Paper Mill's Little Shop of Horrors, with Fellner and Gertner, Begins June 4

By Andrew Gans
04 Jun 2008

Jenny Fellner
Jenny Fellner

The Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's Little Shop of Horrors begins performances at the New Jersey theatre June 4.

Directed by Mark Waldrop, Little Shop will officially open June 8 and play a limited engagement through July 6.

The cast features Jared Gertner (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as Seymour and Jenny Fellner (Sophie in Mamma Mia!) as Audrey with Stephen Berger (Mushnik), Darin DePaul, Badia Farha (Crystal), Montego Glover (Chiffon), Angela Grovey (Ronnette), Stacey Harris, Michael Latini, Michael James Leslie (Voice of Audrey 2), Asa Somers (Orin) and Tally Sessions.

The creative team also includes Vince Pesce (choreographer), Bruce Coyle (musical direction), Adam Koch (scenic coordination), Matthew Hemesath (costume design), Ben Stanton (lighting design), Randy Hansen (sound design) and Charles LaPointe (hair and wig design). Production stage manager is Brian Meister.

"Seymour is just a down-and-out clerk in a downtown flower shop," read Little Shop press notes, "but things start to look up when he discovers an unusual plant...with an even more unusual appetite."

The original production of Little Shop of Horrors — starring Ellen Greene and Lee Wilkof — opened at the old WPA Theatre in Chelsea and then transferred to the Orpheum Theatre in 1982, where it stayed for 2,209 performances. Ashman, who died on March 14, 1991, directed the piece. Edie Cowan was choreographer. The musical, which boasts such tunes as "Suddenly Seymour," "Downtown" and "Somewhere That's Green," was made into a 1986 film starring Greene as Audrey, Rick Moranis as Seymour, Vincent Gardenia as Mushnik and Steve Martin as Orin, the dentist. The musical's Broadway bow co-starred Kerry Butler and Hunter Foster.

The Paper Mill Playhouse is located on Brookside Drive in Millburn, NJ. For more information or to purchase tickets call (973) 376-4343 or visit www.papermill.org.