Brick Street Players to host Little Shop of Horrors
by Guest Columnist Bradley Freeny
The Brick Street Players (BSP) are bringing Skid Row to Clinton. Rehearsals are well under way for Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s rock musical Little Shop of Horrors, the Players’ first show of their 2024-25 season.
Allie Bennett, BSP president, expressed her excitement, saying that “the community really showed up for auditions” with a “wide variety of incredible talent.” She thanked Clinton for its continuing support and commended the cast and directorial team for “working incredibly hard to make this season opener our best yet.”
Readers may be most familiar with the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors, starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene and Steve Martin, based on the off-broadway 1982 musical, which itself is based on the 1960 horror-comedy of the same name. No matter the version, the plot remains basically the same: a classic story of girl meets boy, boy meets plant, boy feeds plant blood, plant eats people. But there is far more beneath the surface. Director Sam Lovorn, 2017 graduate of MC and Director of Choirs at Sumner Hill Junior High, explains that “audiences will be transported back to the 1960s in a drab and mundane world in order to answer the question, ‘How far would one person go to be a success?’”
Lovorn, who recently directed Sumner Hill’s student production of Finding Nemo, Jr., adds that “in addition to a cast of over-the-top characters, there is a village of volunteers helping to make this show a success. From costumers, to painters, to set builders, this show is all-hands-on-deck.”
Lovorn emphasizes the scope of the show by saying that “everything on stage, from the acting, to the set, to the seven-foot-tall man-eating plant, is going to be larger than life.”
While the plant, aka Audrey II, grows to monstrous proportions, she does not start out that way. Talented puppeteers bring her to life in her many forms as she grows, interacts with the human cast and sings numbers that will bring down the house, courtesy of the voice talents of Alex Shay, Clinton native and repeat Brick Street performer. Shay is excited to take on the unique role of Audrey II’s voice and states that he “can’t wait to let my gift shine” as part of “an amazing cast of gifted and talented individuals.”
In addition to a bit of light, B-movie horror, the show is full of comedy, romance and music, performed by a diverse cast from Clinton and the surrounding community. Gracie Lee, a Jackson native and recent MC graduate, portrays Audrey in the production. Lee, whose acting credits include performances at New Stage and other local theatres, knows “the audience will really enjoy the music” and is “looking forward to sharing live theatre” with the community of Clinton.
Little Shop of Horrors runs September 12-15 at the Entergy Theatre at the Gore Arts Complex at Mississippi College. For more information, visit BSP on Facebook (Brick Street Players) or Instagram (BrickStreetPlayersClinton). You can also purchase tickets and season subscriptions directly at cbsp.booktix.com. This production of Little Shop of Horrors is licensed by Music Theatre International.
EDIOR’S NOTE: Bradley Freeny serves as the vice president of the Brick Street Players.
