COME SEE THE STRANGE PLANT BLOOMING IN IVORYTON

AUDREY (LAURA WOYASZ) CONFRONTS THE DEVILISHLY HUNGRY AUDREY II

PHOTO BY ROGER U. WILLIAMS

With  a watering can, a green thumb and a box of Band-aids, anything can happen in the world of strange growing plants. Just ask Seymour Krelborn, a potential botanist in the making, who purchased an unusual potted plant from a Chinese man when the world is undergoing some different astrological and weather related events.  Whatever the cause, Seymour soon finds himself the caretaker of a plant he names Audrey II, in honor of the girl he works with who has stolen his heart.  Audrey II has some strange cravings, ones that don't include water, sunshine, fertilizer or plant food.

To discover what Audrey II desires, just head over to the Ivoryton Playhouse by Sunday, October 11 and meet Seymour (Nicholas Park) and the gang at Mushnik's Skid Row Flower Shop, like Mushnik (David Conaway) and Audrey (Laura Woyasz) and their funky Greek chorus of delicious flower children (Azarria White, La'Nette Wallace and Danielle Marie Gray). Come enter the exotically entertaining world of "Little Shop of Horrors" cleverly created by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken where  Mr. Mushnik is about to close up shop permanently.  The arrival of Audrey II changes everything.

Love will motivate even the meekest of men to move mountains and molehills for their sweethearts, even if it means making a pact with a fiendish plant. In order for Seymour to woo and win Audrey, the girl of his dreams, he must supply “the plant” with its favorite growth elixir: human blood. As “the plant,”  flourishes and flowers, Seymour realizes what a money making monsterpiece he has created and the potential fame it can bring to Mushnik's modest Skid Row florist shop. He also realizes that as carnivore grows, so does its thirsty need for the red stuff and its cries of “feed me” echo louder and louder.

Songs like "Somewhere That's Green," "Dentist," and "Suddenly Seymour" set the tantalizing tone.

Martin P. Robinson take credit for this Jack-in-the-Beanstalk and Venus Fly Trap combination conundrum, with voice provided by Steve Sabol and puppeteering by Austin Costello. Also starring in the show are Carson Higgins as the mad dentist,  a sadistic man who punishes his girlfriend Audrey in increasingly painful ways.  Lawrence Thelan directs and Apollo Smile choreographs this new production that opened on Broadway in 2003.

For tickets ($42, seniors $37, students $20, children $15), call Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton  at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday.

You don’t need a green thumb to enjoy “Little Shop of Horrors” but if Seymour offers you a Band-Aid put on your gloves and run for the nearest exit.