Shady Side Academy Senior School presented the winter student musical Little Shop of Horrors, Feb. 8-10, 2019.

Little Shop of Horrors is a horror-comedy-rock musical tale of a nerdy florist who finds his chance for romance and success with the help of a man-eating plant. The show follows the story of Seymour Krelborn after his discovery of a strange and interesting new species of plant, which he names Audrey II. "Two-ey" uses its influence to help Seymour gain the notoriety he has always wanted...for a price. With a colorful cast of characters and rock music, Little Shop of Horrors is based on the 1960s B-movie of the same name and the Broadway smash hit that was the first collaboration between the award-winning duo of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman of Disney fame.

More than 60 students in grades 9-12 participated in the cast, crew and orchestra pit of Little Shop of Horrors. Principal roles included senior Koji Shimada as Seymour, sophomore Annabel Everett as Audrey, freshman Braden Crow as Mr. Mushnik, sophomore Jake Rohr as Orin the Dentist, junior Isabella Salvucci as Chiffon, sophomore Charlotte McDaniel as Ronnette, and freshman Sydney Demchak as Crystal.

The other principal character was the Audrey II plant puppet, which was built from scratch by a dedicated team of students, led by senior Lucie Green, senior Lily Scheele, junior Ava Caron and sophomore Bridget Onest. The students built four puppets that represent the plant's stages of growth, from a small plant in a 6" pot to a fully-grown plant that is roughly 4' tall, 4' wide and 7' long. Junior Sanjna Narayan was the puppeteer for three of the four plants while junior Max Minard voiced the puppets.

Faculty members Dana Hardy-Bingham and Dr. Dan Brill were the show's director and music director, respectively. Staff member Austin Davidheiser was the technical director, set designer and lighting designer. Senior Ariel Rockman was assistant director and dramaturg, alumnus Rori Cain '16 was sound engineer, senior Elise Lehman was choreographer, junior Rose Genstein was stage manager, and sophomore Hannah Romoff and freshman Ariya Tayal were assistant stage managers.

Congratulations to the cast and crew!

View a photo slideshow of the musical below: