You’ll laugh! You’ll shudder! Pair of comedy/horror Broadway staples come to Philly

A horrible force is taking over society ruthless self-serving hateful Who can escape its terrifying grasp for power and mayhem Don t worry this isn t a column about politics We re writing about theater here nice safe air-conditioned yet full of monsters just the same one in Center City at the Academy of Music and the other in the burbs at People s Light in Malvern At the Academy we ve got a voracious sand worm controlled by the mostly evil Beetlejuice in the very popular long-running comedy horror Broadway musical by the same name And in Malvern it s Audrey a rapacious plant with an insatiable appetite for human blood in Little Shop of Horrors another Broadway hit in the comedy horror genre Both fun both scary and both involving very awesome stage effects to produce the monsters There s a certain part of human nature that can be explored when you are talking about this genre mentioned Amina Robinson an assistant theater professor at Temple University and busy Philly theater scene director who isn t involved in the People s production but has worked on Little Shop in the past You have various otherworldly creature coming to destroy and impinge on humans and our lives she reported You can really illuminate things about humans and society that doesn t feel heavy but still makes its point From left Will Burton Adam Megan McGinnis Barbara Madison Mosley Lydia and Justin Collette Beetlejuice in the Ensemble Art s production which opens July at the Academy of Music Photo by Matthew Murphy Based on a film starring Tim Burton Beetlejuice centers on the story of young Lydia who feels ignored by her father after her mother s fresh death An old demon Beetlejuice shows up and mocks the idea of living to the fullest since death is the only outcome There s a lot of passing between death and life in this play with ghosts and double-crossing and foul play at every turn Part of the Ensemble Art s Broadway series of touring shows Beetlejuice includes specific cast members with local roots Michael Biren from Cherry Hill an ensemble member who also serves as Beetlejuice s understudy and Marc Ginsburg of Philadelphia another Beetlejuice understudy Set in a flower shop Little Shop of Horrors stars a bloodthirsty monster plant and examines dark paths taken in the name of power and desire Power economic status the rich vs the poor the evils that can be identified in fame and celebrity all of those really deep themes exist in that musical Robinson disclosed about Little Shop It becomes a means of entertainment that allows these conversations to happen in a very different way It can make those conversations easier to engage in when you are talking about an alien plant as opposed to a real person she announced Tempted to do awful things Not far from People s Light in Malvern Valerie Joyce the chair of Villanova University s theatre and studio art department teaches classes in musical theater Like Robinson she has also directed Little Shop in the past more than once Part of its appeal she reported is that Little Shop allows us to playfully explore the dark side of our own natures because we re invariably going to be tempted to do awful things to get what we want In Little Shop the audience becomes complicit in the evil not unhappy that an abusive boyfriend gets what he deserves when he s devoured by the bloodthirsty plant But how will the plant s keeper satisfy its demand for more and more blood What compromises will he make What compromises will the audiences approve The style is darker than typical musical theater Joyce declared Musical comedies follow a formula boy meets girl boy loses girl boy gets girl back Not so in horror comedies she explained The comedy is ironic and satiric and often uses camp so it is bigger than life and broader than life This frees up characters to behave in means and audiences to have expectations in procedures that are not normal And for the theater makers directors designers props people costumers to have a lot of fun From left Jessica Johnson Madeleine Garcia and Taylor J Mitchell in Little Shop of Horrors Photo by Mark Garvin In our version we wished to take an entirely new take on the plant revealed Little Shop director Molly Rosa Houlahan at People s Light There s a traditional image that has been used big green Venus flytrap with the big mouth attached to it It is a voiceover voicing an enormous puppet for the plant Our performer is a hybrid alien plant human a vibrant magenta purple orchid Houlahan noted The designers took inspiration from a pitcher plant which starts as a little bud but grows a gaping maw where flies get caught in the plant s toxic juice Another inspiration The angler fish with its giant jaw and nasty-looking teeth Soon the plant has hips a head and a torso Our choreographer did research into how plants move and that got incorporated Houlahan explained It s quite big because it has to eat whole humans she mentioned It s a really exciting design challenge That kind of challenge Houlahan explained is baked into the idea of the horror-comedy musical It gives you liberty because camp and sincerity go hand-in-hand she declared It allows you to be really elevated with the amount of vigor design and color that you can experiment with It s really a broad permission slip that you are given FYI Little Shop of Horrors through Aug People s Light Conestoga Rd Malvern - - Beetlejuice July -Aug Ensemble Art s Broadway Series Academy of Music S Broad St Phila - - The post You ll laugh You ll shudder Pair of comedy horror Broadway staples come to Philly appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY