Cover your paper cuts—the Nocturne Theatre in Glendale is taking on Alan Menkin and Howard Ashman's infamous man-eating plant.

"Little Shop of Horrors" will play at the Nocturne's lush and atmospheric 350-seat theatre-in-the-round through May 18. The show stars Aaron Ellis as Seymour, Jett LaFever as Audrey, Connor Bullock as Orin Scrivello (i.e., the dentist), Craig Sherman as Mr. Mushnik, and David Gallic as the Voice of Audrey II (with Darius Aaron Frye as the alien plant's puppeteer). 

BroadwayWorld talked with Nocturne co-founder and Little Shop director Justin Meyer about the show, the challenges of bringing Audrey II to life, and some surprises along the way. 

Little Shop of Horrors has been one of my favorite shows ever since I was a little kid.  It holds a very special place in my heart.  I was in a production of it once in high school, as an ensemble member, but I have never directed it before.  However, as soon as we bought the theatre in 2023, this show became a priority for me to get into our space and direct.

This show has such an important legacy and following, we knew we didn't want to mess with it too much, so a lot of our production stays true to the show's original formula. However, we definitely have a way of doing things at the Nocturne Theatre that gives all of our shows a little twist. Firstly, our theatre is in-the-round! Immediately, the show begins to feel more immersive because of that. Additionally, the space is very intimate. It's a 350-seat theatre, but the layout makes you feel like you're practically sitting in Skid Row with the derelicts! Our puppet designs (more on this later) will also surprise some die-hard fans.  

Our entire cast is only 10 people, and every one of them is an incredible performer. Powerhouse singers, dynamic and versatile actors, it would be impossible to call out any one individual. Aaron Ellis plays Seymour, and it's the role he was born to play. Jett LaFever is Audrey, and she will make you cry with her rendition of "Somewhere That's Green," then drop your jaw when she belts in "Suddenly Seymour. "

Cameron Jackson, Auri Chisholm, and Dara Adedara make up the three Urchins, and the three of them sound like they've been singing in a girl-group for the last 10 years (even though they only met a few weeks ago!) Connor Bullock plays the Dentist (and several other roles) and manages to find a balance of humor and horror in his portrayal of Orin Scrivello, DDS. Craig Sherman steals every scene he's in with his Mr. Mushnik, and Bedjou Jean's versatile character work rounds out the ensemble perfectly, making it feel like a much bigger cast than it is.  

Finally, David Gallic plays the voice of Audrey II, and Darius Aaron Frye is the masterful puppeteer. The two of them are so talented and have so much chemistry that the illusion of Audrey II is spooky!   

We wanted to lean into the 60s sci-fi, B-Horror aspect of the show a lot. I made a choice to elude that the three Urchin girls are in fact part of the alien plot to help disseminate Audrey II's all over the world, and that idea was taken to the next level by our creature and costume designer, Tanya Cyr.  She came up with amazing retro-futurism styled costumes for the girls, as well as designing a heavily inspired alien-monster look, as opposed to the traditional "fly-trap" style of Audrey II you typically see.  It made for a uniquely designed show.

Our biggest challenge was the Audrey II final puppet. She is so large and the mechanics of that creature are very complicated that it took a lot of R&D to get it right. Since our theatre is in-the-round, we had to get very creative with how we would be able to move Audrey II around the stage in order to be seen fully by everyone from every angle. We also had to get creative with how we would approach eating people and having them disappear into the plant. Being in-the-round has made these challenges more like artistic opportunities to have fun with our staging and our designs. 

Jay Michael Roberts designed this show to be a fixed set, meaning we never really leave the world we're in. He cleverly split the stage in two, Mushnik's Skid Row Florist on one side and Skid Row on the other.  The shop's "Front Window" becomes a big part of the staging, even though there's nothing actually there. Using light and a few light boxes, the illusion created is rather exciting. Also, the Mushnik's Skid Row Florist billboard that sits atop our shop serves multiple purposes and is a giant, striking, and beautiful piece of scenery, hand-painted by Brittany Archambeault. 

In Act 2, there is a big reveal, and the set takes on a whole new life.    

Tanya Cyr and Greg Feiler built our varieties of Audrey IIs, and they did an amazing job sculpting, painting, and designing a very original design out of foam. She is a puppet, in each of her iterations, operated by our master puppeteer, Darius Aaron Frye. Her first iteration is a small hand puppet, the size of a single hand. She then grows into a much larger hand puppet, maybe about 1 1/2 feet in diameter.  Her third iteration is a full-body puppet, approximately 5' tall x 4' long and mounted to a large wagon, so we can pull the puppet around the stage and show her off. She also lights up. There is a fourth and final iteration of her, which is also a puppet, but is operated using a gyroscope crane system.  

Her head alone is approximately 7' x 5', but the rest of her rig is much longer, and this puppet is able to actually eat and swallow full-sized humans.  

There have been a lot of great moments that were improvised in rehearsal, and were so funny we just had to keep them in (There's a great bit about the dentist's drill). Additionally, there's a secret "character" that is worked into the design of the set—a little nod to a little guy that used to live in our theatre, but is no longer with us.

I think Git It might be my favorite, only because I think it's so fun to watch that puppet roll around the stage—and Darius does such an amazing job puppeting it, that it looks so life-like. I also really love "Suddenly Seymour," because I think that is a perfectly-written song and our singers are just so darn good, it gives me chills.  

Our biggest challenge came very late in the process.  On our last night of dress rehearsal (the night before we opened), at about 5:30 am, we were putting on the final touches to the big Audrey II-4 puppet. When we moved the crane, she tore down all her surrounding set pieces. We all took a collective breath, went home, got two hours of sleep, and went back in and fixed her up even better than she had been before and opened the show that night.  I was very proud of my team at that moment for not losing their cool, and making a plan, instead of giving up.

Little Shop of Horrors plays at the Nocturne Theatre April 17 through May 18. The Nocturne Theatre is located at 324 N Orange St. in Glendale. 

*All photos courtesy The Nocturne Theatre

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