It has today been confirmed that the musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors will be receiving a new Australia-wide tour in 2016. This production is being produced by Luckiest Productions and Tinderbox Productions, who previously worked on the 2014 run of Sweet Charity.
Creative Director Dean Bryant will be joined by choreographer Andrew Hallsworth to bring Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s original book and score to life. They will also be joined by puppet-makers Erth to create a brand new Audrey II for the 21st century.
The Producers had this to say:
We are thrilled to reassemble our dynamic creative team from Sweet Charity for a brand new collaborative theatrical adventure. Audiences are going to be bowled over by the unique vision, our sensational cast, and our very own, never-before-seen ‘Audrey II.’ We’re very excited about taking this new production all around Australia.
Having worked on a range of productions including Once (Which earned him a Helpmann Award nomination), Jerry Girls, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Rock of Ages; Brent Hill will star as the unassuming, hapless flower shop working Seymour Krellborn. Alongside him is Ester Hannaford (Helpmann Award Winner for her role as Penny in Hairspray), who will be playing the object of Seymour’s affections, Audrey.
The opportunistic shop owner Mr Mushnik, will be played by Tyler Coppin while the role of the demon dentist and Audrey’s sadistic boyfriend is Scott Johnson. Angelique Cassimatis, Josie Lane and Chloe Zuel play the three Supreme-esque streetwise urchins while Dash Kruck and Kuki Tipoki complete the ensemble cast.
Other creative team members include Andrew Worboys as musical director, Owen Phillips as set designer and Tim Chappel as costume designer and Ross Graham as lighting designer.
There are currently planned to be five legs of Little Shop of Horrors in Australia, with the show set to begin at Hayes Theatre Co in Sydney starting February 18 2015. This season will be followed by legs in Adelaide (Her Majesty’s Theatre – April 20th 2016), Melbourne (Comedy Theatre – May 4th 2016), Canberra (Canberra Theatre – May 25th 2016) and finally Brisbane (Playhouse Theatre QPAC – June 1st 2016).
Synopsis of Little Shop of Horrors
When meek, down-and-out floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new plant species that he names ‘Audrey II’ after his co-worker crush, it seems like a serendipitous ticket to fame and fortune. But as Audrey II grows and grows – into a foul-mouthed, smooth-talking, R&B-singing carnivore – Seymour discovers that feeding his ambition starts to require juicier and less justifiable ingredients. Before he knows it, our accidental hero Seymour and the gutsy but guileless Audrey must battle the perilous and persuasive plant – not just for their lives, but for the very future of planet earth!
