To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s Little Shop of Horrors, cast members from the current Off-Broadway revival at the Westside Theatre took part in a Tiny Desk concert for NPR.
Watch the video above and hear the company perform "Skid Row (Downtown)," "Feed Me (Git It!)," "Somewhere That's Green," "Dentist!," and "Suddenly Seymour."
Narrated by composer Menken, the performance features Conrad Ricamora, Tammy Blanchard, Christian Borle, Aaron Arnell Harrington, Stuart Zagnit, Tatiana Lofton, Cristina Raé, and Khadija Sankoh with Menken and Will Van Dyke on piano, Dena Tauriello on drums, Nate Brown on guitar, and Mark Verdino on bass.
READ: Little Shop of Horrors Postpones 40th Anniversary Block Party
The Tiny Desk concert has video by Philip Atlas, Harry McFann, and Kayhl Cooper; audio by Frank Wolf, Ben Fusel, and Spencer Dennis; musical direction, orchestrations, and arrangements by Van Dyke; staging by Michael Mayer and Austin Regan; production services by Vivacity Media Group, and video production by SpotCo.
The Off-Broadway revival resumed its run September 21, 2021, after temporarily closing in March 2020 due to the pandemic.
The revival, directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer, opened in October 2019. The creative team for the Ashman-Menken musical also includes choreographer Ellenore Scott, scenic designer Julian Crouch, lighting designer Bradley King, costume designer Tom Broecker, sound designer Jessica Paz, puppet designer Nicholas Mahon, original puppet designer Martin P. Robinson, hair and makeup designer Tommy Kurzman, music supervisor, orchestrator, and arranger Will Van Dyke, and casting director Jim Carnahan. Puppets are by Monkey Boys Productions.
General management is by Live Wire Theatrical/Chris Aniello, and production stage management is by Ryan Gohsman. Tom Kirdahy, Robert Ahrens, and Hunter Arnold produce the revival.
Little Shop of Horrors is based on the 1960 cult movie of the same name. The musical version debuted Off-Broadway at WPA Theatre in 1982 (subsequently transferring to the Orpheum) starring Lee Wilkoff and Ellen Greene in a role that would become her signature. A Broadway production was mounted in 2003 co-starring Hunter Foster and Kerry Butler.
