[Merry80]

Hi everything! It's my first time here.

My theatre group here in Italy is going to perform LSOH: it is the first time we perform a musical, so we aren't so experienced... Also, we are only 6 people, so, for example, the same actor plays both Mushkin and Orin.

Regarding the Plant, due to the lack of actors, our director decided that we're not going to have the usual male voice speaking behind the stage; instead, there will be two human "branches" of the Plant (i.e.: two girls) that will talk, sing, move, dance and whatsoever, dressed in brown and green with their faces painted with the same colours. We're not sure whether or not there's going to be a real "body" of the plant, like a sort of tree around which the two "branches" can place themselves when they're not acting: I think that at the end there will be something like that (otherwise the branches would just "float" in the air and the audience would not understand where they came from...).

Ah, and the two girls that play as the branches are the same that play as the Urchins (yes... after "Dentist", they disappear and the branches appear in their place... we're thinking about giving a motivation for which the Urchins suddenly disappear, not to be seen again)

Given all these facts, do you think it's going to be a complete failure? Will the audience be able to understand what's happening? And have you ever heard of other representations like this? Our director says the idea came to her mind when she saw a LSOH very similar to this in a theater...

[Monsieur D'Arque]

There have been a few threads related to a human-based plant design.

And as far as Mushnik doubling Orin's parts, that's not common, but not unheard of. The smallest production I've ever seen had only two men- Seymour, and Mushnik/Orin/Plant. Now THAT guy was incredible.

[Oli-Ol]

Welcome!

I've seen LSOH done with very small casts, although never exactly how you are describing. However, I think it could work very well if it was done properly.

Maybe you could add in a line about how the urchins are going to seek fame and fortune in Los Angeles?

[Monsieur D'Arque]

You don't need to explain it. The Urchins are a greek chorus, and thus not entirely REAL within the story. They become whoever they need to be. If during Feed Me they walked over and began undulating as part of the plant, merely have them in greens and browns for that number.

[SomeoneLikeYou]

[Monsieur D'Arque]

The plant was a puppet.

[Merry80]

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions!
We're going on stage this Saturday... at the end, we have the "body" of the plant, with the two girls, dressed in green and with two red "wings", that walk and dance around it. Also, we decided not to give an explanation about why the Urchins disappear... as some of you said, they're not really part of the story, so probably the audience won't wonder why they left.
I'll try to post here some pics of the show