15/01/19
What is the background and context to the musical 'Little Shop of Horrors'?
Little shop of horrors is the story of a struggling plant shop in Skid Row. The story follows Seymour, who works at the shop and his miraculous discovery of a strange and unusual plant. The 1986 film musical is based on the 60s 'B Movie'. The musical has influences from Doo Wop girl bands, with its 3 narrators styled and characterised in the same way these 60s bands were. Inspirations for this include: Dianna Ross and The Supremes, The Ronnettes and the Crystals. Both the 1960 and 1980 movie are parodies of B movies, yet still contain the typical B movie stereotypes and features. The musical had its Broadway debut in 1982, composed by Alan Menken, and had a successful run for 5 years. The musical wad directed by Frank Oz and became a classic production.
Who were the different versions of 'Little Shop of Horrors' written by? What other musicals have the writers of the stage version been involved with?
The 1960 'B movie': written by Charles B Griffith and directed by Roger Corman.
The 1986 movie: directed by Frank Oz
The musical: written by Howard Ashman and composed by Alan Menken
Alan Menken has written scores for: The little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Newsies, Sister Act, Christmas Carol and Tangled, to name a few. Howard Ashman worked closely with Alan Menken on: Beauty and The Beast and The Little Mermaid.
What is the central story of 'Little Shop of Horrors' and what aspects of American culture does it include/ refer to?
Little Shop of Horrors follows the character Seymour Krelborn, an orphan working at Mushnik's, a flower shop in Skid Row. He develops crush on fellow co-worker Audrey, and is tormented by Mr. Mushnik daily. Seymour is seeking a new mysterious plant to bring in costumers , he finds a very mysterious unidentified plant; which he calls Audrey II. The plant seems to have a craving for blood and Seymour has to find the plant food by killing the people around him, including Mr Mushnick and Audrey's sadistic boyfriend. The film and musical both show poverty and depression in this side of New York city. It shows the struggling businesses and dirty streets of a dull, American city. The film and musical present Audrey as a typical 60s housewife, which would have been most women's ideal at that time. It also shows influences from the Do Wop girl bands and older novellas like: Green Thoughts and The Reluctant Orchid.
B Movie research
Characteristics of a B Movie
- Horror or SiFi elements with unbelievable or dramatic story lines.
- Usually in black and white due to the period it was made in.
- The films had a cheap budget with cheap sets and B list actors.
- Each film has the same cartoon bright font and dramatic music in the opening titles.
- Normally the movies contain a formal dramatic narrative voice.
- Women are usually shown as the damsel in distress and the films feature a lot of characters screaming.
- B Movies were typically short as they would be played before the main feature or A list movie at the cinema.
Characteristics of B Movie poster
- Bright, garish colours with cartoon fonts and giant monsters killing people.
- The woman is always shown being killed in minimal clothing and being attacked.
- The poster also has cringe and obvious tag lines which give away the plot of the movie.
What B Movie characteristics does 'Little Shop of Horrors' display?
Little Shop of Horrors is a pastiche to typical B Movies of the 60s . The film takes the funniest and stereotypical parts of B Movies to create an entertaining parody.
- The film is in black and white with large cartoon titles and dramatic music.
- The actors used are B list and the acting is wooden.
-The set is minimal and looks cheap.
- The film follows a horror/ SiFi story line and also has typical characters and moments; women screaming.
How is the 1986 film musical version of 'Little Shop of Horrors' inspired by the 60s B Movie?
The 1986 film is comic book style and uses the same brightly coloured opening credits. It also contains some of the same obvious and cringe lines of comedy, this creates the feeling of a B Movie. The musicals score is dramatic and opens with a god like voice narrating the start making it seem terrifying and dramatic. The influences from B Movies is less as the narrative develops as he human eating plant devours mostly male characters, as opposed to the stereotypical female victims in the 60s B Movies.
America in the 1950s
America in the 1950s - Social, political and cultural life
Women in America in this time period faced harsh stereotypes: cooking, cleaning and staying at home with the children. Despite most woman taking men jobs in world war 2 when the men went off to fight in the war, most women worked in factories. Although when the war finished, these women who worked hard faced these stereotypes and were brushed off by men as not as intelligent or hardworking as men, who were the stereotypical bread winners in a family. Another sexist remark most men would make towards women was the fact that they only wanted to get married and have a family so they could stay at home and be a house wife. Whilst some women did strive for this life others were hardworking and wanted to do 'men' jobs. Many families moved into the outside of cities after having children to live the 'American Dream'. In this period many families began wanting this 'American Dream' with the perfect clean house and children in a happy marriage with a stay at home wife.
Little Shop of Horrors - How these issues are shown
During the show the previous points are shown within the plot and songs, and most charters conform to the stereotypes. For example, Audrey is a perfect example of a woman who wants the 'American Dream'. Her character is a typical 'woman'; blonde, dumb and pretty. Audrey sings the song 'Somewhere that's green' hinting to living in the suburbs in the country with a husband and children. She references 'cooking like Betty Crocker' and ' keeping the house neat and clean' as well as mentioning 'washer and the dryer'. These lyrics all portray women ding the cooking and cleaning around the house and how she sees herself being a house wife and Seymour doing more 'manly' tasks like 'mowing the lawn'.
The Doo wop girls
During this period there was a rise in the pop 'Doo Wop' girl groups. The girl groups were mostly formed of African American young girls using techniques like scatting and saying / singing words in harmony with minimal music. The music had a jazz/ pop and blues sound making it unique and popular at the time. As well as the groups ganging success and exposure, they all gained respect and more equality among the community and country. Racism was a huge issue at the time however the rise of Doo Top girl groups fought against the issue.
The girl groups had original names: The Shirelles, The Chantels and The Chiffon’s. The sound of each groups music was all similar using sounds to mimic instruments, for example the ‘shang a lang’ sound to sound like a guitar. The harmonies used were gospel influenced and this was attractive to the urban youth in America at the time. The Shirelles topped the Billboard hot 100 with ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’ and became the first African American group and girl group to be in the Hot 100. This made history and helped fight rules of segregation at the time.
Curious Incident research
‘Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time’ is a modern play based on a book. The play is told from the perspective of the main protagonist: ‘ Christopher’ who has autism. The play revolves around Christopher’s life and his past which weaves slowly into his present day life as he finds out the truth of his past. The story is told partly by narration from the character: ‘Siobhan’ who is Christopher’s teacher. Christopher is very close to Siobhan and to me it felt he was closer to her than he was to his own dad. His dad is a single parent caring for Christopher and his pet rat Toby. However Christopher soon discovers that he does have 2 parents after all and that his mother is not dead. It is revealed that not only did Christopher’s dad lie to him about his mother but he also lied to him about killing Wellington ( the dead dog at the start of the play). The play tells the story of Christopher finds where his mum is and how to get her to come back home with him.
Overall the play used simple technical elements but made the exaggerated, this made for a realistic feel to the play. The play uses a simplistic grid like set with openings in the walls for tables and bit of the train set that Christopher builds throughout he first half of the play. The set also has boxes around the edge for the actors to sit on so that they are on stage the whole time. These boxes also doubled as light up props to show different peoples houses in Christopher’s street. For example: the box lit up a light brown and made a ping sound effect to force the audience to see a microwave and then lit up blue and had bubble sound effects to make the audience see a fish tank. The set was minimal and very effective. The lighting and sound in the play was very unsettling, especially in the scene where Christopher was getting the tube into London. There was strobe lights and flashing slogans and loud voices saying ‘mind the gap’ and which station Christopher was at. The sound and lights got more intense until Christopher arrived at his destination. This was effective as it gave a satisfying end to the chaos. The use of lighting and special effects in show highlighted to the audience how it might feel to an autistic person tying to get around simple every day activities. One part of the technical side of the show that I found really unique was the use of the chalk drawings which were projected on the screen so that everyone could see what Christopher was doing form all angles. Also the use of the train set being built throughout act 1 and then when the train finally set off to conclude act 1, this gave a build up and made the audience excited for act 2.
Another part of the play which was particularly technically impressive was the special effects. For example when Christopher gets overwhelmed and has a fit the music and sound got more intense and a white noise sound effect was used. Additionally, smoke was used to create the effect off the train tracks in the scene in the tube station. The costuming throughout the show was casual everyday clothing and which again added to the realism of the play and made it more relate able to the audience. In the scene at the station many people were dressed formally as if they were going to work or with headphones on as if they were listening to music on the tube. The actors on stage used movement to make the audience imagine a tube train moving. They did these sharp moves at the same time to show when the train stopped and started. This was really effective as it looked slick and gave suspension of disbelief.
Overall the play used both technical elements and performance skills to create a believable interesting play for an audience.
Hair, costume and makeup for Little Shop of Horrors
Over the last few weeks I have been designing the costume and makeup for Audrey and Wino 1 and 2. I also helped to do makeup for the 2nd years for 'Addams family'.
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