OH, YOU CAN SWALLOW THIS
The re-opening cast of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS starts performances tonight, “on the twenty-first day of the month of September” at the Westside Theatre (407 West 43rd Street). For tickets — on sale for performances through January 9, 2022 — visit Telecharge.com/212-239-6200.
Jeremy Jordan as Seymour
Under the direction of Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening), the 2020 Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Award-winning Best Musical Revival stars Tony Award Nominee Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, American Son, “Supergirl”), Emmy Award winner Tammy Blanchard (Life with Judy Garland, Gypsy) as Audrey, and two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Something Rotten!, Falsettos) as Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.
Jeremy Jordan and Audrey II
Aveena Sawyer, Joy Woods and Salome Smith
Jordan was previously set to join the company on March 17, 2020, before theater industry operations were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the time since, Blanchard was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award and a 2020 Drama Desk Award for her performance in the show, and Borle won the 2020 Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.
Jeremy Jordan, Tammy Blanchard, Tom Alan Robbins and Christian Borle
Jordan, Blanchard and Borle are joined in the show’s reopening company by returning cast members: Grammy Award nominee Tom Alan Robbins (The Lion King, Head Over Heels) as Mushnik, Aaron Harrington (RENT 20th Anniversary Tour) as The Voice of Audrey II, Salome Smith as Ronnette, Joy Woods as Chiffon, Aveena Sawyer as Crystal, Eric Wright, Teddy Yudain, Stephen Berger, and Chelsea Turbin.
Tammy Blanchard and Jeremy Jordan in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS opened to widespread critical acclaim on Thursday, October 17, 2019. Ben Brantley of The New York Times deemed the show a “Critic’s Pick,” declaring that “a certain carnivorous plant has been repotted in Hell’s Kitchen, and I am delighted to report that it’s thriving there. Michael Mayer’s delicious revival…summons the shivery elation I felt seeing the musical at the East Village’s Orpheum nearly four decades ago. It restores the show to its original scale and sensibility, reminding us of the special potency of grisly things that come in small, impeccably wrapped packages.”
Christian Borle
Seymour is a down-on-his-luck florist with a crush on his co-worker Audrey. When he discovers a mysterious – and voracious – plant, suddenly Seymour and Audrey are thrust into an epic battle that will determine the fate of the entire human race. With a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast), and music by Alan Menken (Aladdin, Newsies), LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS first premiered Off-Broadway in 1982, where it made audiences laugh, scream, and give up gardening for good.
Jeremy Jordan
The musical has since catapulted into a global phenomenon, with productions across the world from Broadway to London’s West End, to Asia and Australia – plus a hit 1986 film adaptation directed by Frank Oz. Now, the musical has made its highly-anticipated return home to Off-Broadway, in an intimate new production that offers an unprecedented opportunity to get close — maybe too close — to an incredible plant with an insatiable appetite.
Tammy Blanchard
photos by Emilio Madrid