Cuttings from the Little Shop

Greetings from The Little Shop of Horrors! (Or the Copeland Donahue Theater, as it's more commonly known.) We've been having a great time putting this wicked little show together! Here's a sneek preview of what we've been up to these past few weeks.

Closed for Renovation: The Little Shop is not quite finished, but we've gotten a lot done already!

The Process Begins: It all starts with music rehearsals in Lower Jackson with Dr. Gilbert. Here the cast is working on "Skid Row" - the first big number in the show.

Meanwhile, in the Copeland Donahue, Tech gets to work creating Skid Row and the Little Shop itself.

Storm goes out on a limb to finish outlining the brick walls (photo by Nina Gilbert)

Brooklyn adds grungy detail to the set. The texture was created using sponges, chalk, and actual dirt. 

Brooklyn shows newcomers Bailey and Jordan how to use the drill while building a window frame. 

Even a Skid Row florist requires a lot of flowers. This is a quarter of what will be in the show!

And a Little Shop of Horrors, of course, requires a man-eating plant! Storm and Amelia quickly got to work creating designs for our Audrey Two - which is currently being built by our Tech team.

Amelia's Punk Plant

Storm's concept, including mechanisms for working the puppet.  

Without the additional rehearsal space of Mudd, we often have to function around each other. Here the tech team gets on with things as Kerri Fenton teaches the cast the choreography for "Skid Row"

Here's a glimpse of the cast on the first day of choreography rehearsal. We've double cast the trio (so much talent!) whom we've dubbed "The Pods" and "The Tendrils." In this clip, "The Pods" are in front, with "The Tendrils" working behind them. You'll notice the ensemble at the back is having a great time learning the number along with the girls. 

In case the video isn't working - here's the link! http://youtu.be/G0HyRE49ikI

Twoey (as Audrey II is affectionately known) and I are looking forward to seeing you in the Shop!

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

SEYMOUR               AUDREY                 ORIN               MUSHNIK              AUDREY 2

Landen Taflinger        Vicky Alejandro       Jack Gilliat        Lauren Herndon        Tim Scola

The Trio has been double cast and will perform on separate evenings:

THE PODS                                               THE TENDRILS

Thursday 5/2, Friday 5/3 & Friday 5/10          Saturday 5/4 & Saturday 5/11

RONETTE – Kaitlynn Eyvazzadeh                RONETTE – Michelle Huber

CRYSTAL – Melissa Wellman                     CRYSTAL – Jessica Burns

CHIFFON – Karina Martin                         CHIFFON – Christie Chang

BERNSTEIN/Ensemble/Mushnik understudy (Friday 5/10) – Daniel Heidari

MRS. LUCE/Ensemble – Rena Patel

SKIP SNIP/Ensemble – Annie Childress

ENSEMBLE: Jeanette Lund - Bailey Scherer - Jordan Street

AUDREY 2 PUPPETEER - Skyler Marquez

               

STAGE MANAGER: Michelle Noyes

TECH CREW: Storm Sprague, Brooklynn Flynn, Skyler Marquez, Alessandra Rigo, Amelia Barbee

All shows begin at 7:30 in the Copeland Donahue Theater. Please reserve your tickets ASAP - seating is tight on this one and you don't want to miss it!

To make your reservations, please send your name, the night you would like to attend and the number of tickets you require to ticketbooth@webb.org

The 39 Schtepps

Most of the action takes place in Scotland, so there's a lot of tartan in the show - and a lot of sheep. Just as Alfred Hitchcock made cameos in all his films, "Lamblet" (named by Marcus) appears in almost every scene. 

“What are The 39 Steps?” – protagonist Richard Hannay (Jack Gilliat ’13) repeatedly asks in our latest production – running through moors and over mountains to find the answer. Fortunately, you only need to make your way to the Copeland Donahue Theater the first weekend in February to find out.

Richard Hannay (Jack Gilliat '13) flees the police by hanging out of a speeding train

The 39 Steps is a riff on Hitchcock’s 1935 film of the same name (and pays homage to many of his other films) –which was an adaptation of based on the 1915 novella by John Buchan. Classic sources to be sure, but this production is anything but staid or old-fashioned.

Margaret (Mallory Thompson '13) gazes out the Rear Window

Adapted by Patrick Barlow and premiered in London in 2006, this version of The 39 Steps isn’t a tedious rehash of a film, or a reprocessed version of the novel. Instead, it embraces the idiosyncrasies of 1930s cinema in order to celebrate the unique magic of theater. Ben Brantley of the New York Times described it as a “fast, frothy exercise in legerdemain…throwaway theater at its finest.” 

Marcus (as a Scottish policeman) chases Hannay across the Forth Bridge

So what does that mean, exactly? Well, this show is all about doing a lot with very little. In our production we’ve got a two-story platform, 1 table, an armchair, 4 wooden chairs, 5 end tables and a few other bits and bobs which we manage to turn into a London flat, a rustic cottage, the Scottish moors, a car, a train and a dozen other locations and objects. Add the melodrama of 1930s film and you get a hilarious hybrid of rough and ready theater-making and highly stylized cinematic performance. One of the greatest joys of rehearsing this show was coming up with weird and wonderful ways to recreate people, places and things. 

Four chairs become a railway compartment

A table and a frame serve as a crofter's cottage in the Scottish highlands.

And here’s the kicker: the 30+ characters in this show are played by just 6 actors - often in quick succession and usually with different accents. Mallory Thompson (’13) demonstrates her considerable comedic skills as the shady Annabella Schmidt, the winsome Margaret plus a few others. Vicky Alejandro (’14) plays the prim Pamela Edwards, while Marcus Baldwin (’16), Landen Taflinger (’13) and Tinnie Wu (’13) round out the rest of the cast as dozens of different characters. As you can imagine, we had a fantastic time bringing all these people to life through improv, experiment and play – laughing until we cried was a fairly common occurrence. 

Richard Hannay tries to persuade Pamela (Vicky Alejandro) to cover for him. Jack and Vicky are the only actors in the cast who play a single character. 

Marcus and Landen as travelling underwear salesmen

...and Scottish policemen

Mallory and Landen play a quirky rustic couple who offer Hannay a bed for the night.

Mallory plays the winsome Margaret...

as well as the fearsome Mrs. Jordan (and many others)!

Marcus as the brilliant and mysterious Professor Jordan

Tinnie '13 takes to the skies as a Flying Ace!

 Our tech crew plays an important part in the production - they quite literally make the magic happen - and are on stage almost as much as the actors.

Keely helps Marcus become a dashing fighter pilot

North by Northwest: Laurel Newman ('16) pilots a fighter plane.

Storm, Landen and Vicky are...um....it's difficult to explain...best to see it in person!

The Salesman discuss the recent murder at Portland Place 

Richard sweeps Margaret off her wellie-clad feet

Good heavens! The play is crawling with police!

Vicky and Storm have a laugh while attempting to navigate the airplanes

What has the crofter just seen? Could it be The 39 Steps?

Storm merrily copes with the chaos and embraces the silliness. (Truth be told, she often instigates it!)

Marcus enjoying a bit of mid-rehearsal improv

So what are the 39 Steps? You'll have to come to the show to find out! In the meantime, here's a wee trailer to "set your heart aquiver." 

The 39 Steps runs February 1-3 in the Copeland Donahue – all shows begin at 7:30. The performance is free, but you’ll need to make a reservation to ensure a seat. Please send your name, the date you’d like to attend and how many seats you require to: ticketbooth@webb.org.

See you at the show!

Stefanie Hamlyn, Director

All photos by Dylan Tully '09 during a mid-week rehearsal in January. Thanks, Dylan!

And forgive the patchwork look of the blog this month. I have no idea why the backgrounds and fonts have gone crazy.