Little Shop of Horrors

As director of BYU’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, George Nelson wanted to provide a sense of foreboding, encouraging the audience to recognize the “flaxen cord” that Audrey II is in Seymore’s life without him knowing. The ominous ticking clock towering above the set creates this atmosphere and comes from science fiction tropes almost as old as the genre itself. The idea of the clock ticking away to destruction originated in 1947 by the Chicago Atomic Scientists (a group of researchers who worked on the creation of the first nuclear bomb used in World War II). “The Doomsday Clock” represented the time until the actions of mankind would end the world. The clock views a hypothetical man-made global catastrophe as midnight, and the minutes till midnight are measured by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which still exists to this day.

An awkward florist, a budding relationship, a sociopathic dentist, a carnivorous plant with a craving for human flesh; these iconic characters bring one story to mind. Little Shop of Horrors has become one of the most popular musicals for high school and local community theatres. A lesser-known fact about this popular stage show was its source material, a 1961 dark comedy by the same name, directed by the “King of B Movies” Roger Corman. Beginning with this film and spanning 26 years, three notable adaptations were made, each with its own unique alterations to the material, offering insight to the cultural landscapes of the decade in which each was made. The story of Little Shop of Horrors has taken the form of a dark comedy horror film, an incredibly successful and lucrative Broadway musical at the beginning of the long careers of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and the popular cult classic film directed by Frank Oz starring Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene.