Photo courtesy of Kenna Dieffenwierth
A strange plant had an attitude, teeth and a lust for blood in this year’s musical by OPUS FIDES Drama Ministry. They presented an adapted version of the dark botanical comedy, “Little Shop of Horrors,” in Selby Auditorium.
According to the play bill, the mission statement of OPUS FIDES is to share Christ’s love and touch people’s senses in different ways through theater. The musical this year did not have and overtly Christian message, but the characters were related to the seven deadly sins. Lust was represented by Seymour, gluttony by Audrey II, envy by Audrey, greed by Mr. Mushnik, wrath by Dr. Orin, pride by the Doo Wops and sloth by the Bums.
“Although not intended for religious purposes, this show definitely shows how much we can jeopardize our lives by giving into temptations and allowing greed, lust, envy and all the others to take over,” said Senior Dominique Spano in her director’s note.
The cast and crew had been working since Oct. for this musical to come together. There were five showings from Feb. 27 through March 2. So many people showed up that some had to sit on the stairs.
The story took place at a run down plant shop on Skid Row owned by Mr. Mushnik (Sophomore Lindsey Thilmony). The shop was about to close down when one of the two shop workers, Seymour (Sophomore Connor Schaefer) got an idea. He tried to convince his boss that he could use a strange plant to attract customers. This plan worked in giving the shop hope. The only problem was that the plant, affectionately named Audrey II after his coworker, required human blood as sustenance. Seymour and the flower shop experienced success and fame, until Audrey II was no longer satisfied with just Seymour’s blood. Audrey II begged Seymour for more. Seymour didn’t want to kill anyone, but his desire for his coworker Audrey (Senior Anna McEntee) drove him to do whatever it would take to maintain his success. Seymour chose Audrey’s abusive boyfriend, Orin Scrivello (Junior Bob Botelho), as the first victim. After watching the dentist asphyxiate on his own laughing gas, Seymour fed him to Audrey II. Mr. Mushnik started to get suspicious and became the second victim to the carnivorous plant.
As offers to make money off of Audrey II continued to come in, Seymour began to feel that enough was enough and contemplated killing the plant after an upcoming photo shoot for a popular magazine. Audrey came back to the shop one night looking for Seymour. Seymour had already left, so Audrey II tricked its namesake into coming close.
The plant began to eat Audrey, but was stopped by the returning Seymour. Audrey’s last request before she died was for Seymour to feed her to Audrey II so that he could continue to find success. Seymour received another offer soon after to sell clippings of Audrey II so that every home in America could have one. The devastated Seymour realized the evil plant’s plans for world domination and tried to kill Audrey II once and for all.
Seymour was unsuccessful and eaten instead. Audrey II succeeded in taking over the world. The musical ended with the faces of the devoured sprouting from Audrey II as flowers.
Bob Botelho, quoted one of his lines when asked how he felt about being a part of the musical.
“It was a challenge. It was a pleasure. I’m going to need more gas for this one.”
His friend, Sophomore Michael Molloy, went to see every showing of the musical.
“He [Botelho] did a great job playing a woman. It was great. The improv was great every night,” said Molloy.
The response from the audience was positive.
“It was awesome. I loved when the plant ate Audrey. When it ate people, I thought it was sad but funny. When they sang, I could hear them very clearly. I think they did a beautiful job. You could tell that the cast worked very hard on it,” said Freshman Grace Quarles.
There was no shortage of praise for the cast and crew.
“I really enjoyed it. It was a high quality performance, and the performers all really suited their roles,” said Senior Lauren Horne.
The show was dedicated to the director, Dominique Spano, and one of the two stage managers, Alexis Paul. This was the last musical production for these seniors with OPUS FIDES.
