Stepping into the Mary T. Christian auditorium at Thomas Nelson the other night, the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places, I beheld heaven as musical director Michael Sunblad led the Doo-Wop Girls through the first song from Little Shop of Horrors, which premieres Saturday the 14th.
Let me memory-lane you: Little shop, little shop of horrors. Little shop, little shop of terror. Call a cop. Little shop of horrors. No, oh, oh, no-oh! Shing-a-ling, what a creepy thing to be happening! Shang-a-lang, feel the sturm and drang in the air.
The cast is a sparkling conglomeration of Thomas Nelson faculty, devoted community members, and students, like Nicklaus Solheim, who told me “I provide comic relief.” A math and engineering student, Nicklaus is the puppeteer in the show who brings Audrey II to life.
Torrie Sanders, the theater manager, is also a fan of Nicklaus’ work. She tells me her favorite part of the musical is, “Anything involving my beloved Audrey II. Giant carnivorous plants are the best kind of foliage.”
As Torrie snaps the cast and crew to their places for the final big number, “Skid Row (Downtown)” my photographer and I jog up to the balcony.
Looking down on the stage full of smiling faces, I spy one of my students, Jaron Lowell Farassat, who plays a mean bass in the show, which features music by eight-time academy-award-winning composer Alan Menken. Also on stage is Sarah Hatton, a “student, teacher, mom, and volunteer,” whose favorite part of being in the musical has been “meeting new people.” Standing near her is Le’Royce E. Bratsveen, who tells me “We are making history: the first ever musical at Thomas Nelson, and the first ever partnership with a local arts organization.”
Le’Royce moved to Hampton Roads in 2006 to find “there simply were not a lot of cross-cultural opportunities for me. Not only that, I began to realize that there was not a lot of diversity—period! Rather than lament that fact, or sit around complaining, I decided to try and do something about it,” so she launched Iron Street Productions, who is helping produce the show.
As the cast and crew begin to hammer out the details of a musical that has been performed as far away as Athens and Seinajoki, it becomes clear we are awash in talent in Hampton Roads. I have 150 students this semester, and I see the brain power to start companies like Google, the creativity to form musical groups of graceful soul like Wilco, and the wit and humor to launch magazines like The Onion. What this marvelous group of people also makes clear is we lack the efficient connections and conduits to organize and mold our talents. Voices like Aleasha Robert’s should be working seven nights a week.
She tells me “There’s nothing better than doing something you love with those you love.” And that is why you must run, fly, drive, swim, or hover on over to the Peninsula to behold and delight what is sure to be one of the musical highlights of the year: Little Shop of Horrors.
Please note: Tickets to Friday’s (canceled) show will be honored any of the five nights of the run, which begins 10/14, 20, and 21 at 8:00, and November 15 and 22 at 3:00. Tickets are $16, $15 for students, teachers, seniors, and military, $12 for seating packages of twelve or more. For more information on tickets or directions, visit http://www.tncc.edu/about/mtca.