Theatre AACC will show the comedic horror musical “Little Shop of Horrors” in April.
The production, which will show April 12 to 14 and April 19 to 21 in the Kauffman Theater, will be the first musical that Theatre AACC has put on since before the pandemic.
“I’m excited to jump into it,” Andrew Agner-Nichols, who will play Orin Scrivello, said. “All the renditions I’ve seen have been really interesting. I’m excited to, kind of, put my own spin on it.”
“Little Shop of Horrors” follows Seymour Krelborn, an orphan who works at a florist shop, as he raises a sentient, human-eating plant named Audrey II.
Madeline Austin, the musical’s director, said she wants to give AACC students the opportunity to try different types of shows.
“Our philosophy is to get as much training for the students as possible,” Austin, a theater professor, said. “The idea is, in a two-year period, that actors can graduate with the possibility of being in a musical, being in a Shakespeare play, being in a comedy and being in a drama.”
Erik Binnix, the lead puppeteer for Audrey II, said the team will use “several different-size puppets as the plant grows throughout the show.”
Agner-Nichols, a first-year acting student, said musical theater “is a different beast” from straight plays.
“It’s a different kind of really hard work,” Agner-Nichols said. “You not only have those moments where you’re acting and working with the other individual, or individuals, in the scene, but then you have to really drill down on these musical numbers and it’s physically taxing.”
A live band will play the songs for the musical.
Co-Editor Jack Sarnese contributed to this story.