“Little Shop of Horrors” is the musical being performed Dec. 6 and 7 by the drama department. This is the first time a musical has been produced in a while from the drama department.

“We wanted to find a musical that didn’t require operatic singing voices like “The Phantom of the Opera”. “Little Shop of Horrors” is for actors who sing  I wanted to pick a show that people had heard of and that hadn’t been done in the area for quite some time. . I love the music, the songs are always stuck in my head they’re catchy and fun,” Drama teacher Wendy King said.

Production for the play is currently in full swing. Rehearsals are in progress and set production is almost finished.

“We’re three fourths of the way through with rehearsals; Oct. 1 was the first rehearsal.  Everyone is getting to know the music, lines and dance steps. I love designing the sets; it’s a large flower shop on the bottom and the second story is someone’s apartment. It’s a large set [and], most of it’s built. It just needs painting and putting it together,” King said.

Taking on a musical means a lot of more work. There is a bigger cast to deal with and more rehearsals to go through.

“With a musical there is so much more to keep track of and it’s significantly more expensive.  The hardest part of a large cast is if one person gets distracted then all 25 cast members get distracted. As the director, I try to pay attention to every single person to tell them what they did well or what they need to work on,” King said.

Productions are a lot of work to create but the end product is worth it. Months and months of preparation are put into the play before the opening show.

“The best is watching the students start to realize the big picture, and the image of what you want to see. Then [when] it finally begins to take shape is amazing,” King said.

The play is full of a variety of characters.  Each character plays a vital role in the outcome of the production.

“I play Mr. Mushnik, a store owner and all he wants to do is make money. He’s an angry grouch so it’s fun to yell Kelborn [one of the characters] off stage,” Junior Greg Wilkins said.

A character in a musical is little trickier to play. The actor has to sign their lines while acting them out on stage.

“Musicals are fun and challenging you have to portray characterization while hitting the correct notes. The hardest thing for me is being angry all the time because I’m a happy person,” Wilkins said.

The story of “Little Shop of Horrors” is all about an evil plant wanting control of the world. To enact the part of the plant the drama department rented out a plant puppet.

“It’s about a man-eating plant from outer space that’s trying to take over the world; getting the most unremarkable person to do their bidding. One of the main characters is a plant, we have a student doing the voice but we’re using puppets. We got the puppet from one of the best puppet houses you can rent puppets from. The original cost of a puppet is $65,000 but we’re renting it for $2,000,” King said.