The upcoming one-night-only benefit concert performance of Little Shop of Horrors has picked up a new star. Tony winner Alex Newell will take on the role of Audrey, opposite the previously announced Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island) and Shea Couleé (RuPaul's Drag Race).
The performance is set for January 17, 2025, at Los Angeles nightclub Catch One. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Ali Forney Center and their work to support and provide shelter to homeless LGBTQIA+ youth. Zhailon Levingston (Cats: "The Jellicle Ball:") will direct.
Booster and Couleé will be reprising their performances from a 2006 production at Illinois community theatre Only A Stage, with Booster playing Seymour and Couleé playing Audrey II. Further casting, by RBT Casting's Ryan Bernard Tymensky, is to be announced. The production is assembling an all-queer company.
George Strus (Breaking the Binary) is producing via their Benson Drive Productions, in association with Carson Gleberman. Producer Hub is serving as a fiscal sponsor. The concert is being presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International.
With a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, Little Shop of Horrors turns the 1960 B horror film of the same name into a cult stage musical favorite, centering on a man-eating plant from outer space and the nebbishy florist who finds her and becomes her pathway to world domination. The original production opened Off-Broadway in 1982 and quickly became a huge hit, making the jump to the silver screen in 1987 with original leading lady Ellen Greene reprising her performance as Audrey. The musical played a Broadway run in 2003, and is currently in the sixth year of an Off-Broadway revival at the Westside Theatre.
Tickets for the upcoming concert are available at BensonDriveProds.com.