A giant, man-eating plant in a small-town theatre like the Fire Hall makes for a wild story. Let's start from the beginning...
Little Shop of Horrors is a musical that cannot be done without the presence of several puppets (ranging from handheld to... well, giant) to bring Audrey II to life. Seven years ago, The Fire Hall Theatre braved the challenge, and started planning the show. Apparently a giant, man-eating plant is expensive? Really expensive... so the show was cancelled, and the dream of a "Little Shop" of their own was postponed. Until now.
Casey Paradies (the director of the musical) managed to find a much more cost-effective Audrey to bring the dream back to life. Under one condition— someone needed to pick her up from South Dakota.
Enter C.J. Leigh (who will be voicing and operating Audrey II), gassing up his truck, attaching a U-Haul, and setting forth to SD.
To stay true to my "Behind the Scenes" promise, here's a re-cap of the adventure that C.J. provided—
Now THAT is dedication. If you're thinking about seeing the show, the pure drive that this cast/crew shows is remarkable. That alone is enough to convince me to be honest.
Fun Fact:
Frank J Sikich, who will be playing Mr. Mushnik in this production, has had quite the go-around with this show at the GGFCT as well. He was a new-comer seven years ago when the show was set to grace the Fire Hall stage... some things come full-circle.
Audrey II
And here she is, folks. Audrey II is IN the building.