It seemed as though no one quite knew what they were about to witness when they walked into Russell Theater on their respective night for the viewing of the Drama Department’s latest fall musical, “Little Shop of Horrors.”

The musical, set in a failing flower shop, follows an employee Seymour (played by senior Jamie Green) in his quest to not only win the girl he loves, Audrey (senior Katie Rogers) but boost business with his plant creation, the Audrey Two. As the plant grows in size, the business grows along with it. However, when the Audrey Two develops an appetite for human blood, Seymour must sacrifice himself, and others to sustain it.

While usually the Drama Department performs plays in the fall and musicals in the spring, this year Director Chip Rome decided to do both seasons’ performances as musicals. Plays are typically done in the fall because students are busy with sports and other activities during this time so there is a smaller pool of actors to choose from. However, considering that “Little Shop of Horrors” is a small cast show anyway and that the department had the musical talent to fill the roles within the musical, they decided ‘why not?’

Talent is right. Every actor had their own voice, whether it was Rogers’ powerful singing, Green’ s perfectly, quirky lines, or the ensemble singing along to songs that are most likely still running through the audience’s heads.

The main conflict lay with the creation of the plant. Because there had to be four different plants of various sizes for the Audrey Two, the show was very tech heavy, which creates a different set of challenges than a regular show would. The plant itself even had to have the ability to move and talk, both of which took up many, many extra hours of review throughout the six month long process.

The audience probably would have never guessed, however, because all aspects were flawless in execution. Most notably was the acting of senior Spencer Boyd, who played Audrey’s sadistic, dentist boyfriend, Orin. Boyd brought such obvious enthusiasm for the role and love of the theater so much so that watching him alone would have garnered the same amount of laughter the musical as a whole did.

In the end, all the work was worth it. Audiences left the theater with smiles on their faces, laughter in their hearts and more unexpectedly than anything, a newfound fear of plants.