Little Shop of Horrors to kick off Theatre NorthWest season

Theatre NorthWest’s 2024-25 season begins on a high note next week.

Their season opens with Little Shop of Horrors, a musical that has been performed on Broadway since the early 1980s.

Anna Russell, a Theatre NorthWest Artistic Associate, is the play’s director and choreographer.

“It has a real cult following,” she told My PG Now. “Actors get really interested in performing it. We didn’t have trouble finding a set designer or costume designer who are interested in being a part of this piece.”

“The moral has been around for thousands of years – what would you do to get everything you ever wanted?” Russell added.

She said one of the most exciting parts of the play is the music, written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who were behind many iconic Disney songs in movies like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast.

“It is very easy for audiences to listen to and enjoy. You are going to leave singing the songs from the show, they are going to be in your head for a week so be prepared for that,” Russell said with a laugh.

“I feel like a Disney princess, just from the other side of the tracks,” Tayo Gbalajobi, who plays Audrey, added. “This is an absolute dream come true.”

“It is the best feeling in the world,” David Michael Juma, who stars as Seymor, said. “I have been wanting to play Seymor since I first saw the show when I was 13, every second is a pinch me moment.”

“[Audiences] can expect to have their heartstrings pulled, laugh a lot, and be very shocked by what they are going to see on stage,” he said.

“Get your popcorn, get ready to laugh. It takes you through the full cannon of the human experience,” Gbalajobi continued. “It has a very important lesson throughout, don’t lose sight of what matters, don’t sell your soul for the flashy things, and keep your people close and care for them.”

Little Shop of Horrors opens at Theatre NorthWest on Thursday (September 12) and runs until October 9th. You can find out more here.