set, using alot of projections instead. What you've planned sounds great but probably more expensive than hiring the puppets!

So, because it's always been a big, black guy, he should be dressed as a pimp?

Just rent the plants.

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There is indeed an intriguing idea in there, but, as others have said, if you can't afford to rent the plants I'm not sure how you think you would be able to afford to pull off this pretty extravagant sounding concept either.

I'll also say, though, that if you feel the need to do rewrites (even minor) and incorporate additional material to serve your concept than you have to ask is your concept really serving the material as it stands?

And if you do go through with it I would highly advise rethinking the early plants. The hand/arm idea could easily come across as cheap and pathetic looking, drawing unintentional laughs that you don't want. For the most part your audience is not going to be walking in knowing that you are not using any sort of plant puppets and it could easily leave them scratching their heads as to why this hand is just sticking out of a pot like somebody stole the puppet at the last minute and the puppeteer didn't even realize it.

I have to say it sounds to me like you're molesting a good piece of work in the name of your own perhaps over-confident "creativity." The piece is written to work in certain ways - I doubt that you will improve upon that. Just as Anne Bogart didn't improve On The Town by setting it on a battleship, rather than in the city to which the show is a valentine.

But one thing I've learned - you can never convince a director that they know less about a show than the writers.