Little Shop of Horrors will be staged Friday, Aug. 2 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 3 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at galiontheatre.org or by calling 419-468-2662 and leaving a voicemail. Tickets also be purchased the day of the production. Doors typically open 45 minutes to one hour before the show.

GALION — More than 30 youth from this area will put their acting chops to the work this weekend as the Galion Community Theatre (GCT) presents the summer production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Beth Anne Jarvis is the first-time director of the show, which boasts talking and singing plants and dismembered body parts as part of the acts.

“We are performing “Little Shop of Horrors” with youth actors, so the actors in this production are ages 10-20. They’ve been working on this since May, so they’ve put a lot of time and effort into this,” Jarvis said.

 

Jarvis explained that “Little Shop of Horrors” is about Seymor Krelborn, a flower assistant in a flower shop working for a grumpy flower shop owner named Mushnik. She said his luck changes when he finds a strange and interesting plant at a flower market and quickly finds out that the plant needs human blood to flourish.

“From then on, we have the dentist who is somewhat sadistic and Seymor’s co-worker and love interest Audrey, who is the girlfriend of our dentist. They are in the shop and trying to make the shop succeed, but the plant keeps getting bigger and bigger and convinces Seymor to do worse and worse things by feeding some people to it,” Jarvis said.

According to Musical Theatre International (MTI), where GCT received their script for the production, it is” “a deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical.”

 

The play begins when the meek floral assistant, Seymour, stumbles across a new breed of plant he names “Audrey II” – after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down-and-out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it … blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s out-of-this-world origin and its intent of global domination.

It is one of the longest-running 0ff-Broadway shows and has been staged around the world.

Although Jarvis is directing for the first time, she is on the board at GCT and has choreographed many productions.

Landon Rose, 20, who portrays the dentist, said this is his first time in a production and is excited to play such a dark character. “I like getting into character. The props are my friends,” he joked. “He’s a sadist, he intentionally harms his patients and his girlfriend Audrey.”

Christian Shepherd, 16, plays Mr. Mushnik the flower shop owner. “This is my first show at the Galion Theatre, but I’ve done a lot around the Mansfield area,” he said. “My character is kind of just grumpy all the time, and he really likes money. I like the show. It’s fun and I’ve got to meet all these new people and it’s really fun working with everyone.”

Nathaniel Ivy, 16, plays Seymor Krelborn, the mean floral assistant. “He’s a super meek character, but he’s thrown into this position where he does terrible things to different people, so it really effects his personality and he loses it by the end of show.” .

Miranda Mee, 18, portrays Audrey and plays the the other shop assistant and Seymor’s love interest, but is also the girlfriend of the dentist. “My character is a little bit ditzy and bouncy, and she’s kind of the complete opposite of me, so that was kind of hard to figure out.”

Anna Court, 16, plays the body of the plant Audrey II (puppeteer). “I get inside giant metal plants and move them and eat people,” she said. “So it’s a pretty good time”

Drew Owens, 17, is the voice of Audrey II, the Plant. He also has experience with theatre productions in Galion as well as the Mansfield area. “Audrey II is really fun to play, because usually I’m a tenor so I’m used to singing really high notes. But Audrey II is really low notes, so I put a scary voice to it, so it’s really fun.”

Jarvis said this last week of practice is really fun because they are putting final touches on the show. “We even changed up a dance yesterday,” she said. “Just kind of tweaking it until it’s the best it can be.”

Jarvis noted there a couple sponsors for the production, saying Dr. Thomas Fellner provided much of the dental equipment used in the show. “And we’ve also been sponsored by the Flick Family, so we are very grateful to them. They really wanted to sponsor and help the youth in the community and give them a chance to shine here in the theater.”