Farmington Players Open 'Little Shop' April 27

April 6, 2012

Amy Poirier (Farmington Hills) as Ronnette, Allison Boufford (Northville Township) as Chiffon, Katie Aumann (Royal Oak) as Crystal in the Farmington Players' show 'Little Shop of Horrors,' opening April 27. Jason Wilhoite (Commerce Townshp) as Seymour sits in the chair with Tim Timmer (Wayne) as Dentist. Anne Craft

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Amy Poirier (Farmington Hills) as Ronnette, Allison Boufford (Northville Township) as Chiffon, Katie Aumann (Royal Oak) as Crystal in the Farmington Players' show 'Little Shop of Horrors,' opening April 27. Jason Wilhoite (Commerce Townshp) as Seymour sits in the chair with Tim Timmer (Wayne) as Dentist.

Credit Anne Craft

Taylor Alfano (Livonia) as Audrey, Jason Wilhoite (Commerce Township) as Seymour in the Farmington Players' show 'Little Shop of Horrors,' opening April 27.

Credit Anne Craft

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The Farmington Players stage now resembles a Little Shop of Horrors, as one of the longest-running off-Broadway shows in history comes to the Barn Theatre in Farmington Hills (32332 W. 12 Mile Rd., Farmington Hills) April 27-May 19.

The story focuses on the down and out denizens of Skid Row. Seymour the naive floral assistant discovers an exotic plant (Audrey II) that sprouts like Jack’s Beanstalk and offers Mushnick, the hapless flower shop owner, the magic of its "Midas touch." But the plant can only thrive if Seymour quenches its thirst for blood.

Can the timid "schmuck" with a green thumb master the man-eater before it munches on everyone he knows?

Little Shop opened off-Broadway in 1982, and eventually racked up more than 2,000 performances. It hit the big screen in 1986 with Steve Martin as the psycho dentist and Rick Moranis as Seymour. But Little Shop is actually based on a Roger Corman black comedy from 1960, a spoof of old sci-fi films, with Jack Nicholson playing a masochistic dentist in one of his first films.

Director Rachael Rose of Waterford Township doubles as Music Director for the show. Rose says her goal is to "bring back the creepy from the original movie into the campy of the musical."

Jason Wilhoite of Commerce Township, lends his captivating voice to the nebbish Seymour, desperately in love with his co-worker Audrey (Taylor Alfano of Livonia). Wilhoite starred last season at the Barn as "Leo Bloom" in The Producers. In Little Shop, he performs his third comic duet with Barry Cutler of Ferndale (Mushnick), as the pair tango their way through "Mushnick & Son."

But the star that may just steal the stage is Audrey II, morphing from a "strange and interesting" piece of greenery to the money-making Monster. The puppeteer Michael Rose of Waterford Township and the Voice Jarrod Henderson of Farmington Hills, team up to bring to life the saucy soul-singing beast from space, with hilarious show-stopping numbers "Feed Me (Git It)" and "Suppertime."

Tickets for Little Shop Of Horrors sponsored by Tarnow Doors are available now at farmingtonplayers.org or at the box office (call 248-553-2955).

The show runs Thursdays through Sundays April 27-May 19, with the show beginning at 8 p.m. every night besides Sunday. Sunday shows begin at 2 p.m.

Adults: $18
Students: $2 off any performance
Senior Sunday: April 29 is sold out
Thrifty Thursday: $2 off ONLY on May 3 and May 17
Group Discounts: $2 off any show with a group of ten or more people.

john smith

8:19 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012

"with Jack Nicholson playing a masochistic dentist in one of his first films."

Nicholson played the masochistic dental patient Wilbur Force, not the actual dentist Dr. Farb played by John Shaner. These roles were later played in the 1986 version by Bill Murray, as the patient renamed Arthur Denton and Steve Martin as the dentist renamed Orin Scrivello.

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