A musical reimagining of the 1960 Roger Corman film The Little Shop of Horrors, made by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, which debuted in 1982, loosely adapted from Corman's film. The musical was subsequently turned into a film in 1986 starring Rick Moranis in his last singing role, which in turn inspired a revival of the musical. It is Frank Oz's first movie he directed without Jim Henson and his first outside of the Muppet label, and would start his line of subsequent comedy films.The story revolves around Mushnik's Skid Row Florists and the three people who work there: Mr Mushnik, the proprietor, and his two assistants, Seymour and Audrey. Seymour loves Audrey, but hasn't told her because he's a poor orphan with no future to offer her. Audrey is dating a rich but thoroughly unpleasant guy and dreams of meeting a nice man who'll love her for herself, but believes it will never happen. The shop is on its last legs: there's nothing in the till but cobwebs and dust.And then Seymour finds a strange and interesting plant, which he dubs the Audrey II, and pursuades Mr Mushnik to display it in the shop window. Audrey II proves to be a customer magnet: people come to look at it, and always buy something before they leave. As its fame spreads, the shop receives larger and larger commissions, and Seymour starts receiving offers for national magazine interviews, lecture tours, even his own TV show.But there's a catch: The plant thrives on human blood, and will die without it. At first, Seymour can keep it satisfied with his own blood, but as it grows larger it demands more than a person can give and live. But, you know, there's that repulsive boyfriend of Audrey's — surely nobody would miss him if he were to... disappear...The film version follows the stage version fairly closely except for a Focus Group Ending in which the Audrey II is defeated and Seymour and Audrey survive to live happily ever after.The film version subsequently resulted in an animated series called Little Shop, created by Frank Oz, which aired in 1991. It was set in a High School, with school-aged Seymour and Audrey dealing with the usual sort of high school comedy plots, with the dubious assistance of a toned-down plant which was merely carnivorous rather than a "humanitarian."
The musical provides examples of:
Adaptation Distillation: The musical jettisons several incidental characters, tightens the plot and gives Seymour's struggle with the carnivorous Audrey II a proper narrative arc.
Adaptation Dye Job: Audrey is traditionally platinum blonde (the acting script refers to her as such). In the original film, she was brunette.
Ambiguous Gender: Audrey II—a plant who acts and sounds male, but has a female name and gets referred to by feminine pronouns. (Admittedly, when Seymour states that "the Audrey II is not a healthy girl", the Audrey II hasn't revealed itself as sentient yet, so he's speaking pretty loosely.)
And You Were There: After Audrey II starts growing, Seymour is approached by a series of people offering him fame and fortune (three in the musical number "The Meek Shall Inherit", and one more in the final scene); all four are played by a single actor. The same actor also plays the plant's first victim. (As well as various one-off characters with less metaphorical resonance.)
A more subtle one is Audrey's "Sure!", which even gets referenced in "Suddenly Seymour" ("I'd meet a man and I'd follow him blindly/He'd snap his fingers/Me, I'd say 'sure'!") In the film of the musical, she even says "Sure!" through a film of happy tears when Seymour proposes.
"Say ahhhh! Say ahhhh!"
Cephalothorax: Audrey II. When it swallows you, Where do you go?
The carnivorous pitcher-plant dissolves its prey in its juices. Audrey II must work on this principle, and its teeth just make the process a little more, ah, digestible.
Crapsack World: Skid Row. More like a beer-bottle in a paper bag world.
Crosscast Role: Mrs. Luce, usually, since the tradition is for all the characters who offer Seymour fame and fortune to be played by a single (male) actor.
In the film, Seymour is a bumbling innocent who's so clumsy that he kills his victims by mistake, while in the musical he's seduced into deliberate murder by being promised fame, fortune and the girl he loves, Audrey. Additionally, while the film Seymour lived with his mother, the musical Seymour was abandoned at the Skid Row Home For Boys and taken in by Mushnik, who never liked him and treated him horribly.
Skid Row is now a terrible place that everyone desperately wishes they could leave.
Audrey, a happy-go-lucky ditz in the film, becomes the product of a broken home who's been in one bad relationship after another, suffers from low self-esteem, and is regularly abused by her sadistic boyfriend. She also dies in the end.
The plant goes from being a somewhat sarcastic, ever-hungry presence to a Magnificent Bastard plotting world domination.
The dentist goes from merely being crazy to being a sadistic monster who proudly boasts about the childhood he spent murdering animals in horrific ways.
Deal with the Devil: Even referred to as such in the acting script. (The precise wording is "pact with the devil".) The introduction references the Faust legend as well.
Orin: Are you satisfied? I—laughed—my—self—to... (dies)
Seymour:...death?
Dirty Communists: The original premise of the film the play was based on, is obviously a commentary on appeasing Nazis and Communists (and other dictator types). It's even lampshaded in one of the songs.
"I've given you sunlight, I've given you rain, looks like you're not happy 'less I open a vein! I'll give you a few drops... if that'll appease..."
Domestic Abuser: Audrey's boyfriend Orin Scrivello is a "semi-" sadist.
Drama Queen: Audrey is meant to be played this way, though admittedly she's sincere about what she feels and goes through a lot more than most examples of the trope.
Dramatic Irony: Seymour complains about how he has to keep feeding Audrey II, and Audrey (number I) wonders why he's so upset about the cost of plant food.
Economy Cast: If the roles are divided as they were in the original run, only eight cast members are required—four guys and four girls, with Orin's actor playing several minor roles.
Empathic Environment: "Shang-a-lang, feel the sturm und drang in the air..." Besides that, the script calls for a "Wagnerian" sunset to heighten the over-the-top drama when Seymour feeds Audrey to the plant.
Gender Blender Name: Audrey II has a feminine name but is traditionally played by a male actor and has a masculine personality. (Being a plant, and probably an alien, it's anybody's guess what gender Audrey II really is - if any.)
The Ghost: Mrs. Shiva, who was an onscreen character in the original film.
"He took me out of the Skid Row Home for Boys when I was just a little tyke. Gave me a warm place to sleep, under the counter. Nice things to eat like meatloaf and water. Floors to sweep and toilets to clean and every other Sunday off!"
Historical Domain Character: Mrs. Luce (in real life, Clare Booth Luce) really was the wife of the editor of Life Magazine. She was also a playwright, journalist, socialite, ambassador and congresswoman.
Hope Spot: There are quite a few moments when it looks as if Seymour's going to kill the plant, but he never does.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Seymour, eaten by his own giant plant, and Orin, who asphyxiates when the laughing gas mask gets stuck. In the stage show, Mushnik plays with this- he worries about money to the point of adopting Seymour just to keep the plant, and Seymour tells him he put the day's earnings in the plant during Suppertime, but considering A) how the shop had been doing before Audrey II, and B) the fact that it's apparently over a thousand dollars, his concern is more or less justified. Audrey is the only victim who doesn't really have a Karmic Death.
Audrey's death was karmic - for Seymour instead of for her.
Mushnik has an oddly meta example of this. In the original b-movie, he tricked a would-be robber into getting eaten by the plant by telling him the shop's money was inside it. The musical lifted the situation with practically the same dialogue, but used it to kill off Mushnik.
Humans Are Bastards: After we're treated to a seemingly nice and lovable guy getting seduced into repeat murder, the ending song tells us that the plants are doing the same thing all across America, offering "unsuspecting jerks" their wildest dreams in exchange for blood. The message of "Don't Feed The Plants" is obvious—with the right motivation, anyone could kill people to feed a plant. Including you.
Idiot Ball: After killing Orin, Seymour indulges in what has to rank among the worst murder coverups in the history of fiction. He leaves his baseball cap and his bag at the scene of the crime (the bag, by the way, has the name of the shop on it), stuffs Orin's uniform in the trash can outside the shop, and doesn't even bother to clean up the blood he spilled on the shop floor. When questioned about it, he says, "I spilled some Hawaiian Punch and it stained."
Insecure Love Interest: This is why Audrey doesn't consider leaving the abusive "semi-sadist" Orin for her AdorkableNice Guy coworker Seymour; she likes Seymour, but she considers herself too dirty and worthless to be with him.
For his part, Seymour is convinced that he's not good enough for Audrey. When he finally realizes that she loves him back, he assumes that it's because he now has money and believes that he'll lose her if he loses his income from the plant. Tragedy ensues.
As well as its Dark Reprise and the villainous version in "Feed Me".
"Skid Row", "Grow For Me", and "Mushnik and Son" also qualify—and, to a lesser degree, "Now (It's Just The Gas)" and "The Meek Shall Inherit".
I Wished You Were Dead: Audrey secretly wished Orin would disappear, and when he actually does, she blames herself, worrying that it's her fault if he "met with foul play". (Although she doesn't know it, she is the reason Seymour killed him.)
Love Makes You Evil: All of Seymour's evil deeds are done for Audrey's sake.
Love Redeems: "Suddenly Seymour" is about Audrey being redeemed by Seymour, which is ironic when you consider that she's The Ingénue and he's a murderer.
Lyrical Dissonance: Quite a lot: cheerful, rousing rock/motown numbers spliced with references to horror and bloodshed are the order of the day here.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mr. Mushinik, who cares somewhat for Seymour (though more for money) and for Audrey, who he constantly advises to drop her abusive boyfriend.
The Klutz: Seymour's signature trait before the Audrey II plot takes off, at which point it disappears. (Unlike his counterpart in the original film, he's not a Lethal Klutz.)
Money Song: Since money is a huge part of the plot, it's inevitable that some songs would revolve, at least partially, around it. Probably the best example is Mushnik's intro to "Ya Never Know".
Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Lampshaded in the opening monologue. The narrator talks about how threats to Earth often happen in the most ordinary and unlikely of places.
Deconstructed, as Seymour refuses to stop feeding the plant because he fears Audrey would stop caring about him if he was broke again which leads to their deaths.
Our Founder: A picture of Mr. Mushnik with the caption "Our Founder" appears in the shop in the scene following "The Meek Shall Inherit".
Paparazzi: Mrs. Luce wants a photo of Seymour with the plant for the cover of Life Magazine.
Pet the Dog: Mushnik would come off as a complete Jerkass if he didn't show concern for Audrey and urge her to break up with Orin.
Phrase Catcher: The fact that Audrey II is a "strange and interesting plant" is repeated by no fewer than five characters in the scene where Seymour puts it in Mushnik's display window. Strange and interesting indeed.
Shipper on Deck: Crystal, Ronette, Chiffon and Audrey II for Seymour/Audrey.
Shout Out: The cut song "Bad" (rewritten for the film as "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space") had Audrey II boasting about how much badder he is than Godzilla, King Kong and the Bride of Frankenstein.
The three urchins are named for three different girl groups of the sixties (The Crystals, The Ronettes and The Chiffons). The songs reference and parody the sixties music scene, both lyrically and stylistically. This blog has a pretty comprehensive overview.
In "The Meek Shall Inherit", Bernstein, Mrs. Luce and Skip Snip address Seymour with increasingly uncomfortable pet names ("dollface", "my sweet, sweet thing", and "pussycat", to name a few).
Tempting Fate: Several cases, as in the cut song "We'll Have Tomorrow". The best example has to be when Seymour first agrees to feed blood to the tiny plant: "Well, okay...as long as you don't make a habit of it or anything!"
Theme Naming: Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon take their names from the Crystals, the Ronettes and the Chiffons; all 1960s New York African-American girl groups.
Seymour: And bullets! And rat poison! And a machete!
They Call Me Mr Tibbs: Orin insists that Audrey call him "Doctor" and use the term "D.D.S." when referring to him. It's implied that he's beaten her for neglecting to do so ("You gotta train 'em, eh, stud?").
Tragedy: The musical is literally a Greek tragedy, complete with a trio of singers who represent the Greek Chorus, and Seymour first sacrifices his enemy, then his father figure, then his love, then himself.
Better ourselves? You hear what he said, girls? Bet-ter ourselves? Mister, when you're from SkidRow, ain't no such thing.
Wife-Basher Basher: Seymour. He plans to ignore the plant and not feed it anything—until Orin abuses Audrey right in front of him. Audrey II is, of course, fully aware that this is Seymour's Berserk Button.
Seymour:He's so nasty, treatin' her rough!
Audrey II:Smackin' her 'round, always talkin' so tough!
Seymour:You need blood, and he's got more than enough!
The film of the musical additionally provides examples of:
Adaptation Distillation through Pragmatic Adaptation: The subplot about Mr. Mushnik adopting Seymour is dropped, along with a few incidental songs, to make a tight 90-minute narrative. Also worth noting, the scene with Bill Murray as a masochistic dental patient did not appear in the stage version. It derives from a famous scene in the 1960 movie which originally featured Jack Nicholson in this role.
Apocalypse How: The Audrey II invasion as depicted in the original ending could potentially range anywhere from Class 0 to Class 5.
Award Bait Song: "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" is not present in the stage version, although it has been added in some revivals. It was added to the screenplay so the film could receive an Oscar nomination for "Best Original Song." It lost, sadly. (It should be noted that "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" is definitely not your typical Award Bait Song.)
Better Living Through Evil: Audrey II uses this method to convince Seymour to feed it Orin and Mesnick by bringing up the fact that it could make Seymour rich. It eventually works once Seymour realizes what he could buy with the insane amount of money Audrey II is capable of bringing in.
Bottomless Magazines: Audrey II steals Seymour's tiny pistol during "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" and proceeds to fire about twelve shots at him.
Cut Song: Most of "The Meek Shall Inherit", the "Somewhere That's Green" reprise, the end of "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space", and "Don't Feed The Plants".
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Focus Group Ending closes "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" (wherein Audrey II reveals himself in all his unstoppable glory) with Seymour electrocuting him.
Even Evil Has Standards: A variation: the gleefully sadistic, completely heartless Orin Scrivello is so disgusted by his encounter with the masochist that he ends up kicking him out of doors.
Orin: Get out of here! Go on, get out of here!...Goddamn sicko!
Focus Group Ending: The stage adaptation's Downer Ending with our heroes being eaten and multiple Audrey IIs taking over the world was shot, but focus groups decided to change this in favor of the less confronting The End... Or Is It? ending.
Gender Equals Breed: In the "Somewhere That's Green" dream sequence, which was one of the inspirations for the trope, Seymour and Audrey's kids are identical to their mother and father.
I got killer buds, a power stem, nasty pods, and I'm using them!
So better move 'em out, Nature calls! You got the point?
I'm gonna bust your balls!
Kaiju: In the original, unreleased ending, swarms of 50-foot plant-monsters rampage throughout New York in what may have been a Shout Out to Godzilla. (And King Kong.)
Hey, It's That Guy!: Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, John Candy, and Jim Belushi, who replaced Paul Dooley when the film was recut.
Lighter and Softer: See Darker and Edgier and Dark Reprise in the play version. It manages to contain all these aspects in its songs, but somehow makes it lighthearted simply by changing the ending and some of the songs.
Meaningful Name: Arthur Denton loves getting painful dental work done...
Oh Crap: All of the main characters get this one at some point.
The End... Or Is It?: The ending shows a little Audrey II outside Seymour and Audrey's garden, with the unstated implication being that someone else passing by is bound to notice it (since it's "strange and interesting"), take it with them, and then here we go again....
In Name Only: Seymour Krelborn is a kid. Audrey has brown hair and she is Mr. Mushnik's daughter. The chorus girls are replaced by singing flowers. Audrey II has eyes, has traded in blood lust for love of rap music, and above all, is friendly. In Name Only? Very much so.
Proud to Be a Geek: Played with in the opening of the first episode. Seymour has "spent thirteen years trying to be a nerd". Only problem? "I'm not smart."
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