By Andrew Gans
22 Aug 2004

Joey Fatone in Little Shop of Horrors
photo by Joan Marcus

The Broadway bow of Little Shop of Horrors — currently starring pop star Joey Fatone as nerdy plant-shop worker Seymour — ends its run at the Virginia Theatre after the Aug. 22 performance.

The musical, which features a book by the late Howard Ashman and a score by Ashman and Alan Menken, will have played 40 previews and 372 regular performances.

Directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, Little Shop of Horrors officially opened at the Virginia Oct. 2, 2003, with a cast that included Hunter Foster as Seymour and Kerry Butler as Audrey; Foster was Tony-nominated for his performance.

In addition to Fatone, the current Broadway company includes Jessica-Snow Wilson as Audrey, Rob Bartlett as Mushnik, Robert Evan as Orin Scrivello, Michael-Leon Wooley as the voice of Audrey II, Carla J. Hargrove as Ronnette, Trisha Jeffrey as Crystal and DeQuina Moore as Chiffon. The giant man eating plant designed by the Jim Henson Workshop and Martin P. Robinson is puppeteered by Robinson, Anthony Asbury, Bill Remington and Matt Vogel.

The creative team for the musical comprises William Ivey Long (costume designer), Scott Pask (set designer), Donald Holder (lighting designer) and T. Richard Fitzgerald (sound designer).

The original production of Little Shop of Horrors 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 Ellen Greene as Audrey, Rick Moranis as Seymour, Vincent Gardenia as Mushnik and Steve Martin as Orin, the dentist.

A new Little Shop national tour — starring Anthony Rapp and Tari Kelly — recently premiered at the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas, TX. The tour is also helmed by Zaks and Marshall.

The Virginia Theatre is located at 245 West 52nd Street.

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The new musical, Little Women, will find a home at the Virginia starting with previews around Dec. 10.