Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--An internationally popular small-cast musical based on a low-budget 1960s movie will be performed April 10-12 at Mississippi State University.
"Little Shop of Horrors" will be presented by Theatre MSU at 7:30 p.m. daily in the McComas Hall main theater. General admission is $10; $5 for MSU students and employees (with valid identification), and senior citizens.
Theatre MSU is sponsored by the communication department. Veteran faculty member Marianne Ulmer will direct the play developed for the stage in the early 1980s by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman.
Basically, the plot involves Seymour, a nerdy floral shop assistant, and his secret affections for co-worker Audrey. As if pursuing Audrey wasn't challenge enough, Seymour must help feed the needs of a ravenous man-eating plant. And, then there's also the demented dentist.
A black comedy, the original movie of the same name was produced by the legendary Roger Corman, whose unofficial nickname, "King of the Bs," describes his long list of low-cost exploitation releases.
The musical version opened off-Broadway in 1982 and went on to win several major awards, as well as critical acclaim for Ashman. It closed in 1987 after more than 2,200 performances--and inclusion among the longest-running and highest-grossing musicals in off-Broadway history.
Since then, it has been performed from Argentina to Australia, Spain to South Africa and many, many locations in between.
For more about the Theatre MSU presentation, contact Jo Durst at 662-325-3203 or bdurst@comm.msstate.edu. The department Web site is www.comm.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.