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The Ronnettes costume's vary throughout the performance due t different numbers and the meaning of them. their first outfits are of Skid Rower 'bummer' outfits and wear old looking clothes to look like the homeless ragamuffins on the streets of Skid Row. They then change in 'Meek Shall Inherit' and turn into elegant sequence dresses of all colours to represent their characters.  We did this because then if the narrators change their outfits throughout the story it looks like it is progressing you can see that Seymour is earn more money as well as the Ronnettes buying new dresses.

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A ran down business owner who smokes 80 cigarettes a day, is not going to look so exquisite. Mushnik doesn't really care about her appearance as long as she has money! I have decide to make Mushnik's costume minimalistic as possible and shows that I don't have any money to upgrade my clothing. I'm wearing a camel suede cardigan and a white shirt as well as a long black pencil skirt with brogue low heels. I thought this would look smart as well as not having a lot of money.

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Due to Audrey having a low income from the shop, Audrey has to dress is small and skimpy dresses to attract attention from men for money, which she actually doesn't...it just looks that way! She dresses that way because she is made to feel that it is beautiful. For a naturalistic dress for Audrey we went for a black long sleeved low cut dress, to show that she is trying to put herself out there and shows off her body figure. She has a neck tie to flatter her long neck and cover any bruises caused by her boyfriend. Her hair is in loose curls and tied at the back to keep out of her face while working.

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In the 1960's the clothing is very naturalistic so we decide to put Perry into a plum woollen, no sleeved sweater to keep him warm as he' more than likely be sleeping in a cold room due to no central heating. He'd wear a tartan non - sleeved shirt to keep looking formal and smart aswell as casual.  He also wore camel coloured chinos and suede shoes to colour co-ordinate with the rest of the outfit and keep casual not too well done, lastly to finish Seymour's 'geeky' look we had the large lensed glasses to make him look the nerdy part.

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Set Designing for Little Shop of Horrors

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Set Designing for Little Shop of Horrors

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For the show Little Shop of Horrors we originally was going to use 17 flats to create the scenic and famous streets of Skid Row, however due to lack of time I shortened them down to 7 flats instead. We had 4 to make the Skid Row buildings and 3 to make the Flower Shop. Looking at inspiration from other flower shops they are usually kept to one side of the stage or a scenic slide on set with all of the flats attached on wheels that uses a lot more detail of paint and textures. However to keep the shop shape I decided to place the flats in a hexagonal shape to look like a bay window shape. I have used dull, washed out, naturalistic colours to also tie in with the colours of a plant and colour spectrum of the 1960's common colours.

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For my character development I have decided to make Pinterest pages using images, colour schemes and other photographs in a mood board to what I think describes that character. This will help me also understand the background character, what their costume and makeup look like and how I may portray my version of a character.

Seymour Krelborne
Seymour's Pinterest Page:
https://uk.pinterest.com/katiescott99/seymour-krelborn/

Seymour's Pinterest Evaluation
I have made Seymour a Pinterest page to show different costume designs for his character and how it would fit around his clothing size. Perry is very self conscious about his costume of Seymour as he wears very minimal and simple clothing and has a specific colour range due to the time era. In the 1960's, colour in America was minimalistic and plain, they wouldn't use a lot of bright colours in the spectrum it'd be dark plums, washed down blues, black, browns and burgundy's. During the 1960's the wage income was very poor and unless you had an higher class job you would struggle to make a high income. As Seymour is a florists assistant, he has less of a chance of getting a high income as:
1. Mushnik's Skid Row Florist Shop isn't being successful meaning there is no money income towards the business and it goes through Mushnik before Seymour.
2. He spends his money on plants to grow for the business as Mushnik doesn't put in any input.
3. He was taken in by Mushnik to be an assistant but has always had the same clothing due to not having any money even though he wants new ones to impress Audrey.

However, the type of clothing Perry would want to wear would be a plain t-shirt and a denim or materialistic shirt over the top with jeans and suede boots. We looked at other versions of Seymour's costumes and found that a short sleeved plain shirt, with a woollen sweat vest over the top with black jeans and camel suede shoes as an alternative for his weight, suitably and availability.

Audrey
Audrey's Pinterest Page:
https://uk.pinterest.com/katiescott99/audrey/

I have made Audrey a Pinterest page to show my interpretation of her story, costume, makeup and hairstyles. Audrey is portrayed as a dumb blonde, abused, skinny lady with big boobs but she actually has more to her story than people see. In the 1960's, it was common that women were highly abused and raped by their husbands if they didn't listen to their rules or obeyed them. For women to earn a wage they would have go into prostitution or go into a low income job that they'd have to work long hard hours to get a suitable amount, or they marry a man who earns a substantial income. Is this what Audrey's done? Has got herself involved with abusive Orin Scrivello so she can feel taken care of with money and puts up with the torture. In the film and musical Audrey wears restrictive clothing to make her figure look smaller and pops certain appealing areas to men out, such as breasts and bum. It is scientifically proven that 75% of men find women more attractive with bigger breasts, bum and smaller waist than a skinny women as it is more flattering to the body and looks naturalistic.

For Evangeline's costume we decided to have her wear a leopard print dress and a black skinny dress as they are simple and easy to find but also suits Evangeline's body figure as well as the blonde hair that we will curl to look lie Audrey. We will also apply a black eye to show that Orin has been beating her.

Miss Mushnik
Miss Mushnik's Pinterest Page:
https://uk.pinterest.com/katiescott99/mrs-mushnik/

My purpose for Miss Mushnik's Pinterest page was to help my development of the character and a create a mood board of my costume ideas, makeup ideas and hairstyles of the time era. Middle aged women tried to take as much care as they could towards their appearance but de to low salary rates it was hard to look like someone of the higher class. Miss Mushnik will still stick with the original old fashioned style as well as keeping the clothing simplified. I decided to wear a pencil skirt to me knees as it was a suitable length in the 1960's, a white shirt and a camel cardigan with brogue low heels.

The Ronnettes
The Ronnettes Pinterest Page:
https://uk.pinterest.com/katiescott99/the-ronnettes/

The Ronnettes Pinterest page was made to help myself understand the Black lay culture of the 1960's and how they dress, looked and had their hairstyles. From research the black ladies of the 60's wore 'beehives' on their heads. This is called a beehive because of its humungous shape made with hairspray and back combing. For the Ronnettes, they are mix and matching between Glam and Glitz to Shabby and Chic to show the development during the show.

Urchins/Winos
Urchins and Winos Pinterest Page:
https://uk.pinterest.com/katiescott99/urchinswinos/

I have made a Pinterest page for the Urchins and Winos of Little Shop of Horrors to understand what the American version of homeless people looks like. It influences for our characters for Ski Row and show how our costumes would look in the number. From the photos I have found I have seen that they wear oversized jackets, fabrics and blankets as well as having cuts, bruises and swollen parts covering their body.

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Allocated Characters and Script Receiving 

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Allocated Characters and Script Receiving 

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On 23rd of January, we received our script and who was going to be which character.

Perry Porthouse - Seymour

Evangeline Craddock - Audrey

Katie Yates Scott - Ms Mushnik

Sapphire Rance - Audrey 2

Amber Dring - Crystal

Hannah Martin - Tiffani

Holly Fussey - Chiffon

Eleanor Smith Connelly - Ronnette

Danny Butcher - Dentist

Hannah White - Dentist Patient/Skid Rower/Customer

Emmy Ewington - Interviewer/Miss Luce/Skid Rower

Olivia Hussey - Skip Snip

Tamera Barnes - Bernstein

In my honest opinion I am quite upset that I didn't get characters that I auditioned for but I still am a main role which I'm proud to say I am. When we received the scripts we read it through and highlighted our lines and I had a lot more than I had expected, which I liked as it set me a challenge  and I never usually had more than 4 sentences in a show before. When I got home I researched Little Shop of Horrors and what Mrs Mushnik was in he show, although it didn't come up with a character so I watched the movie and found out he was a man!! I was confused on how I was going to portray a male character as a women but I waited for the rehearsals to start thinking about how my character was going to look.

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Etta James was born in January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012 was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind".  She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
James's powerful, earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists.

James received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at the St. Paul Baptist Church, in south-central Los Angeles. Under his tutelage, she suffered physical abuse during her formative years, with her instructor often punching her in the chest while she sang to force her voice to come from her gut. As a consequence, she developed an unusually strong voice for a child her age. She became a popular singing attraction, and Sarge tried unsuccessfully to pressure the church into compensating their family for her singing.

Sarge, like the musical director for the choir, was also abusive. During drunken poker games at home, he would awaken James in the early morning hours and force her with beatings to sing for his friends. She was a bed-wetter and often soaked with urine on these occasions. The trauma of her foster father forcing her to sing under these humiliating circumstances led to difficulties for her to sing on demand throughout her career.
In 1950, Mama Lu died, and James's biological mother took her to the Fillmore district of San Francisco. Within a couple of years, she began listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a girl group, the Creolettes (because of the members' light-skinned complexions).

At the age of 14, she met the musician Johnny Otis. Stories on how they met vary. In Otis's version, she came to his hotel after one of his performances in the city and persuaded him to audition her. Another story was that Otis spotted the Creolettes performing at a Los Angeles nightclub and sought for them to record his "answer song" to Hank Ballard's "Work with Me, Annie". Otis took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches. He also gave the singer her stage name, transposing Jamesetta into Etta James. James recorded the version, for which she was given credit as co-author, in 1954, and the record was released in early 1955 as "Dance with Me, Henry". The original title of the song was "Roll with Me, Henry", but it was changed to avoid censorship due to the off-color title (roll connoting sexual activity). In February of that year, the song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart. Its success gave the group an opening spot on Little Richard's national tour.
While James was on tour with Richard, the pop singer Georgia Gibbs recorded a version of James's song, which was released under the title "The Wallflower" and became a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which angered James. After leaving the Peaches, James had another R&B hit with "Good Rockin' Daddy" but struggled with follow-ups. When her contract with Modern came up for renewal in 1960, she signed a contract with Chess Records instead. Shortly afterwards she was involved in a relationship with the singer Harvey Fuqua, the founder of the doo-wop group the Moonglows.

The musician Bobby Murray, known as Taters, toured with James for 20 years. He wrote that James had her first hit single when she was 15 years old and went steady with B.B. King in Memphis when she was 16. James believed that King's hit single "Sweet Sixteen" was about her. In early 1955, she and an aspiring singer, the 19-year-old Elvis Presley, then recording for Sun Studios and an avid fan of King's, shared a bill in a large club just outside Memphis. In her autobiography, she noted how impressed she was with the young singer's manners. She also recalled how happy he made her many years later when she found out that it was Presley who had moved her close friend Jackie Wilson from a substandard convalescent home to a more appropriate facility and, as she put it, paid all the expenses. Presley died a year later. Wilson went on to live for another ten years in the care center Presley found for him.

James possessed the vocal range of a contralto. Her musical style changed during the course of her career. At the beginning her recording career, in the mid-1950s, James was marketed as an R&B and doo-wop singer. After signing with Chess Records in 1960, James broke through as a traditional pop-styled singer, covering jazz and pop music standards on her debut album, At Last! James's voice deepened and coarsened, moving her musical style in her later years into the genres of soul and jazz

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Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 25, 1942, she is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at the church of her father, minister C. L. Franklin's church. In 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as "Respect", You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman" and "Think". These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade.

Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Barbara and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Her father, who went by the nickname, "C. L.", was an itinerant preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was an accomplished piano player and vocalist. Alongside Franklin, her parents had three other children while both C. L. and Barbara had children from outside their marriage. The family relocated to Buffalo, New York when Franklin was two. Before her fifth birthday, C. L. Franklin permanently relocated the family to Detroit, Michigan where he took over the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church. Franklin's parents had a troubled marriage due to stories of C. L. Franklin's philandering and in 1948, they separated, with Barbara relocating back to Buffalo with her son, Vaughn, from a previous relationship.
Contrary to popular notion, Franklin's mother did not abandon her children; not only would Franklin recall seeing her mother in Buffalo during the summer, Barbara also frequently visited her children in Detroit. Franklin's mother died on March 7, 1952, before Franklin's tenth birthday. Several women, including Franklin's grandmother Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time, Franklin learned how to play piano by ear. Franklin's father's emotionally driven sermons resulted in him being known as the man with the "million-dollar voice" and earning thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. Franklin's celebrity led to his home being visited by various celebrities including gospel musicians Clara Ward, James Cleveland and early Caravans members Albertina Walker and Inez Andrews as well as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke.

Just after her mother's death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn, "Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me". Four years later, when Franklin was 14, her father began managing her, bringing her on the road with him during his so-called "gospel caravan" tours for her to perform in various churches.[15] He helped his daughter get signed to her first recording deal with J.V.B. Records, where her first album, Songs of Faith, was issued in 1956. Two singles were released to gospel radio stations including "Never Grow Old" and "Precious Lord, Take My Hand". Franklin sometimes traveled with The Caravans and The Soul Stirrers during this time and developed a crush on Sam Cooke, who was then singing with the Soul Stirrers before his secular career.
After turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her in 1960. Franklin was signed as a "five-percent artist". During this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances. Before signing with Columbia, Sam Cooke tried to persuade Franklin's father to have his label, RCA sign Franklin. He had also been courted by local record label owner Berry Gordy to sign Franklin and her elder sister Erma to his Tamla label. Franklin's father felt the label was not established enough yet. Franklin's first Columbia single, "Today I Sing the Blues" was issued in September 1960 and later reached the top ten of the Hot Rhythm & Blues Sellers chart.

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On Wednesday 18th January, was our audition for the Final Major Piece of Little Shop of Horrors. Michelle instructed us to perform a song preferably towards the same time era of the show relating to a character that we were auditioning to play. I was auditioning to play The Plant or a Ronnette. These character's in the show are played by strong black roles. These are portrayed as very confident and sassy characters in the show and need to be performed to their full potential to create the correct portrayal towards the audience, so I picked some strong ballads to sing by some inspirational and soulful women for my audition.

I picked the song 'Natural Women' by Aretha Franklin for one of my actions due to being a very soulful singer and it relates to the same singing style as Audrey 2, it would also show off my vocal range clearly and give me an opportunity to show the tutors a song style I haven't sang before.

My Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEWuAcMWDLY

My second choice was Etta James's song 'At Last' for the same reason as I picked Aretha Franklin's as it is a very soulful and emotional song which could again show my dynamics within a song and show off my range. This song is also a very great, well known song that tells a story which is easier to act with instead of singing  a ballad.

My Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-cbOl96RFM

My final song, was controversial towards the others due to not being sang by a strong soulful women, this song is from Grease and is sang by the character Rizo, I wanted to do a character song as it would show my acting and diction throughout the song as I sing, also showing how I portray emotion within my  interpretation of a character. This song is called 'There are worst things I could do'

My Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-cbOl96RFM

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Three "Greek chorus" girls named Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon, introduce the movie, warning the audience that some horror is coming their way Seymour Krelborn and his colleague, Audrey, work at Mushnik's Flower Shop in a run-down, rough neighbourhood referred to as "Skid Row" in the slums of New York City. They lament that they cannot escape the neighbourhood. Struggling from a lack of customers, Mr. Mushnik decides to close the store, but Audrey suggests he may have more success by displaying an unusual plant that Seymour owns. Immediately attracting a customer, Seymour explains he bought the plant, which he dubbed "Audrey II", from a Chinese flower shop during a solar eclipse. Attracting business to Mushnik's shop, the plant soon starts dying, worrying Seymour. Accidentally pricking his finger, he then discovers Audrey II needs human blood to thrive.
Seymour takes Audrey II and is interviewed on the radio, and Audrey misses the broadcast due to being "hand-cuffed a little" by her sadistic, mean-spirited boyfriend Orin Scrivello. The three girls suggest Audrey dump Orin and get another man to protect her, like Seymour, but Audrey states she doesn't deserve a nice guy. Despite this, Audrey has feelings for Seymour and secretly dreams of running off with him to the suburbs. Audrey II continues to grow rapidly and Seymour becomes a local celebrity. Seymour soon attempts to ask Audrey out, but she turns him down because she has a date with her boyfriend, revealed to be a dentist. After Seymour closes up shop, Audrey II begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give. The plant proposes that Seymour murder someone in exchange for fame and fortune: Seymour initially refuses, but agrees after witnessing Orin beating Audrey.
After Orin finishes with his masochistic patient, Arthur Denton, who requested "a long, slow, root canal", Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a revolver; however, he cannot bring himself to use it. Orin, who abuses nitrous oxide, puts on a type of venturi mask to receive a constant flow of the gas. Accidentally breaking an intake valve and unable to remove the mask, Orin begs Seymour for help removing it, but Seymour does nothing. When Orin asks Seymour what he ever did to him, Seymour coldly replies, "Nothing, it's what you did to her." Orin dies from asphyxiation and Seymour drags his body back to Audrey II. While dismembering the body to feed to the plant, Seymour is unknowingly witnessed by Mushnik, who flees in fear.
After feeding Orin's parts to Audrey II, which has grown to enormous size, Seymour discovers the police investigating Orin's disappearance. Audrey, feeling guilty about wishing Orin would disappear, is comforted by Seymour and the two admit their feelings for each other. That night, Mushnik confronts Seymour about what he saw and holds Seymour at gunpoint, threatening to report him to the police. Mushnik then changes his mind, saying that since Seymour was "like a son" to him, he'll allow Seymour to leave town, leaving the plant to Mushnik. With no choice, Seymour steadily backs him towards the plant, which swallows Mushnik whole.
Despite widespread success, Seymour worries about Audrey II's growth and unbridled appetite. Offered money and a contract for a botany TV show, Seymour plans to escape Skid Row with Audrey using the money, leaving the plant to starve. After Audrey accepts Seymour's marriage proposal, Audrey II catches Seymour leaving and demands another meal: Seymour agrees, but insists on meat from a butcher. While Seymour is gone, the plant telephones Audrey, coaxes her into the shop, and then tries to eat her. Seymour, returning in time to save Audrey, escapes the store with her. Explaining that he fed the plant to become successful and win Audrey's heart, Seymour discovers she has always loved him. Approached by an executive from a botanical company named Patrick Martin, Seymour is offered a contract to breed Audrey II and sell the saplings worldwide. Horrified by the idea, Seymour drives Martin away, and realizes he must destroy Audrey II for the sake of humanity.
Returning to the shop, Seymour learns that Audrey II is actually an alien from outer space. Audrey II traps Seymour and destroys the shop, but Seymour grabs an exposed electrical cable and electrocutes Audrey II. Leaving the destroyed shop, Seymour safely reunites with Audrey. The two wed and move to the suburbs: arriving at their new home, which is the one seen in Audrey's daydreams, a smiling Audrey II bud can be seen among the flowers in their front yard.

My Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors_(1986_film)#Plot

The reason i have researched for the plot of the film was because when trying to decide what show to pursue in 'Heathers' or 'Little Shop of Horrors' I needed to research which each show was about otherwise it wouldn't be a fair vote. I decided to go for Little Shop of Horrors as it sounded more interesting and challenging for our class to portray as there are elements for every bodies strengths to show. For Example: Becky and Danny are stronger in their dancing aspects so, as there are 13 numbers needing dancing choreography, we made them the choreographers as it challenges their technique and will help them develop skills in different dance styles of the time era and the varied races included in the show. The Ronnettes in the show are classed as 'Sassy' so Danny ad Becky would research the culture of 'Black' dancing in the 1960's and use them styles to create the choreography for the Ronnettes. In the 1960's, this was the time era of the dance moves 'Twist', 'The HitchHicker', 'Mashed Potato' and the 'Madison' which were popular dance styles lead by very large black idols of the time such as James Brown and  Chubby Checker .

Example of Cultured Dancing Styles: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/history-of-black-dance-20th-century-black-american-dance/

http://www.the60sofficialsite.com/Dance_Crazes_of_the_60s.html

https://www.bing.com/search?q=james+brown&filters=ufn%3a%22James+Brown%22+sid%3a%22172ff0f7-5ef8-da6f-42e4-b0544c53bc23%22&form=EDGNTC&qs=MB&cvid=c659d1c6c2e54a428ea5198954fd4b24&cc=GB&setlang=en-GB&PC=HCTS

https://www.bing.com/search?q=chubby+checker&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=chubby+checker&sc=9-14&sk=&cvid=C0ABB18B426C4EE38AD4ED820BF5607E

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The play is a three-act drama, which takes place on a single night in April 1912, focusing on the prosperous upper middle-class Birling family, who live in a comfortable home in the fictional town of Brumley, "an industrial city in the north Midlands". The family is visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who questions the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman, Eva Smith (also known as Daisy Renton). The family is interrogated and revealed to have been responsible for the young woman's exploitation, abandonment and social ruin, effectively leading to her death. Long considered part of the repertory of classic "drawing room" theatre, the play has also been hailed as a scathing critique of the hypocrisies of Victorian/Edwardian English society and as an expression of Priestley's socialist political principles.

My Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inspector_Calls

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More information: http://bbc.in/1JPMkuP After the suicide of a woman, an Inspector calls to interrogate the wealthy Birling family.

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I found this information was extremely accommodating towards what dark comedy was as I didn't understand what type of films categorized as 'Dark Comedy' as Little Shop of Horrors is supposed to slide into that genre. Where as, I see now fro the films and plays displayed below it shows links between them . For Example, Chicago and Heathers both include large amount of girls and secretly accused of murdering more than 1 person.

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A black comedy (or dark comedy) is a comic work that employs farce and morbid humour, which, in its simplest form, is humour that makes light of subject matter usually considered taboo. Black humour corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humour. Black comedy is often controversial due to its subject matter.

The term black humour (from the French humour noir) was coined by the Surrealist theorist André Breton in 1935 while interpreting the writings of Jonathan Swift. Breton's preference was to identify some of Swift's writings as a subgenre of comedy and satire in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism, often relying on topics such as death. Scholars have associated black humor with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes.
Breton coined the term for his book Anthology of Black Humor (Anthologie de l'humour noir), in which he credited Jonathan Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, and included excerpts from 45 other writers. Breton included both examples in which the wit arises from a victim with which the audience empathizes, as is more typical in the tradition of gallows humor, and examples in which the comedy is used to mock the victim. This victim's suffering is trivialized, which leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as analogously found in the social commentary and social criticism of the writings of Sade. Black humour is also occasionally related to that of the grotesque genre.
Breton identified Swift as the originator of black humour and gallows humor, particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731), A Modest Proposal (1729), A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick (1710), and a few aphorisms.
The terms black comedy or dark comedy have been later derived as alternatives to Breton's term. In black humor, topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in an unusually humorous or satirical manner while retaining their seriousness; the intent of black comedy, therefore, is often for the audience to experience both laughter and discomfort, sometimes simultaneously.

My Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy

I found this information helpful for a clear insight towards Little Shop of Horrors dark and sinister background and why it is used within the story.

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The Black Girl Group from Hairspray (Greek Chorus)

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The Black Girl Group from Hairspray (Greek Chorus)

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In realised after watching Hairspray that the black girl group help Motormouth Maybelle when it came to the riots and lead the story of 'Negro Day' and what it meant in that time era of the film. I used this as a rough inspiration for choreography ideas as the dance moves included nationalize the style of dancing our Ronnettes should be dancing. For Example: The girls used a varied amount of bevelled bopping and exaggerated movement in unison or canon to create an effect way to carry choreography swiftly..

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The New Girl in Town - Hairspray (Movie Clip)

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James Joseph Brown was born in May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006 was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and bandleader. The creator of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul". In a career that spanned six decades, he influenced the development of several music genres.
Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He joined an R&B vocal group, the Gospel Starlighters (which later evolved into the Flames), in which he was the lead singer. First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of the singing group The Famous Flames with the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". During the late 1960s he moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record until his death from congestive heart failure in 2006.
Brown recorded 16 singles that reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts. He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which did not reach number one. Brown has received honors from many institutions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists. He is ranked seventh on the music magazine Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time. Rolling Stone has also cited Brown as the most sampled artist of all time.

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Stereotypes within Little Shop of Horrors

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Stereotypes within Little Shop of Horrors

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What is a stereotype?

A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Stereotypes are characteristics imposed upon groups of people because of their race, nationality and sexual orientation, among others.

A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.”

My Sources:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-meaning-of-stereotype-2834956

https://www.bing.com/search?q=stereotype+defintion&form=EDGNTC&qs=PF&cvid=d06c7d85043a474bbe69924f4e60010c&cc=GB&setlang=en-GB&PC=HCTS

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Stereotypes within Little Shop of Horrors

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I found this helpful to take inspiration for an insight of the Ronnettes and what they were to act like in the Little Shop of Horrors as I hadn't watched Little Shop of Horrors before I watched Hercules. I had grown up watching the film and admired the Muses for being sassy and sang beautifully as a group while telling the viewers the characters emotions and actions throughout the film.

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An example of Greek Chorus is the 'Muses' from the Disney animated movie Hercules. The five goddesses of the arts, sing the tales of the god Hercules in an ancient Greek 'Gospel Choir' manor. They are described as the Greek Chorus as they also lead a song, story or stimulus with the use of singing, dancing and actions.

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A Greek chorus, or simply chorus in the context of Ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes wore masks.

My Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_chorus

In Little Shop of Horrors, the Ronnettes were classed as the 'Greek Chorus' in the movie due to singing in unison and consistently narrate throughout the adaption what is happening through song or dance form. For Example: In the song 'Da-Doo', Seymour starts to talk about how he found the plant 'Audrey 2' and while he does the girl group end his sentences and perform actions that relate to what Seymour is saying to create a story.

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From the film Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)

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Little Shop of Horrors - Musical Trailer 

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Little Shop of Horrors - Musical Trailer 

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I found that these trailers of Musicals and Movies helped us discover which ending we were going to attempt when it came to our show, even though as we were doing a musical we were supposed to do the original ending we considered which one would be easier and more effective to perform.

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Little Shop of Horrors // UK Tour 2016 // Show Trailer

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Sell a Door's Little Shop of Horrors UK Tour For full tour details visit http://www.littleshopuktour.com/

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Little Shop of Horrors (1960) - Movie Trailer 

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Little Shop of Horrors (1960) - Movie Trailer 

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The Little Shop of Horrors (Trailer 1960)

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The Little Shop of Horrors is a comedic horror film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood.

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Little Shop of Horrors (1986) - Movie Trailer 

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Little Shop of Horrors (1986) - Movie Trailer 

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Movie to Musical within Little Shop of Horrors

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Movie to Musical within Little Shop of Horrors

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Little Shop of Horrors also has a movie to musical background, however it has had two movies before the musical was released. Little Shop of Horrors first released a 1960's film which was categorized as a black comedy horror movie produced by roger Corman. The writer Charles B. Griffith wrote this movie about a florist assistant who endeavours a flesh eating plant who wants to rule the world. However, another movie was made in 1986 produced by David Geffen and written by Howard Ashman. The ending was completely different, it ends with the florist assistant and his love companion to get married and live in a sweet suburban home.

Nevertheless, the musicals version did repeat and move back to the concept of the plant ruling the world using more uses of songs and dancing to portray it.

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This was useful information so when it came to Little Shop of Horrors I had more inspiration and insight of other films that had been made into Musicals

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The Wizard Of Oz - London Palladium Trailer

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http://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/796/Wizard-of-Oz-tickets.aspx Follow the yellow brick road over the rainbow and into The London Palladium, the capital's home of the family musical. Starring Michael Crawford as The Wizard and Danielle Hope (winner of the BBC's smash hit Over The Rainbow) as Dorothy.

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Wicked UK | The Award-Winning Musical | (2min Official Trailer)

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The film of Wizard of Oz was made in 1939 produced by Metro Goldwyn-Mayer starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, after a gap of 72 years staying as a classic movie, Andrew Lloyd Webber took the concept and turned it into #1 hit Musical in the West End on the 1st March 2011 to then close on 2nd September 2012. However, on June 10th 2003 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco 'WICKED' the musical came into the scene. Wicked is an adaptation of a mixture between the Wizard of Oz and the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

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Matilda The Musical Official West End Trailer

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Book your tickets here: http://bit.ly/1yJvWdq Matilda is a gifted child with woefully inadequate parents. Her Mum is more interested in ballroom dancing, while Dad insists that her beloved books will cause 'verrucas of the soul'. And the rot doesn't stop there - Matilda's horrible headmistress Miss Trunchbull is on a mission to lock up as many children in 'the chokey' as possible.

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A Movie to Musical is a conceptacle idea of taking a popular movie or stimulus and turning it into a musical adding professional dancing choreography, dramatic ballads and meaningful acting. An example of Movie to Musical is 'Matilda', the first concept of Matilda came form a illustrated book written by Roahl Dahl. It was first published in 1st October 1988 by Jonathan Cape and was adapted into an audiobook read by Kate Winslet. 9 years later, Michael Shamberg produced a live action picture co-directed by Danny DeVito on 2nd August 1996. What made this film huge was the stars that were included and a making of a book as a movie, Danny DeVito is starring as Harry Wormwood, Mara Wilson as Matilda and Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull. Later on...14 years later, Denis Kelly then adapted the family loved film and made it into a fun-filled Musical suitable for any ages! The Royal Shakespeare Company premiered at the Stratford Upon Avon in November of 2010 to then move to the Cambridge theatre in the West End. It became that popular that Broadway was interested and took it on April 11th 2013.

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The disembodied lips of model Lorelei Shark are featured on posters and other merchandise for the film, with the tagline "A Different Set of Jaws", a spoof of the poster for the film Jaws (which was also produced in 1975).

This contrasts the Rocky Horror's lustre, horror/sci-fi image using the technique of a red biting lip as a seduced insight of the film genre. Whereas, the picture of Jaws shows the distressing fear of a humungous shark going to eat a swimmer which creates the genre of the film. Both posters are using the facial feature of teeth to create a different portrayal and creating a montage around the facial feature to give a contrasting category for each film.

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Examples of B-Movies - Rocky Horror Picture Show 

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Examples of B-Movies - Rocky Horror Picture Show 

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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new generation of low-budget film companies emerged that drew from all the different lines of exploitation as well as the sci-fi and teen themes that had been a mainstay since the 1950s.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), an inexpensive film from 20th Century Fox that spoofed all manner of classic B picture clichés, became an unparalleled hit when it was relaunched as a late show feature the year after its initial, unprofitable release. Even as Rocky Horror generated its own subcultural phenomenon, it contributed to the mainstreaming of the theatrical midnight movie.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical comedy horror film directed by Jim Sharman. The story centres on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle where they seek a telephone to call for help. The castle is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. They discover the head of the house is Frank N. Furter, an apparent mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite who creates a living muscle man in his laboratory. The couple is seduced separately by the mad scientist and eventually released by the servants who take control.

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Piranha is a 1978 American satirical B horror film directed and co-edited by Joe Dante, and starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller. Set at a summer resort river, the film concerns the resort's partygoers being under attack and devoured by genetically-altered piranhas which were accidentally released into the river. Produced by Roger Corman, Piranha is a parody of the 1975 film Jaws, which had been a major success for distributor Universal Studios and director Steven Spielberg, and inspired a series of similarly themed B movies such as Grizzly and Orca.

Initially, Universal Studios had considered an injunction because of the film's satirizing, but the lawsuit was cancelled and allowed to continue the film for its release date after Steven Spielberg's gave a positive thought for the film in advance. Released on August 3, 1978, the film was a critical and commercial success and has later achieved a cult following. Piranha was followed by a sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning, in 1981, and two remakes, one in 1995, and another in 2010, which spawned its own sequel in 2012.

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Beetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy-fantasy film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros. The plot revolves around a recently deceased young couple who become ghosts haunting their former home, and an obnoxious, devious ghost named Betelgeuse (pronounced "Beetlejuice"), from the Netherworld who tries to scare away the new inhabitants permanently.

After the success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Burton was sent several scripts and became disheartened by their lack of imagination and originality. When he was sent Michael McDowell's original script for Beetlejuice, Burton agreed to direct, although Larry Wilson and later Warren Skaaren were hired to rewrite it. Beetlejuice was a critical and commercial success, grossing $73.7 million from a budget of $15 million. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and three Saturn Awards: Best Horror Film, Best Makeup and Best Supporting Actress for Sylvia Sidney, her final award before her death in 1999.

The film spawned an animated television series that Burton produced and a planned unproduced sequel, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.

Beetlejuice is classed as a B Movie as it may have been a high income film but the filming quality looks like is has a permanent foggy blur over the top and the special effects are extremely poor which show the lack of money put into the production side of the film.

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A couple of home-loving ghosts need to be rid of a group of pretentious, trendsetting humans, who have taken over their house and made 'living'extremely difficult. They enlist the aid of a bio-exorcist in the hope that he can scare the unwanted guests away. (Original Title - Beetlejuice) © 1988 Geffen Film Company.

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A B movie is a low-budget commercial movie, but one that is not an arthouse film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature. Although the U.S. production of movies intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s, the term B movie continues to be used in the broader sense it maintains today. In its post–Golden Age usage, there is ambiguity on both sides of the definition: on the one hand, the primary interest of many inexpensive exploitation films is prurient; on the other, many B movies display a high degree of craft and aesthetic ingenuity.
In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre—the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in the 1950s. Early B movies were often part of series in which the star repeatedly played the same character. Almost always shorter than the top-billed films they were paired with, many had running times of 70 minutes or less. The term connoted a general perception that B movies were inferior to the more handsomely budgeted headliners; individual B films were often ignored by critics.
Latter-day B movies still sometimes inspire multiple sequels, but series are less common. As the average running time of top-of-the-line films increased, so did that of B pictures. In its current usage, the term has somewhat contradictory connotations: it may signal an opinion that a certain movie is (a) a genre film with minimal artistic ambitions or (b) a lively, energetic film uninhibited by the constraints imposed on more expensive projects and unburdened by the conventions of putatively "serious" independent film. The term is also now used loosely to refer to some higher-budgeted, mainstream films with exploitation-style content, usually in genres traditionally associated with the B movie.
From their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided opportunities both for those coming up in the profession and others whose careers are waning. Celebrated filmmakers such as Anthony Mann and Jonathan Demme learned their craft in B movies. They are where actors such as John Wayne and Jack Nicholson first became established, and they have provided work for former A movie actors, such as Vincent Price and Karen Black. Some actors, such as Bela Lugosi, Eddie Constantine and Pam Grier, worked in B movies for most of their careers. The term B actor is sometimes used to refer to a performer who finds work primarily or exclusively in B pictures.

In 1927–28, at the end of the silent era, the production cost of an average feature from a major Hollywood studio ranged from $190,000 at Fox to $275,000 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. That average reflected both "specials" that might cost as much as $1 million and films made quickly for around $50,000. These cheaper films (not yet called B movies) allowed the studios to derive maximum value from facilities and contracted staff in between a studio's more important productions, while also breaking in new personnel. Studios in the minor leagues of the industry, such as Columbia Pictures and Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), focused on exactly those sorts of cheap production. Their movies, with relatively short running times, targeted theaters that had to economize on rental and operating costs, particularly small-town and urban neighborhood venues, or "nabes". Even smaller production houses, known as Poverty Row studios, made films whose costs might run as low as $3,000, seeking a profit through whatever bookings they could pick up in the gaps left by the larger concerns.

Warner Bros.'s Lights of New York (1928) was made for less than $23,000. Soon, director Bryan Foy's association with Vitaphone would help vault the studio toward Hollywood's major leagues. With the widespread arrival of sound film in American theaters in 1929, many independent exhibitors began dropping the then-dominant presentation model, which involved live acts and a broad variety of shorts before a single featured film. A new programming scheme developed that would soon become standard practice: a newsreel, a short and/or serial, and a cartoon, followed by a double feature. The second feature, which screened before the main event, cost the exhibitor less per minute than the equivalent running time in shorts. The majors' "clearance" rules favouring their affiliated theatres prevented the independents' timely access to top-quality films; the second feature allowed them to promote quantity instead. The additional movie also gave the program "balance"—the practice of pairing different sorts of features suggested to potential customers that they could count on something of interest no matter what specifically was on the bill. The low-budget picture of the 1920s thus evolved into the second B movie feature, of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Websites used:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

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The origins of Broadway history in New York did not begin until 1750 when Thomas Kean and Walter Murray opened a theatre company on Nassau Street. This theatre was large enough to hold 280 patrons and typically put on Shakespearian plays and ballad operas. Broadway theatre, commonly known as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District and Lincoln Centre along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theatre District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, for the 2015–2016 season (which ended May 22, 2016), total attendance was 13,317,980. The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues, "'Broadway musicals,' culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms of American popular culture" and helped make New York City the cultural capital of the nation.
New York did not have a significant theatre presence until about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera. In 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist. The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the year the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street (now called Park Row). The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, and especially so with the arrival of the Virginia Minstrels in the 1840s.
By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblo's Garden opened and soon became one of New York's premiere nightspots. The 3,000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmo's Opera House opened and presented opera for only four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burton's Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847. A riot broke out in 1849 when the lower-class patrons of the Bowery objected to what they perceived as snobbery by the upper-class audiences at Astor Place: "After the Astor Place Riot of 1849, entertainment in New York City was divided along class lines: opera was chiefly for the upper middle and upper classes, minstrel shows and melodramas for the middle class, variety shows in concert saloons for men of the working class and the slumming middle class."

The plays of William Shakespeare were frequently performed on the Broadway stage during the period, most notably by American actor Edwin Booth who was internationally known for his performance as Hamlet. Booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865 (with the run ending just a few months before Booth's brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln), and would later revive the role at his own Booth's Theatre (which was managed for a time by his brother Junius Brutus Booth, Jr.). Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, and Charles Fechter.
Lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompson's troupe called the "British Blondes", was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season. "The eccentricities of pantomime and burlesque with their curious combination of comedy, parody, satire, improvisation, song and dance, variety acts, cross-dressing, extravagant stage effects, risqué jokes and saucy costumes while familiar enough to British audiences, took New York by storm." The six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years.
Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate. In 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Theatres did not arrive in the Times Square area until the early 1900s, and the Broadway theatres did not consolidate there until a large number of theatres were built around the square in the 1920s and 1930s. Broadway's first "long-run" musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keene's "musical burletta" The Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keene's troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, D.C. that Abraham Lincoln was shot.

The Black Crook (1866), considered by some historians to be the first musical. Poster for the 1873 revival by The Kiralfy Brothers. The first theatre piece that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is The Black Crook, which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy"
A Trip to Chinatown (1891) became Broadway's long-run champion, holding the stage for 657 performances. This would not be surpassed until Irene in 1919. In 1896, theatre owners Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger formed the Theatrical Syndicate, which controlled almost every legitimate theatre in the US. for the next sixteen years. However, smaller vaudeville and variety houses proliferated, and Off-Broadway was well established by the end of the 19th century.

A Trip to Coontown (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (largely inspired by the routines of the minstrel shows), followed by the ragtime-tinged Clorindy: The Origin of the Cakewalk (1898), and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s made up of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards, John Walter Bratton, and George M. Cohan (Little Johnny Jones (1904), 45 Minutes From Broadway (1906), and George Washington Jr. (1906). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with a few exceptions, compared with London runs, until World War I. A few very successful British musicals continued to achieve great success in New York, including Florodora in 1900–01.
Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 (The Mulligan Guard Picnic) and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. These musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from the everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step forward from vaudeville and burlesque, towards a more literate form. They starred high quality singers (Lillian Russell, Vivienne Segal, and Fay Templeton), instead of the women of questionable repute who had starred in earlier musical forms.
As transportation improved, poverty in New York diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night, the number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. As in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women. Gilbert and Sullivan's family-friendly comic opera hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, were imported to New York (by the authors and also in numerous unlicensed productions). They were imitated in New York by American productions such as Reginald Dekoven's Robin Hood (1891) and John Philip Sousa's El Capitan (1896), along with operas, ballets and other British and European hits.

In the early years of the 20th century, translations of popular late-19th century continental operettas were joined by the "Princess Theatre" shows of the 1910s by writers such as P. G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, and Harry B. Smith. Victor Herbert, whose work included some intimate musical plays with modern settings as well as his string of famous operettas (The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), and Naughty Marietta (1910).
Beginning with The Red Mill, Broadway shows installed electric signs outside the theatres. Since colored bulbs burned out too quickly, white lights were used, and Broadway was nicknamed "The Great White Way". In August 1919, the Actors' Equity Association demanded a standard contract for all professional productions. After a strike shut down all the theatres, the producers were forced to agree. By the 1920s, the Shubert Brothers had risen to take over most the theatres from the Erlanger syndicate. During this time, the play Lightnin', by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon, became the first Broadway show to reach 700 performances. From then, it would go on to become the first show to reach 1,000 performances. Lightnin' was the longest-running Broadway show until being overtaken in performance totals by Abie's Irish Rose in 1925.

After the lean years of the Great Depression, Broadway theatre had entered a golden age with the blockbuster hit Oklahoma! In 1943, which ran for 2,212 performances. According to John Kenrick writing of Broadway musicals, "Every season saw new stage musicals send songs to the top of the charts. Public demand, a booming economy and abundant creative talent kept Broadway hopping. To this day, the shows of the 1950s form the core of the musical theatre repertory."  Kenrick notes that "the late 1960s marked a time of cultural upheaval. The changes would prove painful for many—including those behind the scenes, as well as those in the audience." Of the 1970s, Kenrick writes: "Just when it seemed that traditional book musicals were back in style, the decade ended with critics and audiences giving mixed signals."  Ken Bloom observed that "The 1960s and 1970s saw a worsening of the area [Times Square] and a drop in the number of legitimate shows produced on Broadway." By way of comparison, in the 1950 to 1951 season (May to May) 94 productions opened on Broadway; in the 1969 to 1970 season (June to May) there were 59 productions (fifteen were revivals). In the twenties, there were 70–80 theatres but by 1969 there were 36 left.
In the spring of 1982, Joe Papp, the theatrical producer and director who established The Public Theatre, led the "Save the Theatres" campaign. It was a not-for-profit group supported by the Actors Equity union, to save the theatre buildings in the neighbourhood from demolition by monied Manhattan development interests. Papp provided resources, recruited a publicist and celebrated actors, and provided audio, lighting, and technical crews for the effort.
At Papp's behest, in July 1982, a bill was introduced in the 97th Congress, entitled "H.R.6885, A bill to designate the Broadway/Times Square Theatre District in the City of New York as a national historic site". The legislation would have provided certain US government resources and assistance to help the city preserve the district. Faced with strong opposition and lobbying by Mayor Ed Koch's Administration and corporate Manhattan development interests, the bill was not passed. The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts to supporting establishment of the Theater District as a registered historic district. In December 1983, Save the Theatres prepared "The Broadway Theater District, a Preservation Development and Management Plan", and demanded that each theater in the district receive landmark designation. Mayor Ed Koch ultimately reacted by creating a Theater Advisory Council, which included Papp.
Originally coined by the New York Evening Telegram, "The Great White Way" refers to the Theatre District area of Broadway, which encompasses 42nd St to 53rd St in Midtown. Beginning in the early-1900's, Broadway theatres used bright electric signs made up of white lights to advertise shows. Soon, the bright lights of Broadway NYC would become known as "The Great White Way," giving birth to a new NYC landmark. It was also around this time that Broadway theatres finally made their way to Times Square NY. After a great New York Broadway run in the 1920's saw the premiere of a few classic Broadway shows - including The Jazz Singer and No, No, Nanette - Broadway was faced with the uncertainty of The Great Depression. The number of Broadway shows dwindled in the 1930's, as famous Broadway producers found themselves out of money and out on the street like so many other Americans. However, much like New York City has again and again, Broadway would soon persevere.

At the start off the 20th century the “Princess theatre” shows became popular. These were shows written by Victor Herbert, Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse that staged musical plays set in modern times. Some of the most popular shows include Naught Marietta, The Red Mill and Babes in Toyland. It was during this time that the famous Broadway electric signs began with The Red Mill as the first show with its own sign. White lights were used as coloured bulbs burned out very quickly, providing the nickname “The Great White Way”. In 1919, standard contracts were required for all professional productions as stated by the Actors Equity Association. Theatre experienced a low period when motion pictures had sound.
Additionally, the music of the Roaring Twenties infiltrated theatre and did not tend to favour shows with a plot but instead showcased the lead actor or actresses. It was during this time that the Ziegfeld revues, mainly song and dance performances, were very popular. It was during this time that many of the most well-known musical composers created shows. Some of the most well-known include Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Vincent Youmans, Jerome Kern, Noel Coward and Rodgers and Hart.

Show Boat was the show that allowed drama to come back to Broadway as it had a completely integrated score and book that was all based on dramatic themes. After the Great Depression, Broadway entered its golden age with many blockbuster hits running for more than a thousand shows. Oklahoma! Is one of the longest running musicals with 2,212 performances. During the 1920s the American playwright also became prominent with plays by Eugene O’Neil, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Maxwell Anderson and Elmer Rice emerging. This was also the start of revivals with many Shakespearian productions being revived as with George Bernard Shaw plays. Some of the most notable actors of these revivals were John Gielgud, John B.

Websites used:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_theatre
http://spotlightonbroadway.com/broadway-history
http://www.nyctourist.com/broadway-theater-history.htm

I used these websites to research the historic version of Broadway, how it arised and what makes it such a fantastic tourist attraction. This relates to Little Shop show because it originated as a Musical in Broadway and has been rived multiple times since the 1980's.

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The purpose of this powerpoint was to express research done by a student and gives the rest of the class more in-depth awareness of that certain subject.

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Broadway's History in Little Shop of Horrors

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Broadway's History in Little Shop of Horrors

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Little Shop of Horrors opened on May 6, 1982 as a workshop production of the Players’ Art Theatre and on July 27th, it opened off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre in New York’s East Village. Despite offers to open in a Broadway theatre, director Howard Ashman, who was also the librettist and lyricist, felt that the show was better suited to an off-Broadway venue. The show ran off-Broadway for 2,209 performances and closed on November 1, 1987. At the time of its closing, Little Shop of Horrors was the third-longest running show, as well as the highest-grossing, in off-Broadway history. The original production starred Lee Wilkof, Ellen Greene, and Ron Taylor. Ellen Greene also reprised the role of Audrey in the West End premiere, and in the popular 1986 film adaptation.

Little Shop of Horrors is based on a 1960’s B-movie film of the same name, directed cult film favourite, Roger Corman. The doo-wop and early Motown style score was written by Alan Menken with lyrics and book by Howard Ashman. This was the duo’s second collaboration and they would go on to collaborate on the scores for Walt Disney classics such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. The original ending, in which Audrey and Mushnik survive to witness the plants destructive activities, was modified in the theatrical adaptation, in which the plant devours the entire cast.

In 2003, an $8 million revival of Little Shop of Horrors was planned with the goal of opening on Broadway. A $1 million pre-Broadway production debuted at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida on May 16, 2003. Lee Wilkof, who originated the role of Seymour in 1982, was cast as Mr. Mushnik. The production was directed by Wilkof's wife, Connie Grappo, who was the assistant to Howard Ashman during the original production. Puppeteer, Martin P. Robinson, who designed the original Audrey II puppets, enlisted friends at The Jim Henson Company to create new, high tech puppets for the show. Hunter Foster and Alice Ripley played Seymour and Audrey, and the prologue was recited by Robert Stack.

Critics complained that by expanding the show to fit a larger theatre, its intimacy was lost; they also judged several actors as miscast, although the Miami Herald declared that "Alice Ripley's Audrey – part lisping Kewpie doll (a la Ellen Greene, who originated the role), part dental punching bag – is heartbreakingly adorable.” In June 2003, the producers announced that the Broadway production was canceled. Nevertheless, within weeks, they ousted Grappo in favor of veteran Broadway director Jerry Zaks, who fired everyone in the cast, except Foster, and redirected the production from scratch. New casting was announced in July.

The musical made its Broadway debut at the Virginia Theatre on October 2, 2003 with Foster as Seymour, Kerry Butler as Audrey, Rob Bartlett as Mr. Mushnik, Douglas Sills as Orin, Michael-Leon Wooley as the voice of Audrey II and DeQuina Moore as Chiffon. Although this was the first time it had played on Broadway, the show's success in film and numerous regional productions made it fall under the "Revival" category for the 2003 Tony Awards. Foster was nominated for the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance. The revival was faithful to the original 1982 production. Changes included the expanded version of the title song heard in the 1986 film, and expanded "You Never Know" with a "WSKID" radio introduction, and a revised Act I Finale and added Entr'acte before "Call Back in the Morning." The orchestrations were beefed up for the bigger theatre to add reeds, trumpets and percussion to the original 5-piece combo. In the finale, a gigantic Audrey II extended over the audience to snap its hungry jaws. The cast album was released on October 21, 2003. Demo recordings to five songs ("A Little Dental Music", "The Worse He Treats Me", "We'll Have Tomorrow", "Bad" and "I Found a Hobby") cut during the development process of the musical were included as bonus material for the album. The production closed on August 22, 2004 after 40 previews and 372 regular performances. The closing Broadway cast included Joey Fatone as Seymour. On August 10, 2004, a U.S. national tour of the Broadway production began, with Anthony Rapp starring as Seymour, Tari Kelly as Audrey and Lenny Wolpe as Mushnik. The tour closed April 16, 2006 in Columbus, Ohio.

A production began previews on November 17, 2006 at the Menier Chocolate Factory. This revival, directed by Matthew White, featured a new Audrey II designed by David Farley, resembling the pitcher plant. The production was a critical and commercial success and transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End in March 2007. In June 2007, the show transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre, where it ended its run-on September 8, 2007.

The cast featured Paul Keating as Seymour, Sheridan Smith as Audrey, Alistair McGowan as Orin, and Mike McShane providing the voice of Audrey II Smith and McGowan received 2008 Laurence Olivier Award nominations, and the production was nominated for Best Musical Revival. The production toured the UK in 2008–2009. A UK tour began on August 4, 2016, directed by Tara Wilkinson, starring Sam Lupton as Seymour, Stephanie Clift as Audrey and Rhydian Roberts as Orin. It is produced by Sell a Door Theatre Company and has venues booked through November 26, 2016.

Websites used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors_(musical)
https://www.mtishows.com/little-shop-of-horrors
http://broadway.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors

The research I have found relates to our show as it explains the history of the show, how it was made and the different locations that the show had used for a venue. I found this helpful when reading through the script and comparing the musical to the movie as the musical had included more songs such as 'Ya Never Know', 'Call back in the Morning' and 'Mushnik and Son'.