Little Shop of Horrors

Synopsis

The action opens on Mushnik's Flower Shop, a failing store on Skid Row. The few plants in stock are, like their surroundings, run down and fading. There we meet Mr Mushnik and his two employees, Audrey and the nerdish Seymour Krelborn who secretly has a crush on his beautiful but much abused co-worker. Audrey, attempting to help Mushnik bring more customers into his failing business, persuades him to look at one of the exotic plants Seymour has been tinkering around with. Mushnik is intrigued and allows Seymour to display his flytrap-looking plant, which he has named, in honour of his secret love, Audrey II. Of course the strange plant draws customers and business is soon booming. In celebration Mushnik invites Seymour and Audrey out on the town, but Audrey has a date with her boyfriend, the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. Seymour also declines and stays behind to tend to the suddenly ailing Audrey II. That night, alone in the shop, he discovers the shocking secret to the plant's health and phenomenal growth: human blood. Eventually the plant demands more and more, and Orin becomes more and more abusive to Audrey, so Seymour comes up with the natural solution. He is spared the ghastly deed, however, when the nitrous-addicted dentist laughs himself to death on his own anaesthetic gas. Following the disappearance of Orin, Seymour builds up the courage to tell Audrey of his true feelings for her. Audrey responds with the touching song Suddenly Seymour, and the two are united. Unfortunately, Mushnik witnessed Seymour's crime and threatens to turn him in to the police if he does not leave the country. As the plant and the body count grow so does Seymour's fame and fortune. Ultimately, however, Seymour's natural goodness begins to make him think about his lifestyle and what he must do to maintain it. At last, he decides to flee with Audrey to be married and plots to destroy Audrey II. Before Seymour can complete his plan, the plant mortally wounds Audrey. Dying, she requests that she be fed to the plant, so she can become a part of it and always be near Seymour. As the music swells, Seymour feeds her to Audrey II, which at last reveals its ultimate plans, nothing less than world domination.