Since its Off-Broadway debut in 1982, Little Shop of Horrors, the first collaboration from legendary writing team Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, has become musical theatre canon.
“That’s a testament to Howard and Alan and I think that’s why it’s sustained,” says Lee Wilkof, who starred as Seymour in the original Off-Broadway production and will now play Mr. Mushnik in the upcoming production at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. “Howard’s lyrics and Alan’s music and the book, everything is very active. It keeps moving forward there’s no fat, but there never was.”
James Monroe Iglehart, who plays Audrey II, attributes it to the relatability of the story. “Little Shop is an everyman’s story,” he says in the video above. “There is not a woman there is not a man on earth who doesn’t understand what Audrey and Seymour are going through.” This production comes as part of The Kennedy Center’s new series Broadway Center Stage and runs October 24–28.
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The cast also stars How I Met Your Mother and Rise star Josh Radnor as Seymour, who most recently played on the New York stage in Lincoln Center Theater’s The Babylon Line, Megan Hilty (Noises Off, 9 to 5) as Audrey, Nick Cordero (A Bronx Tale, Waitress) as Orin Scrivello D.D.S., with Amma Osei, Amber Iman (Shuffle Along), and Allison Semmes (Motown The Musical) as the Urchins Ronnette, Crystal, and Chiffon.
“It’s amazing that we’re going to D.C.,” says Iglehart. “Because you want something so badly that you would sell your soul to the weirdest things and there is nothing you can do about the consequences afterwards. This show is that. And also the music’s just jamming.”
