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Schools

A Show to Sink Your Teeth Into

St. Louis Park Senior High Presents "Little Shop of Horrors"

Halloween has come and gone, but the thespians at have one more spooky treat for the season. This year’s fall production is “Little Shop of Horrors.”

A rock musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, “Little Shop of Horrors” follows unlucky flower shop worker Seymour and his trials and tribulations with a bloodthirsty plant called Audrey II (after his true love and coworker Audrey). The musical is based on the cult classic 1960 Roger Corman film of nearly the same name: “The Little Shop of Horrors” and features familiar songs like “Suddenly, Seymour.”   

Quirky and dark, “Little Shop of Horrors” might not seem a likely selection for a senior high fall musical, but director Jodi Hatzenbeller said it’s actually become a popular choice for high school theaters. In fact, she added, there are several productions currently popping up in high schools around the metro area, such as Anoka and Hutchinson.  

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“It's a show I've been wanting to produce for years,” Hatzenbeller said. “I'm drawn to its darkly comical Faustian theme, its memorable music, and the challenge of bringing to life an otherworldly man-eating plant.” 

The students in the production, many of whom were unfamiliar with the musical, were attracted to it for a variety of reasons. Noa Raasch, a freshman member of the cast, said her favorite part is the gore. For others, like Jackson Raynor, a junior, it’s the distinctive music, or, like Emily Melbye, a freshman, it’s “the whole setting–the whole mid-60s theme.” 

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If not for the setting, score or gore, perhaps you’ll want to check out this production for the larger than life plant puppets. The puppets were rented from the theater company River Bottom Productions in Jordan, Minnesota, and they’re as strange and interesting as this musical demands.

The production opens Thursday, November 11 and runs for two weekends. 

If You Go:

What: Little Shop of Horrors

When: 7:30 PM, November 11, 12, 18 and 19; 2:30 PM, November 13 and 20

Where: St. Louis Park Senior High 

Cost: Adults, $10; Students and Seniors, $7 

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