[centerstage08]

I know this show can have a big range in the number of cast members. So how many do you guys suggest?

I'm thinking 15...

[Sweeney Hyde]

For this show...I think that any more than is neccissary...is excessive. It wasn't meant to have a big chorus of people. It's an ensemble show, just like Into the Woods. Keep it that way.

The revival production had 12. That's what I like to see.

[Vice]

[Not Dead Yet]

My community theatre's production (which I'm currently crew for) has Seymour, Audrey, Mushnik, Orin, Ronette, Crystal, Chiffon, and one guy who plays a bunch of smaller roles (which makes for a gag when he has to dress in drag at one point). And then there's also the voice of Audrey II and the puppeteering... we have two puppeteers, one for the final stage of Audrey II and one for the hand one and medium-large stage. So all together we have 11

[Mr T]

I am just planning a production of this for next year and will plan to do it with 9 people. Orin will play all the other small roles and The Voice and The Body will play the down and outs in the opening Skid Row. I have done this show before and used a much bigger company but I do like the smaller intimate casting better. If you have a good group it really works well as it becomes a real team show. The main thing doing it this way is The Ronnettes must be very good because they do become your Greek Chorus.

[Cheeese!]

When I did the show we had 10 people in the cast including the plant voice and puppetear, i think this show works really well with a small cast, and it's much more fun to work with a smaller cast too

[Musicat]

Strictly speaking, it should be exactly 8, if you go by how Howard Ashman wrote it and intended the show to be performed. The eight parts should be:

Seymour, Audrey, Audrey II (who is also a wino in Skid Row), Mushnik, Ronnette, Chiffon, Chrystal, and Orin (who plays EVERYONE else, including/especially Mrs Luce).

[Bookworm]

If you're doing this at your High School, you're going to have about 548574 million more people than needed. When I saw the show, there was a huge ensemble. Looked a little strange, but overall good.

[Mr T]

[Not Dead Yet]

Definitely.... you don't realize how important they are until they show up 40 minutes into the show and by that time they had to pull in a crew member to fill in last minute.

[Musicat]

[music is my life!!!]

for school's it's not really fair not to have a chorus so with about 10 chorussy types and about 8 leads (3 urchins, audrey, seymour, mushnik etc) plus 2 keyboard players - that sounds like a good size!

[Mr T]

The pupeteer is most definately cast. They must know the script as well as anyone on stage. If the person operating Audrey 2 does not know what they are doing it can ruin the show. You could change a crew member for a night but I would hate to change my pupeteer for a performance.

[centerstage08]

Thanks everyone for their input. I think we are going to try and keep the cast small but I think that we will have different people play the roles of customers and Mrs. Luce, bums etc.

I'm thinking it will be a cast of 10-15. Which is bigger than I would like but seeing as it's a high school we need to try and let more people in.

[LisaKitty]

I saw a version that had the nine original characters (Audrey, Seymore, Orin, Mushnik, Urchins, and Audrey II voice and puppeteer) plus an ensemble of four (three men, one woman) who served as additional voices in company numbers as well as played all the small parts. It worked really well. Productions I've seen that added a 20+ member chorus plus separate actors for each small role just make the stage look too crowded, and don't seem to respect the concept of the show, IMHO.

[flatt1942]

I totally agree with everyone, a smaller cast is ideal... but I don't have that luxury. what songs do you think would work best with a large ensemble? skid row, definitely, and possibly mushnik and sons... I can't think of much else. help!

[LisaKitty]

[flatt1942]

[LameUsername]

[Mr T]

I have done most jobs within a Theatre and I would never underplay the importance of ALL BACKSTAGE CREW. So please forgive me if I gave that impression. Both Productions I have been involved in the pupeteer (The Body) always gets the finale bow with The Voice because at the end of the day Audrey 11 is The Star of the show.

[inluvwithtech]

I was crew for high school production, so we had a larger cast. But, it wasn't insanely huge, only fifteen CAST members. Obviously, the 'Orin-assigned' roles were split up. Those actors doubled as ensemble throughout.

Chiffon, Ronnette, Crystal
Mushnik, Seymour, Audrey, Orin
Bums: 1 male, 1 female
Mrs. Luce, Skip Snip, Patricia Martin, Bernstein, First Customer
Audrey II voice

And we had a 15 or so crew count.


Yes, Skid Row, Meek Shall Inherit, and Don't Feed the Plants are really the only times when you can have an ensemble singing. But your ensemble also works well in the background in Closed for Renovation (if staged properly) and Call Back in the Morning.

[jackissensational]

I'm currently in this show, and we have 10 cast members.

Seymour, Audrey, Mushnik, Orin, Crystal, Ronnette, Chiffon, voice of Audrey Two, and two ensamble members. They doubled as Luce and Berstein, as well as "Bag Ladies" in Skid Row. Our Audrey Two doubled as a Wino, Customer, and Martin. I know Orin is the one who traditionally plays all those parts, but our director is a moron.

[Astonishingg]

Adding an ensemble to Little Shop always wrecks it. It's not meant to have a large cast, it looks awkward with a large cast, the music doesn't fit well for a large cast.... Seymour, Audrey, Ronette, Crystal, Chiffon, Mushnik, Orin, Audrey II and the puppetteer are and should be the only roles cast. Like somebody said, Audrey II plays a wino, Orin plays the customers at Mushnik & Son.

[broadwayxdoll]

i jusr did it and there were 14 of us


Seymour
Audrey
Mushnik
Orin
Ronnette
Chiffon
Crystal
Voice od Audrey II
2 pupeteers
4 ensemble members