After a suspense filled tournament on their Instagram page, where they executed a “March Madness” style bracket between many different musicals, the Walpole High School Drama Club revealed that their fall musical will be a performance of the sci-fi horror comedy, “Little Shop of Horrors.” The musical follows a flower shop assistant who stumbles across a plant that only feeds on human flesh and blood and his struggles in trying to find bodies to feed the plant.
Kendra Nutting, the chorus teacher at Walpole High School, is directing this year’s fall production and has been the director of the Drama Club for the past four years. Nutting carefully selected “Little Shop of Horrors” based on what she anticipates will excite the audience, while simultaneously challenging the performers.
“It’s a show that the kids can have a lot of fun doing. We’re going to have a lot of fun with making costumes and coming up with props, and the music is really fun to learn,” Nutting said. “I just want [the performers] to have a good time.”
Nutting is ready to navigate the difficulty of a new set, the props and structures on the stage that help create context about the setting for the audience. This year the Drama Production will be facing a challenge in the form of their surroundings, as this year they have the biggest set ever, a drastic change performers will have to get used to.
“It’s not something that the cast is super used to. So being able to adjust all of the choreography that they are learning to make sure that they don’t run into a wall will be the biggest challenge,” Nutting said.
“Little Shop of Horrors” was originally a movie and was adapted into a musical in 1982. The musical’s popularity quickly started to grow and debuted on Broadway in 2003 after multiple off-Broadway runs of the show.
“For people who are only familiar with the movie, there’s a big difference between the movie and the stage show,” Nutting said. “They might be in for a very rude awakening at the end of the show.”
The two main characters of the show, Seymour and Audrey, are casted by seniors Arnold Obour-Mensah and Samantha Aucella. Many drama students, including Aucella, are grateful for the experience the drama club has given them, and the friendships they have made along the way, even though it is a big time commitment.
“I enjoy being a part of [the drama club] because I feel like it’s an accepting place and everyone can go there to feel welcomed. I’ve met a lot of my great friends through drama,” Aucella said.
After months of preparation, the Drama Club is premiering their musical on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. in the auditorium. To see the show and support everybody involved, tickets will be available for sale from Oct. 31 on the Drama Club’s website. Tickets will also be available for sale at the door before the performance.
