Marty Robinson: Consuming Passion

[Phillip]

Here's a little article on Marty Robinson and Little Shop...

Consuming Passion

Martin Robinson, who helped bring a man-eating plant to life in 'Little Shop of Horrors,' continues to wrestle with this beast

Martin Robinson has yet to have a Venus' flytrap thrive in his own greenhouse.

On the other hand, he has devoted more than 20 years to perfecting another ''hungry'' plant, the man-eating Audrey II of Little Shop of Horrors.

He speaks of the 20-foot puppet in terms of ''she'' and ''her,'' of beauty, grace, subtlety and intrigue. He speaks of Audrey II as a ''lifelong project of love.''

''You know how there are some things that come along that you can't imagine how life would have been different without them?'' he said. ''That's how it is. My life, without Little Shop, would have been totally different. I can't even imagine charting the course that would have been.''

He says this even as he adjusts Audrey II once again. The musical, which comes to TPAC Jan. 25-30, is the story of a Skid Row florist who makes a pact with the plant to win over a girl (the first Audrey). The plant starts out small, but as her demands grow — including her need for human blood — she becomes a towering, menacing creature that threatens to take over the world.

Oddly enough, the plant puppet itself was on its way to doing the same. While on Broadway, Audrey II (in what Robinson calls her full-grown ''big girl'' state in the second act) was a ton and a half of steel and hydraulics, with a ''pod'' the size of a Mini Cooper for the puppeteers. But when the production hit the road last August, and adjustments had to be made for remote control, the ''insane mechanics of it all'' turned the plant into a Frankensteinian monster weighing in at no less than five tons. And the extra load-in time for installing her in various theaters was eating up the profits.

''So here we are, switching out plants mid-tour,'' Robinson said. ''We've gone back and adapted the Broadway plant, which was sitting nicely in storage. And she's still a beautiful thing.''

Robinson, a puppeteer with the Jim Henson Workshop, admits he developed his artistic instincts early with the idea that ''Halloween was too good to do only one day a year.'' Being shy, he found ways of creating creatures that could take the spotlight for him. Later, he would graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and win Emmys for his performances as Snuffle-upagus, Telly Monster, Slimey the Worm and the ''Yip-Yip'' Martians of Sesame Street.

No wonder, then, that back in the early 1980s, he was one of several puppeteers called to work on the original off-Broadway Little Shop of Horrors. He was, however, the only one who didn't run when asked to build a puppet that could talk, sing, act, grow and even eat cast members.

Before the show began touring, he played Audrey II himself, likening the experience to ''dancing with 300 pounds of mass and inertia'' with the help of other puppeteers. Other builders got involved in the process, as well, and the Broadway ''big girl'' involved a universal joint and counterbalance system that allowed her to reach out over the audience, becoming ''the beautiful creature of fluidity that she has become.''

Her most recent incarnation, however, is more vertical than horizontal, so she can better fit in smaller theaters.

Regardless of her shape, Robinson said, Audrey II still has to come across as a main character in the play, not just a prop.

''She is, truly, a member of the cast, driving all the action,'' he said. ''You have to feel for her. You have to know where she's coming from, and if she just comes across as a big, floppy piece of machinery, people aren't going to buy it.''

Instead, he said, she comes across as strikingly female.

''Is there anything that symbolizes femininity more than a flower?'' he asked. ''The beauty, the seductiveness, the urge to procreate, all these things are very strong aspects of her.''

Beguiling, indeed. So much so that her creation actually inspired Robinson to fall for real exotic plants, as well. His greenhouse in Connecticut is ''filled with loud, crazy tropical plants,'' he said, plants that both challenge him and remind him of people and places he's been.

None, however, is quite the same as Audrey II.

And surely, with her enthralling goal of taking over the world, that's just the way the ''big girl'' likes it.

http://tennessean.com/entertainment/arts/archives/05/01/64374003.shtml?Element_ID=64374003

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Nice article. Like hearing more background on the play and the people in it.