Act II | Little Shop of Horrors | Original Off-Broadway Production

Here is a video recording of act two of the original off-Broadway production of "Little Shop of Horrors," filmed from the audience in June of 1984 at the Orpheum Theatre. Directed by Howard Ashman, who also supplied the musical's book and lyrics, the music was composed by Alan Menken.
Fyvush Finkel served as the understudy for Mr. Mushnik in the original cast, while Brad Moraz served as the understudy for Seymour, Audrey II, and Orin / Everyone Else. Marsha Waterbury (then going by the name Marsha Skaggs) would go on to play Audrey in a few regional productions of Little Shop, as well as an English-language production that toured Japan between 1986 and 1987.
The video has been stabilized using KZbin..
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CAST
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Brad Moranz............................Seymour
Marsha Skaggs.......................Audrey
Fyvush Finkel...........................Mr. Mushnik
Jennifer Leigh Warren.............Crystal
Sheila Kay Davis.......................Ronnette
Leilani Jones............................Chiffon
Robert Frisch............................Orin / Everyone Else
Lynn Hippen..............................Derelict / Audrey II (Manipulation)
Ron Taylor.................................Voice of Audrey II
***************
PRODUCTION
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(Based on Opening Night)
David Geffen.............................Producer
Cameron Mackintosh..............Producer
Shubert Organization...............Producer
WPA Theatre.............................Producer
Howard Ashman.......................Book
Howard Ashman.......................Lyricist
Alan Menken.............................Composer
Howard Ashman.......................Director
Edie Cowan...............................Musical Staging
Edward T. Gianfrancesco.........Set Designer
Sally J. Lesser...........................Costume Designer
Craig Evans................................Lighting Designer
Otts Munderloh.........................Sound Designer
Martin P. Robinson....................Puppet Designer
Albert Poland..............................General Manager
Warren Knowlton........................Press Representative
Kevin Patterson..........................Press Representative
Milly Schoenbaum......................Press Representative
Solters/Roskin/Friedman Inc.....Press Representative
Paul Mills Holmes.......................Production Stage Manager
Robert Billig.................................Vocal Arrangements
Robby Merkin..............................Orchestrations
Robert Billig.................................Music Supervisor
Steve Gelfand..............................Guitar
Robby Merkin...............................Keyboards
Steve Ferrara................................Percussion
Robert Billig..................................Piano

[@LittleShopArchive]

Happy Little Shop day :)

[@eliechavarria7703]

The Little Shop Archive 31:53 lol 😅😅😅😅🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂

[@eweezy3596]

What’s little shop day

[@kooperdouglasmilburn2263]

E Weezy is that not every day

[@christianmagoon5968]

Act I, and II | Little Shop of Horrors | Original Off-Broadway Production *************** CAST *************** Lee Wilkof............................Seymour Ellen Greene.......................Audrey Hy Anzell...........................Mr. Mushnik Jennifer Leigh Warren.............Crystal Sheila Kay Davis.......................Ronnette Marlene Danielle............................Chiffon Franc Luz............................Orin Scrivello / Everyone Else Martin P. Robinson..............................Derelict / Audrey II (Manipulation) Ron Taylor.................................Voice of Audrey II

[@notsusan]

people who snuck cameras in like this are honestly heroic, other than some PBS recordings for some shows, there's so much theater history lost otherwise

[@dylanwho209]

A lot has been preserved by the toft archive though

[@zachlabbadia]

Dylan Who true, I actually watched it with pretty much the same cast except it was with Ron Taylor

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

@@zachlabbadia Where?

[@zachlabbadia]

Seymour Krelborn at the Lincoln center library of performing arts in their taped theatrical performances division

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

@@zachlabbadia Thank you

[@kimlechman5856]

This is a prime example of never underestimating the power of Pff-Broadway, because even now, this still looks great

[@beaellie9766]

I saw this show around this time period. The newness of it, the novelty of, and the SURPRISE of it all was unlike anything I had seen in the theatre. Such a memorable and fun night! Her delivery of the line, "something's very wrong here" had me burst out laughing, still today!

[@chocolatesouljah]

Thta line is at around 23:40

[@soulfur1031]

I like the idea of Audrey II having "wing branches" that were shown at the end of the musical

[@ladonnalewis4920]

Wing branches? I call them death arms because they look like arms

[@joedaylight]

I love how audrey 2 come towards the audience with giant bat wings and the dead cast singing as flowers.

[@smurf902]

This is the original Off-Bway production but it's 1984. This opened in 1982 and ran all the way till November 1987, roughly 1 year after the movie came out. Ellen Greene left the production in 1983 (1 year after the show opened) to do the show on the West End (London) and then did the movie in 1986. Fun fact: Faith Prince was originally cast in the role, but she backed out and Ellen became the original Audrey. And history was made...because we all know Ellen was fantastic. Faith did later do the role later in the run.

[@Moonfire121]

"HAAAVE JUST WITNESSED" is the best part of this entire production, everyone else can go home.

[@hunterolaughlin]

Not gonna lie, if I were alive back in the 80s and saw this show in the front row aisle and during the final number when Audrey II approaches the audience, I would have shat my pants.

[@PeteCalandra]

Just some clarification for the band. At this time (1984) the band lineup was Robby Merkin Piano, me on Keyboards, Steve Gelfand on bass and Mark Belair on Drums. Thanks...

[@michaelwilliamybarra2409]

There was no guitar? Either way, you guys sounded GREAT!!! 👍

[@c.w.r.794]

You did keyboards? Excellent work!

[@grmmrc]

awesome

[@morganghostbusters-egonfan]

You did an amazing job

[@HalfassDIY]

Wow, somebody saved this a long time !

[@luvz2reed]

I can't believe this was going on basically around the block when I was at college in New York. The original production is awesome. The intimacy, you can understand all the lyrics, and the surprise vine drop at the end is everything theatre in the city was back then. Thank you for posting this. My heart is yearning to go back and do everything I missed out on.

[@treesny]

A friend who saw the original production at the WPA Theater (prior to the Off-Broadway run at the Orpheum) said that in the intimate space the vine drop was truly terrifying!

[@Joshua_Quinzel_Isley]

This is the coolest Little Shop show I've ever seen! The puppets, the set and everything else is amazing!

[@OptimusPhillip]

Glad to finally have footage of the original puppet

[@franroe6734]

I remember seeing this show on the balcony. And when the end song showed up the walls freaked me out because the plant showed up as puppets singing along. It was a 3D experience I did not expect. Made me feel so freaked out but I freaked loved the experience. They don’t do that now with the new shows in nyc.

[@davidpacheco7124]

Saw this show Off Broadway 8 times back in the day. Loved it!!! 💕❤💓💗💞💖

[@orangecoatguy]

Just finished an amature production of this and it's great to see the original!

[@KhjjnJustDance]

That was a great musical!!! One of my favorite musicals besides The Rocky Horror Show and I love how it was played out on the 1982 version of the musical!!!!!!

[@Driggs425]

I like how the cast is singing through the flower peadels

[@aqfanatic]

Little shop is absolutely my favorite movie and one of my favorite musicals. To see this video of the original run... I literally am almost crying. Thank you so much for making this channel this is everything to me.

[@laurafrakinroslin]

This is the best non-Ellen Greene Audrey I’ve seen

[@hardiehardley]

I thought Ellen Greene was the original Audrey in the stage production. Or had she left by this point, only to be called back for the movie?

[@hardiehardley]

@Rooby Roo I remember attening the london show ten years ago. Sheridan Smith was better than broadway.

[@kevindavis296]

I like Ellen Greene. I'd like to see her in this. I thought this was the original 1980 Broadway play

[@onnapnewo]

@@kevindavis296 This was the original production of the show, but this performance was from about two years after the show initially opened. Several of the original cast had left the show by this point.

[@littleshopofhorrorsworkpri1309]

Oh, wow! Glad someone else recorded this, haha! Finally can watch this on the big screen.

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

You should point a camera at and recording yours off the screen as a temporary measure Also, have you found a way to send a video signal out of the device that it is on so that you can capture it?

[@dantemaritato]

How did they manipulate the puppet. It’s incredible!

[@Joshua_Quinzel_Isley]

There's a few videos on how they manipulate the plant puppets for the show you can find somewhere around KZbin.

[@castle3267]

Okay I could be wrong but how most productions do it and how I believe they could have done it was there was a person in there and the bottom was their legs and the top of the mouth was the persons arms

[@quentinquale1694]

@@castle3267 Monkey Boys Productions has a set of plants based off the Bway revival -- Martin P. Robinson designed the plants for the off-Bway production as well as the revival. Anyway, they demonstrate how to work the pod, if you watch this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b166o6eanLF1a9k

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

@@quentinquale1694 Plant number 4 in this set kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfSZn6ahahgf9k is closer to the Off-Broadway one, being made of foam rather than fibreglass, having the weight of the puppet be lifted by the legs just above the knees, and having a strap to manipulate the bottom jaw rather than a bar.

[@heartloveandflowers]

She dies in the musical???? Oh my god! I saw the movie first! I didn't know it ends that way!

[@sebyes848]

U can watch the bad ending movie version in dvd

[@kaafan91]

at least the plant showed respect by not chewing audrey

[@briellec7173]

DAMN this is incredible, wow thanks so much, your channel is honestly so important to this LSOH fan!!😀 do you know if there's a recording with Ellen Greene? That would be something

[@williammclean5897]

this was filmed after Ellen left to do the show in London

[@emperorpalpatine1986]

Yes there is with visuals lee wilkoff and ellen greene

[@emperorpalpatine1986]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGXXlZeIrJt9jLc

[@emperorpalpatine1986]

Time stamp in the link 1:19

[@Lionloverky]

It looks like the eaten peoples faces are puppets in this version at the end

[@robertlauncher]

A reference to the original black and white film, where the victims’ faces are in the pods

[@colbyjones7486]

Because they are

[@bennetishere4411]

They are

[@Itstonytime77]

Marsha is also in the video from the Japanese version, but the direction in that one is super broad and way more over the top, I prefer this performance.

[@franklesser5655]

I saw this in '83!

[@dalekbieber]

Awesome

[@avetheclever]

PLEASE MAKE MORE VIDEOS I LOVE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS AND I WANT TO SEE MORE!!!!!!!! PLEASE

[@TruthWarriorB88]

"He's got your number now."

[@hunterolaughlin]

“He knows just what you’ve done. You’ve got no place to hide. You’ve got nowhere to run. He knows your life of crime. I think it’s supper time!”

[@darkbonnie87fan]

Flowers with the victim faces is like roger corman original little shop of horrors where audrey 2 flowers had the faces of his victims

[@birdie3rdie]

(Whining):I didn't mean it!

[@JNy5873]

I was not far from on 10st 2nd ave right in front of st marks church...i had awsome child hood. And from there i hung out as forbidden planet the original spor on 12th......

[@ianmichalski7997]

Damn. The live show took these songs VERY fast.

[@matthewshapiro4072]

Fyvush Finkel is the only other Mushnik (besides the great originator, Mel Welles) who I felt sorry for when he got eaten. (Mel created the role in the original film from 1960 and got a chance to play him again for a local production in California in 1999.)

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

Is there a video of that?

[@matthewshapiro4072]

@@seymourkrelborn4780 there is!

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

@@matthewshapiro4072 Please send it! :0

[@matthewshapiro4072]

It's on here somewhere (Fyvush as Mushnik)...

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

@@matthewshapiro4072 I meant Welles, but I'd love to see both

[@joshuabishop909]

25:07 Audrey’s death scene

[@BlakeGildaphish76]

i never knew that Fyvush Finkle was in "Little Shop of Horrors"!

[@FlyingV3rd]

Good Grief!

[@christianmagoon5968]

Act I, and II | Little Shop of Horrors | Original Off-Broadway Production *************** CAST *************** Lee Wilkof............................Seymour Ellen Greene.......................Audrey Hy Anzell...........................Mr. Mushnik Jennifer Leigh Warren.............Crystal Sheila Kay Davis.......................Ronnette Marlene Danielle............................Chiffon Franc Luz............................Orin Scrivello / Everyone Else Martin P. Robinson..............................Derelict / Audrey II (Manipulation) Ron Taylor.................................Voice of Audrey II

[@chocolatesouljah]

Marsha Waterbury, neé Skaggs sounds especially sweet here: 23:23

[@tepidtooth8539]

31:50 one on the right reminds me of Andre's Grandma

[@julealero7689]

A woman was puppeteering audrey 2 thats so cool!!

[@jasoncook7378]

The dark ending works so well for the play. Not so much for the film adapation.

[@palmereldritch7777]

they should have stuck with the dark ending.....though they overdid it a bit n the movie.. ut it's a killer plant show, nt happy in suburbia show.

[@treesny]

I agree.

[@huntersfilms1]

Amizing your the only one who has it

[@GwenJuckts]

15:03 Is that Howard Ashman himself?!

[@seymourkrelborn4780]

Could I get the unedited recording?

[@gatchywatchyentertainmentb2090]

WHY FOR EVIDENCE? Jesus I’m nerd

[@birdie3rdie]

Audrey II is a mean green mother from outer space and he's baaad!!!

[@hunterolaughlin]

Or mean yellow mother from outer space in this case.

[@FlyingV3rd]

​@@hunterolaughlin I'd say yellowish Green.

[@rjd-kh8et]

Could you add this and Act I to the "Full Show Recordings" playlist?

[@Midnight_luan]

31:51 is she opening her eyes wide after she says? have just witnessed, California and yes they did? is that why the crowd is laughing?

[@jakedlp_]

@@boobsthecat0423 and the way she suddenly hoes from belting to still as a statue

[@gum1775]

31:52 is the best part

[@OptimusPhillip]

It's hard to tell, were the flower faces puppets, too? They seemed to still be moving even when the rest of the cast was out front.

[@catherinecao4810]

They were the eaten cast wearing flower costumes. Apparently, once you’re eaten, you’re assimilated into Audrey II and become a flower

[@onnapnewo]

They were puppets, yes.

[@lukerentschler6769]

Is this orpheum theatre Minneapolis Minnesota?

[@jacobcoad8284]

No in New York.

[@lucario719]

this is the Orpheum off-broadway theater in new york city. Stomp performs here now.

[@bwctubes]

This is awesome. But one thing was nagging at me-the same thing that nags me about EVERY production, no matter how great, that I've seen since seeing the film: Literally every voice for Audrey II other than that of Levi Stubbs just sounds ... wrong for some reason. That's how TOTALLY he OWNED that role.

[@zachlabbadia]

I don’t think that’s Ron Taylor during the curtain call.

[@donnarosefletcher144]

It's not Ron. It's his vacation replacement Jimmy Lockett. I was the ASM at this point in the run and I checked the original performance reports to confirm it.

[@matthewshapiro4072]

I saw Jimmy 20 years ago in "Cats"! He was Old Deuteronomy.

[@JNy5873]

2nd Ave

[@mr.nugget1036]

Is this a dead channel :(

[@ketepunzelmank4701]

No, he uploaded today, but I don't think there's much Little Shop of Horrors left to upload. Unless someone got a recording of little shop at West End or Stratford, something like that. Luckily, it's coming back to off broadway, so I'm sure one person will sneak some footage in

[@turquoisecrow4513]

F o r mYsUppERTIIme

[@Flying_Cat_animations]

Hi

[@tabithaaf]

31:50

[@Baymax678-se5vt]

Saw this production in Try-outs - couple of days before it opened - damn a lifetime ago.........

[@Baymax678-se5vt]

Did any other production ever replicate the dropping of the vines at the end? Saw it years later on the West end.....and of course no vinee dropping - i was SOOOO disappointed (but Ellen Greene was worth the ticket anyway).

[@caleb1413]

Not sure. Sadly the current Off-Broadway production does not though.