The Ritz Theater presents MU PERFORMING ARTS’ PRODUCTION OF LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
(Minneapolis, St. Paul) Mu Performing Arts will present the Howard Ashman/Alan Menken musical Little Shop of Horrors with an Asian American twist. Randy Reyes stars as the down-and-out florist Seymour Krelbourn in a re-imagining of the classic favorite that features an all-Asian American cast. Little Shop of Horrors opens March 19 at The Ritz Theater in Minneapolis.
Over the past few seasons, Mu has moved forward in its pursuit of musical theater productions. With the success of the company’s production Rogers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song at the Ordway’s McKnight Theater in 2009, Artistic Director Rick Shiomi has sought more opportunities to showcase the vocal talent of Mu’s core performers. “In the world of Asian American theater, these wonderful actors would rarely get the opportunity to play these roles,” he says.
Reflecting on the casting of Reyes in the role of Seymour and Sheena Janson as the famous man-eating plant, Audrey II, Shiomi notes the production’s potential to shed a new light on this largely overlooked pool of talent. “Doing the photo shoot made me realize the beauty of casting both Randy and Sheena. Both embodied their characters so perfectly that I knew we would be able to bring a specific Asian American perspective to our production. . . This is an opportunity for Mu to open doors and eyes to the work of Asian American theater artists.”
Other new spins on the stage production include design concepts adopted from Steampunk. Director Jennifer Weir, who was last at the helm in Mu’s comedy Ching Chong Chinaman, describes borrowing from the cult science fiction sub-genre to lay a murky backdrop for the story’s dark comedy. As she explains, the ambience “imagines a more industrial and desperate setting for this production’s Skid Row residents.”
Another notable slant is the characterization of Audrey II, who will be a more mobile addition to the cast than in traditional productions. “The plant itself will be brought to life with a combination of live actors and puppetry,” Weir explains. Masanari Kawahara, formerly of In the Heart of the Beast, has created a part machine, part flora rendering of Audrey II that will be given voice and action by Janson. The combination of free movement and a female actor filling the role, Weir expects, will “make this plant more seductive than ever.”
For Rick Shiomi, the hope is that the audience will be as drawn in by the cast as Seymour is by his killer plant: “Perhaps [we’ll] put another crack in that glass ceiling.”
Additional cast members include Sara Ochs (Audrey), Eric “Pogi” Sumangil (Orin), Kurt Kwan (Mushnik), Katie Bradley (Ronnette), Molly Pan (Crystal), and Suzie Juul (Chiffon).
Tickets range from $21 – $33, and are available at www.muperformingarts.org or via the Ritz Theater box office at 612-436-1129.
