Little Shop of Horrors is coming to P.E.I.

Auditions are being held next month for the ActPEI production of Little Shop of Horrors, but the star has already arrived.

Which, producer Rob Thomson says, begs the question: "How often can you say the star of the show is a two-metre tall man-eating plant?"

The plant is a set of four puppets that grow from a "cuddly little arm." They were made by Deb Erb, a props designer in Ontario.

"So we shopped all over North America to find these plants, shipped them here, they arrived a few weeks ago," Thomson said.

'A musical comedy'

Now, he and director Peter Krauskopf are looking to fill out the cast of about 24.

ActPEI is community theatre, Thomson said, so they are looking for "amateurs who do it for the love of it."

The play is about a group of down-and-out characters working in a flower shop in New York's Skid Row.

With no customers, the shop is about to close until one of the workers finds a mysterious plant, which changes their lives.

It really touches ordinary people who are living ordinary lives. Director Peter Krauskopf

"There's plenty of dark stuff in it, but primarily it's a musical comedy," Thomson said.

"We were looking for a small theatre show and this is a terrific script and the music is fantastic. A lot of rock lot of doo-wop music, soul, it's a lot of fun."

Not your typical musical comedy

The show is narrated by three doo-wop singers who hang out on the streets.

Choreographer Morgan Wagner said they'll be doing a lot of fun, girl-group dancing.

"I've been watching a lot of Supremes videos," she said. "So that'll be really exciting."

'This is real life'

But Krauskopf said the show is not the typical musical boy-meets-girl musical comedy.

"This is real life, that's what I really like about it," he said.

"It really touches ordinary people who are living ordinary lives and how they get interacted by this phenomenon they didn't expect."

Auditions are being held June 10 to 12 at Colonel Gray High School in Charlottetown.

Five shows are planned for Holland College's new theatre Oct. 27 to 30.

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