Equity Actors for "Little Shop of Horrors" Show Audition

Mid-twenties and perhaps balding a little. Our insecure, naïve, put-upon, florists’ clerk hero. Above all, he’s a sweet and well-meaning little man. He is not a silly, prat-falling nerd, and therefore, should not be played as the hero of a Jerry Lewis film.

The bleached-blond, Billie-Dawn-like secret love of his life. If you took Judy Holiday, Carol Channing, Marilyn Monroe, and Goldie Hawn, removed their education and feelings of self-worth, dressed them in spiked heels and a short black dress, and then shook them up in a test tube to extract what’s sweetest and most vulnerable – that’d be Audrey.

Their boss. A failure of an East Side florist. His accent, if he has one, is more that of middle-class New York than of Eastern Europe. He seldom smiles but often sweats.

A tall, dark, handsome dentist with a black leather jacket and sadistic tendencies. He is not, however, a leftover from the movie version of Grease. Think instead of an egotistical pretty-boy – all got up like a greaser but thinking like an insurance salesman and talking like a radio announcer. (Will double as A Voice not unlike God’s, Wino #2, Customer, Radio Announcer, Mr. Bernstein, Mrs. Luce, Skip Snip, and Patrick Martin)

An anthropomorphic cross between a giant Venus flytrap and an avocado. It has a huge, nasty-looking pod which gains a shark-like aspect when open and snapping at food. The creature is played by a series of four increasing large puppets, manipulated by one Puppeteer (who also doubles as Wino #1 in the first scene.) The first time we see The Plant, it is less than one foot tall. The last time we see it, it fills the entire stage.

Voice provided on an offstage microphone. The sound is a cross between Otis Redding, Barry White, and Wolfman Jack. Think of the voice as that of a street-smart, funky, conniving villain – Rhythm and Blues’ answer to Richard the Third.

Three street urchins who function as participants in the action and a Greek Chorus outside it. They’re young, hip, smart, and the only people in the whole cast who really know what’s going on. In their “Greek Chorus” capacity, they occasionally sing to the audience directly. And when they do, it’s often with a “secret smile” that says: “we know something you don’t know.”