Back To The Little Shop

[Kamit]

I recently heard through the grapevine that our local theatre is doing a production of Little Shop of Horrors this summer. I made a few inquires and managed to land myself the part of Twoey!

I'm so happy. I can wait to go "back to my roots" as it were One of my fondest memories from highschool was when we did LSOH in my final year (I was the puppeteer for Twoey in the production as well).

Anyways I was wondering if anyone else on this forum as fond memories of performing this most strange and unusual "Muppet cousin"?

 

[Jinx]

Memories of Twoey

Ah, yes, I have many fond memories of playing this role. I've done three productions of it. The first time, I remember losing 15 pounds during the run. The second time, I lost none.

I also remember doing it in a very intimate house (200 seats) and during "Feed me/Git It" I caught a glimpse through the mesh inside the puppet's mouth of a lady in the second row. She looked positively freaked that the plant was moving the way it did. So during the finale I made a point of snapping the jaws right at her at the end of the show. She later wrote the producer and told him what an unforgettable experience we had given her.

I remember working with a "voice" that just expected that I should follow him no matter what. When I explained the importance of working on the role as a team he balked at first. I had to miss one rehearsal, so he decided that he'd just jump in and puppeteer for an evening. When I returned, he had a whole new level of respect for what it takes to do it!

But perhaps the most amusing memory I have was doing a performance after a particularly harrowing day at work, followed by an hour-long drive to the theatre. Sitting still from "Somewhere That's Green" through "Mushnik and Son", I fell aleep onstage inside the plant! I woke up about 2 lines from the end of "Mushnik" and VERY quickly prepped the puppet for the next scene. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't woke up!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Where is this production taking place? Who is doing it? I'd love to see it if it's near Southern Ontario.

 

[Kamit]

Where is this production taking place? Who is doing it? I'd love to see it if it's near Southern Ontario.

That would be awesome! Manak Productions run of Little Shop is on from July 1st - 10th at the the Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ontario. We're about 3 hours from Toronto.


Poor Jinx, lol, I'm very glad you didn't stay asleep inside the plant either. And I can certainly sympathize. I don't think a night went by when I didn't lose all feeling in my hands from holding my arms still over my head for so long. Plus it gets awful hot inside that pod - I remember feeling sleepy a few times too. I would be so happy when "Feed Me / Git It" finally came along. Not only is it one of my favorite numbers but I was finally allowed to move, lol. I swear I got so many bangs, cuts, and bruises from that show - and I loved every second of it.

I also fondly recall the first time we let the actors practice getting "eaten". The boys did fine but Audrey got stuck halfway down the throat (due to a certain portion of her anatomy shall we say). Anyways she starts laughing, which doesn't make it any easier for her to get unstuck. The teacher kept calling at me to help her but I was laughing too hard to move either. Before you know it the whole plant is shaking up and down because of the two of us laughing.

 

[Jinx]

I think I would die if I had to hold my arms above me to hole the pod shut! Per the original instructions I cut small slits in the mouth linings to thread a small piece of rope between. I had it permanently tied to the hand-hold in the lower jaw then it went through the slits and tied onto the upper hand-hold. Towards the end of "Mushnik" I would gently press the mouth closed just a bit to give some slack in the rope. Then I'd untie the rope with my right hand, use my left thumb to pull all the rope inside the lower jaw, then slide it to one side to be out of my way. At least that way my arms weren't tired before the most vigorous exercise of the evening!

I also had different choreography for each person to be eaten. For Mushnik we did a tribute to Robert Shaw in "Jaws" by having him get chomped in a similar fashion. For Audrey I was actually standing hunched over the lift-bar and would open the pod with my back. Then when I closed the pod over Audrey she could reach up and use the lift bar to sort of do a horizontal "chin up", accompanied by an appropriate slurping sound from the voice. Just like a spaghetti noodle! Then for Seymour we had a spectacularly fast demise. I would stand as before with Audrey, and he would charge and dive head-first between my legs and out the back. The tricky part was for him to ditch the machete so that I could "spit" it out. In all, we ate Seymour with only two "chomps".

 

[Kamit]

Although we received the original instructions when we received all the play materials, and I did read the booklet, we didn't end up making our plant. We borrowed them from another school who had made them according to their own design.

So the medium sized plant was actually an oversized hand puppet. One of my arms went in each jaw.

The full sized plant actually had a rectangular steel "skeleton" in the back where I stayed. The pod was operated by working two large levers in the back. At first they were too heavy for me to use so we had to counter-weight them with sandbags. I would use my body weight to lift the entire pod by pulling down on both levers at once and then by alternatively lifting and lowering the two levers I made Twoey talk, eat, etc. So if you had pulled the "leaves" back during a performance you would have seen me basically hanging from this scaffolding, bouncing up and down as I worked these levers.

We were supposed to meet with the teacher who originally designed and built the plant we used but I never really got to. Which is too bad because rumour had it that, years before, he had taken a sabbatical from teaching to be an "extra" on Fraggle Rock!

 

[Blink]

That would be awesome! Manak Productions run of Little Shop is on from July 1st - 10th at the the Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ontario. We're about 3 hours from Toronto.

Hey Kamit,

I will try to see the show as well! My finace grew up in Kingston and we visit her parents up in Westport often throughout the summer.

I also saw information on The Grand Theatre's website about the buskers festival (essentially that admission is not a part of the festival). I've actually built a couple of puppets for two ventriloquist/buskers who perform in the festival. I meant to go last year but I ended up missing it.

See you in the summer.

- Blink