The Orchestral Standard

Episode 1: Little Shop of Horrors (1982, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman)

Warning: The Orchestral Standard contains plot spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

Success seemed to have been a long time coming for composer Alan Menken by the time that "Little Shop of Horrors" hit off-Broadway in the summer of 1982. The New York City native had been involved with several different failed projects since he had graduated from NYU, and his most notable credit to date had been songwriting for "Sesame Street." The winds of change began to blow when the thirty-two year old composer met Howard Ashman, an enthusiastic playwright and lyricist, and the two of them collaborated on the off-Broadway musical "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." Even then, despite positive critical reviews, the production was short lived, with the cast of fourteen actors deemed too large for the more intimate off-Broadway crowd and budget. As a result, the two set out to write their next show for fewer performers. The resulting musical was "Little Shop of Horrors," a musical comedy based upon a 1960s Rodger Corman B-movie of the same name. The production only required a cast of nine, including a puppeteer and was produced by Cameron Mackintosh, who had struck gold the previous year with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "Cats," and David Geffen, a multi-talented businessman responsible for Geffen Records (which has produced many of the albums that will be covered at The Orchestral Standard) and co-founder of DreamWorks. Reviews for "Little Shop" were positive and the show would break off-Broadway box office records, run for five years and spawn a splashy Hollywood film adaptation (as well as a hideous early 90s saturday morning cartoon). Yes, things were finally looking up Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Little did they know that this was only the beginning of their fantastic journey together.

"Little Shop of Horrors" takes place in an urban skid row in the 1960s and both Menken’s music and Ashman’s lyrics reflect the setting and time period. Menken, who was the son of a boogie-woogie piano playing dentist seems more than qualified to handle the setting. His score is littered with the descending bass-lines, chord progressions and melodic riffs which characterized the era. Ashman, in turn, creates a stylized fantasy/fairy-tale version of the 60s in his book and lyrics, with many cultural references and slang unique to the era. The main characters are most of the time played sincerely despite the incredibly crazy situations which are thrust upon them throughout the course of the main plot. Much of the humor comes from the innocence vs the vulgarity of the era, not unlike the much later, though not too dissimilarly styled musical ":Hairspray." Both of these musicals have incredibly dramatic concepts hidden behind fantastical plot points and an infectious score.

The musical opens with thundering timpani, crashing cymbals and a voice, not unlike God’s, warning the audience of a deadly threat to humanity which surfaces in an unlikely place. The number which follows is the title song "Little Shop of Horrors", sung by a trio of street urchins. The trio acts as a sort of greek chorus, operating both inside the story and out with a knowledge of what is to come and the ability to interact and influence the characters. Singing in glorious three-part harmony, the trio shines as both the main focus and the back up for many of the musical numbers. The following song, "Skid-Row" (Downtown), an angst driven powerhouse of a cast number describes to us the plight of our two main characters, Seymour and Audrey. Seymour is an awkward young man who works in a floral shop (the titular little shop) with practically no life and no friends and Audrey is his ditzy blonde co-worker with a dreadful habit of dating abusive men. They each get their own little solos describing their woes while the rest of the cast (including both the voice of the puppet and the puppeteer of the plant in their only fully onstage appearances) sing in minor harmonies of the struggles of living in skid row. This number, the first of a line of truly great opening cast numbers from Menken, perfectly illustrates, with style and efficiency, the emotions of our main characters.

The following numbers, "Da-Doo" and "Grow For Me" are thematically connected. The former is a mostly spoken number by Seymour who is describing the circumstances of which he came into possession of the Audrey II plant, named after Audrey whom he has feelings for. The Audrey II is a mysterious venus fly trap looking creature. "Da-Doo" while efficient in moving the plot along is rendered mostly redundant by "Grow For Me." This solo for Seymour, this time singing and his only solo number of the show, reprises all the thematic material presented in "Da-Doo." He sings about what a pain Audrey II has been to care for and in the end he ultimately discovers that the only thing that will make it grow is human blood. The most doo-wop sounding of the bunch, "Grow For Me" is comical and brief and marks the beginning of Audrey II’s hold on Seymour.

"Ya Never Know" is a mildly calypso-flavored number featuring the trio and Seymour, describing his rise to fame as everyone seems to be entranced by the discovery of Audrey II. Each one of the trio gets to shine in their individual solos. This is all good fun, but just before it seems the show has become too much fun we get the lovely "Somewhere That’s Green," a solo for Audrey. In the opening phrases she reveals that she may have feelings for Seymour after all. Following this, the song proper, a precursor to "The Little Mermaid’s" "Part of Your World," describes the life that Audrey imagines she and Seymour could have. "Somewhere That’s Green" is everything that you could expect of a musical theater ballad. It appropriately rises and falls in emotion with an uplifting bridge section leading into a musical climax, after which Audrey pulls back the volume and ends the song in almost a whisper. This is a formula that Menken would return to again and again - nearly to a fault in his later musicals. However, here in a musical which is partly poking fun of musical theater itself, the cliche is almost welcome. The melody is indeed infectious rivaled only by the later duet between Audrey and Seymour in its belting, spine tingling power.

"Closed For Renovation" sounds like it belongs somewhere between "Snow White" and "Cinderella," a jumpy, cheery march which has Seymour, Audrey and their boss, Mr. Mushnik singing together with saccharine charm. Now we meet Orin, Audrey’s abusive dentist boyfriend in the maniacal "Dentist." In the style of "The Leader of the Pack" (or plaque) as if it were sung by Elvis, Ashman’s lyrical creativity and comedic timing really shine here. "Mushnik and Son," on the other hand, sounds like it would be more at home in "Fiddler on the Roof" than in "Little Shop of Horrors." It comes at a point where to secure his financial future the boss Mr. Mushnik decides to adopt Seymour as his own son to bank on his success. This yiddish dance is comical, over the top, and is perhaps the craziest that the show gets.

By this point the plant, Audrey II, has grown to human size and we get "Feed Me," a definite highlight of the score. It opens with Seymour reprising the opening melody from "Somewhere Thats Green," reflecting upon this new life given to him by the plant. Just as he’s about to leave the shop for the day, the plant talks to Seymour saying “Feed Me!”. It is now revealed that Audrey II is a foul-mouthed blues-singing plant with a hunger for human flesh. "Feed Me" has an almost funk vibe to it at times, before yielding back to the more jazz influenced 60s styles when Seymour gets his “I don’t know” solo. As the plant tries to convince Seymour to kill someone to whet his appetite we see Orin slap Audrey because she forgot her sweater. This is just the push that Seymour needs to go out and murder Orin. The harmonies between Seymour and the plant during this sequence add an extra layer of urgency in the music and increases in intensity before the song screeches to a halt.

"Now (It’s Just the Gas)" takes its inspiration from a different type of 60s music: science fiction television scores. It narrates Seymour’s internal struggle between him killing Orin, feeding the plant and getting the girl - and sparing his life. The music under Seymour’s lines is like propulsive action music and the music under Orin’s lines is like creepy alien invasion music. It’s very 60s film score, like something out of Star Trek or the Twilight Zone. Quite an interesting composition from Menken. The complexity of Ashman’s lyrics makes it difficult to understand exactly what the characters are saying, which is not a bad thing, but unfortunate in that some of the brilliance of the lyrics is lost in translation. Eventually, Orin, who has been inhaling laughing gas through a mask, dies of asphyxiation and Seymour did not have to directly kill him. So he chops the dentist up and feeds him to the plant. The "Act I Finale" takes place during this scene. It reprises the title song in a slower tempo with creepy sci-fi organ music underneath. A very weak act closer, seeing your hero run away in fear and no singing to finish off your act doesn’t exactly get the audience to their feet. It’s really too bad, considering the strength of the music in this act thus far. If there is an instance where Menken and Ashman falter in this musical, it’s here.

Act II opens with "Call Back in the Morning," a quirky little tune which plays as Seymour and Audrey answer the phones of the now very busy floral shop. The two character’s lines pitter patter over each other and in the middle of all this we get a wonderful call back to "Mushnik and Son," the refrain from that number cleverly inverted to a major key. After this we find out that Audrey has been saddened by Orin’s death and Seymour consoles her in "Suddenly Seymour." In this fantastic duet between Seymour and Audrey we get a little bit more about Audrey’s backstory and as the two of them realize that they are in love the trio enters for a rousing climax. It’s a sweet moment in the show and now, for the first time in the show, Seymour really has something to lose.

Seymour and Audrey are interrupted by Mushnik, who sees them kissing. Audrey leaves for the day and Mushnik confronts Seymour on the disappearance of Orin. When Seymour realizes that Mushnik knows what he has done, he lures Mushnik over to the plant, now twice as big as before, and the plant devours the florist. The sinister "Suppertime" accompanies this scene, with the blues side of Audrey II’s voice really shining through. The piano ostinato used here gives a sense of urgency and rising tension in just a few notes and is present through almost the entire piece.

This leads directly into "The Meek Shall Inherit," an incredibly underrated piece of work in the Menken songbook, all to often overlooked by fans of his work. This piece, as opposed to the rest of the numbers in the show, is uniquely musical theater. Most of the other songs you could do in the popular music of the time, but this - along with "Now (It’s Just the Gas)" could only be done in musical theater. After committing murder, Seymour now further dilutes his character by selling himself (and the plant) out to large corporations. Each of the three businessmen (and one woman) are all played by the same actor who played Orin, a stroke of budget saving and comical genius by the writers. In between the verses is the half-time rock refrain sung by the trio, who are trying to convince Seymour that signing his life away to the businessmen is a good idea. The verses and the refrain of this number are so different - the verses sounding like something out of the darker portions of "Les Miserables," and the refrain with its 60s rock. Seymour’s solo at the end of the number introduces yet another theme, this one a resolute march as he fights with himself before coming to the conclusion that he should kill the plant. The march stops right in it’s tracks as he thinks to himself “but then there’s Audrey”, introducing one more new section, this one downright depressing. Seymour makes the final decision to sign contracts with the businessmen and the number receives on final refrain. Not only is this a spectacular piece of music, but it is also a wonderful example of the fusion of music and narrative that really only musical theater can deliver.

"Sominex" is a short number that Audrey sings as she returns to the floral shop. She is interrupted by Audrey II, revealing himself to her. The "Suppertime" ostinato returns as the plant convinces Audrey to water him. As she goes over to do so the plant begins to devour her. Seymour rescues her just in time, but also just a little bit too late. She is now mortally wounded. In a bittersweet reprise of "Somewhere That’s Green," Audrey convinces Seymour to feed her to the plant, so that in a strange way they will always be together. Seymour does so, and the cast and orchestra respond with an agitated reprise of "Downtown," complete with oohs and ahhs, the works. Audrey’s death scene makes wonderful callbacks to the rest of the show and is a powerful send off to the character, so powerful that the image of Seymour holding the dead Audrey in his arms forms the cover art of the Original Cast Album.

In anger and despair over losing Audrey, Seymour decides to kill the plant. This battle scene as heard in "Bigger Than Hoola-Hoops" references the thematic material from "Da-Doo" and "Grow For Me," bringing the Seymour/Audrey II relationship to full circle. Seymour, finding all other methods of killing ineffective, resolves to chop up Audrey II from the inside. Menken brings back Seymour’s music from "Downtown" as he dives into the plant’s mouth. Audrey II chews him up and kills him as well.

Following this is a sort of epilogue, sung by the trio in "Finale Ultimo" (or Don’t Feed the Plants). The Finale describes what happens to the human race after the events of the play. The plants take over various cities across America and the trio warns the audience that there is still a chance to save humanity as long as we all don’t feed the plants. The song starts out as a funeral dirge before accelerating into an uptempo rock tune. All the diseased come back in plant form here for a final curtain call and a final warning. As the number comes to a close Seymour and Audrey cry out “We’ll Have Tomorrow” and the curtain falls.

What really works about Little Shop of Horrors is the world that it operates in, created by Menken and Ashman. Musically it is diverse, though rooted in 1960s culture. While many of the melodies share similarities with future Menken projects, there are also numbers with qualities unique to a young and experimental Alan Menken. The musical's climax and resolution, with its thematic callbacks filmic compositions proves Menken not only as a songwriter, but as a storyteller. Ashman’s contribution, however, cannot be discounted. It is his characterization of the era and of the characters that really pulls you in. As I’ve said before, it’s almost a fairytale world that the characters live in and they go through many of the same things that the characters of classical fables and fairy tales go through. The introduction of a magical influence to enable a character to get the girl is something that has been explored in literature for hundreds of years. It’s also a bit of a cautionary tale, a sort of “be careful what you wish for” type story.

I believe that while, yes, this musical very much does take place in the 1960s, it is timeless. This science fiction story from a bad Rodger Corman movie about a guy, the girl he likes, and a man eating plant is still relevant today, it still resonates with audiences today, it is still one of the most performed musicals by community and school theater programs. Why? Because in the end the message of "Little Shop of Horrors" is that, yes, life sucks, we all go through our own struggles, our own trials and tribulations, but despite all that we can find happiness. Seymour and Audrey, despite having terrible lives find happiness in each other and they did NOT need the plant for that. Audrey loved Seymour before anything with the plant happened. In the end, Seymour did not have to be famous and have multi-million dollar contracts for her to love him, she loved him for who he was - a sweet little guy. That’s all he needed to be. And I think people today, especially young adults, need to realize that when it comes down to it, all this other stuff - money, social status, talent and fame - that’s not what will really make you happy and make people like you. All you have to do is be yourself. It can be your insecurities that make you think you need all of that and your insecurities is like your very own Audrey II. Seymour’s downfall is that he fed the Audrey II, he fed his plant so that he could have fame and fortune to make Audrey like him and that’s what got both of them killed. It is this sort of basic morality, this basic message that makes Little Shop of Horrors so relevant to this day.

The Original Cast of Little Shop of Horrors is preserved in a 1982 cast album featuring Lee Wilkof as Seymour, Ellen Greene as Audrey, Hy Anzel as Mr. Mushnik, Frank Luz as Orin and Ron Taylor as Audrey II. This forty-three minute presentation presents the musical numbers in a slightly different order than in the show and makes cuts to "Mushnik and Son," "Now (It’s Just the Gas)," "The Meek Shall Inherit" and "Bigger Than Hoola-Hoops" while completely cutting out "Call Back in the Morning" and "Somewhere That’s Green (Reprise)." Lee Wilkof’s Seymour is played a little more straight than in later incarnations of the character. His voice does do justice to the musical material, however his pitch is less than perfect and the man has little to no vibrato. None of this really becomes a problem until his is paired with another, more competent singer in harmony. Ellen Greene (a convenient last name) on the other hand plays Audrey as an almost over the top sort of Marilyn Monroe impression. It works for the character, the ditzy platinum blonde, and this is defiantly her most well known role, but it does inhibit some of her ability to sing in this version. She can sing those top notes very well, but when she’s in her character voice the notes never really shine through and she most curiously chickens out of her high note in "Downtown" (a mistake later rectified in the movie soundtrack). Hy Anzel as Mushnik is rather bland, but not offensive. Frank Luz’s Orin is a bit more sinister than comedic, though he truly embodies the Elvis side of the character. The Trio sings as well as expected, however it seems that everyone involved in this recording is bored with their material. Many lines are sung with no enthusiasm and utter disinterest. That coupled with a very wet mix (seriously, the voices echo for three seconds) and a very cheap sounding synth orchestra makes this original recording hard to recommend. It’s mildly enjoyable and easy to see the potential, but just not all there. The album was produced in 1982 by Geffen Records.

In 1986, producer David Geffen helped bring "Little Shop of Horrors" to the big screen. Initially to be directed by Steven Spielberg, but eventually directed by Frank Oz, this film is fairly faithful to the stage version of the show, with some slight alterations. Starring Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Green reprising her role as Audrey, Vincent Gardina as Mr. Mushnik, Steve Martin as Orin and Levi Stubbs as Audrey II, the film’s soundtrack features a beefed up synth orchestra and some additional material. Firstly the opening title song receives an extra verse and a bridge, a welcome addition. "You Never Know" is replaced with the even more calypso sounding "Some Fun Now," which retains the main thematic material from the original number, augmented with a re-written refrain. Audrey II receives an all new musical number, "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space," sung at the very end of the film before Seymour is eaten by him. This new number feels right at home with the surrounding material, fits with the character and is quite catchy. The rap section in the middle is hilarious and well worth the one-cent plus shipping price of the CD on the used market. Levi Stubbs brings a bit more of a gritty, gravelly feeling to Audrey II. It feels much more authentic to that early Motown sound than the original. Greene’s return to the role of Audrey is vindicated by the fact that she gives a much stronger vocal performance, far more worthy of the presented material. Her performance here guaranteed that her name would forever be tied with this role. Rick Moranis’ Seymour certainly emotes quite a bit more than Lee Wilkof’s. While his singing isn’t much better, his reading of the lines actually kind of sounds like some of the popular singers from the 60s. When he’s paired with Levi Stubbs it really is gold. Steve Martin’s role as Orin is truncated quite a bit with the removal of "Now (It’s Just the Gas)" though I would say that his performance is just as iconic here as Ellen Greene’s. All of Mr. Mushnik’s material was deleted in the film. Though the material removed from the film dwarfs the material added it is an extremely enjoyable experience. Ashman provided some slightly different lyrics to the existing songs and the film’s score composer, Miles Goodman, provided an actual orchestral accompaniment to the song Downtown (though the rest of the songs are still synthesized). The thirty-nine minute album reflects the original version of the film with the stage ending of the film intact. Poor audience reaction to the death of Audrey and Seymour prompted the studio to order a new ending in which Audrey II is electrocuted and Audrey and Seymour survive. A different reprise of "Somewhere That’s Green" was written for this version of the film and is not included here. This album was also produced by Geffen Records.

In 2003 "Little Shop of Horrors" hit an actual Broadway stage for the first time in it’s history, starring Hunter Foster as Seymour, Kerry Butler as Audrey, Rob Bartlett as Mr. Mushnik, Douglass Sills as Orin and Michael-Leon Wooley as Audrey II. Hunter Foster’s Seymour takes the straight man approach of Wilkof’s interpretation and combines it with his much more powerful and well trained vocals. He performs the role with utter enthusiasm and sincerity and that’s how it should be played. His performance in "The Meek Shall Inherit" gives the piece enough dramatic weight to compete with any of the famous soliloquies from "Les Miserables." Kerry Butler’s Audrey is a departure from the airy sort of performance provided by Greene. She plays the character like a Disney princess with a Brooklyn accent which is oddly appropriate as this is simply a fairy tale told in 1960s suburbia. Her voice has a clear and clean quality, rightly staying away from the stylized, nasal quality of her character from "Hairspray" (which she appeared in the previous year). Her voice is simply adorable in lighter songs like "Closed For Renovation" and utterly heartbreaking in "Downtown" and "Somewhere That’s Green." While not the “definitive” Audrey, she is still utterly delightful in the role and my personal favorite Audrey. Rob Bartlett’s Mr. Mushnik is so close in vocal quality to Hy Anzel in the original cast, it’s kind of creepy. He’s slightly more involved than his predecessor but still quite reserved in delivery, save a few moments in "Mushnik and Son." Douglass Sills’ Orin drops the Elvis impression and is done a quite a bit more cartoony. He’s got too much of a tenor timbre to be that menacing, so he comes off insane rather than cruel and sadistic. Michael-Leon Wooley takes Levi Stubbs’ performance as Audrey II and takes it down just a few notches. Vocally he’s perfection, it’s his inflections that have been a little bit more refined. His voice has a bass range that makes his dialogue sound all the more eerily entrancing. The Trio’s role in this production was expanded; the film version of the title song was retained, the only thing kept from the film, and they sing quite a bit more backup in the existing material, most notably in "Feed Me (Get it)." Also added was a radio jingle for the interview before "You Never Know" and an "Entr’acte" (featuring a really cookin’ tenor sax solo), courtesy of Alan Menken. Since the original production was a bit more intimate for both artistic and budgetary reasons the orchestras for "Little Shop" has always been synths. Here, for the first time in this beefed up Broadway production, "Little Shop" gets a live fifteen-piece orchestra, complete with trumpets, saxes, other various woodwinds, and an extra percussionist (at last! An actual timpani roll in the beginning.) These new orchestrations were done by Danny Troob, who would work with Menken on many of his later film and stage scores. Also included in this recording are some demos featuring Menken and Ashman of deleted songs. Most interesting is "We’ll Have Tomorrow," a deleted duet between Seymour and Audrey which is where the “We’ll Have Tomorrow” segment at the end of "Don’t Feed the Plants" came from. This cast recording was released by the DRG label.

I would say that if you were to pick just one "Little Shop of Horrors" to listen to, the 2003 Broadway Cast Recording would be your best bet. It features the most complete representation of the score to date and is most consistent in the quality of its vocal and orchestral performances. Foster and Butler have remarkable chemistry together and Wooly’s Audrey II is most enjoyable. However, due to the cultural impact that the film version of this musical with a superior performance from Ellen Greene here than in the original recording, if you can get your hands on both recordings you will have all the "Little Shop" you could possibly need. The original cast recording, despite its historical significance, just isn’t worth the listen when there are more complete, better recordings out there. Still, should you get your hands on a copy (all of these albums are readily available on the used CD market for under a dollar) you’ll have a mildly entertaining waste of an hour.

So, in whatever way that you choose to enjoy it - on album, in film or on the stage, "Little Shop of Horrors" is an excellent piece of musical theater, a testament to the creativity of its young creators. There’s no doubt that it was the quality of this work that caught the attention of Walt Disney Animation Studios and "Little Shop," while not one of the Menken/Disney mega-musical spectacles, stands tall with the best of them. Does "Little Shop of Horrors" meet the Orchestral Standard? Yes, most definitely yes. This first outing with Menken and Ashman proved successful, but again, this was just the beginning. Yes, things were finally looking up for Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.

Music as heard on:
The Original 1982 Cast Recording *** NOT RECOMMEND

The Original 1986 Motion Picture Soundtrack **** RECOMMEND

The Original 2003 Broadway Revival Cast Recording ****1/2 RECOMMEND

The Perfect Collection so far?

Little Shop of Horrors (1986 - Menken/Ashman)

Little Shop of Horrors (2003 - Menken/Ashman)