Deborah Dorman
Theater at the Ranch brought rock ‘n’ roll, science fiction, puppetry, and laughs to Robson Ranch with their recent production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” written by the award-winning team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Boasting a cast, band, and crew of 50 people, this production was brought together over a period of several months. It did not disappoint the enthusiastic audience of more than 600 attendees or for those involved in the show.
A special element in this musical is the plant, “Audrey II”, which grows during the production from a hand puppet on a table to a 6’ tall man-eater. Rental of a puppet kit of four puppets was integral to the show. The puppets arrived three-and–a–half weeks before opening night, in a 550-pound crate. It required three puppeteers to operate them, Kristine Archuleta for the first and third puppets, John Cronin (as Seymour) to handle the second puppet, and Mitch Smith to manage the giant puppet in Act II. Puppets 3 and 4 were very physically demanding, requiring strength, coordination, humor, ice vests, sweatbands, personal fans, and emergency whistles as a precaution.
The show was also very physically demanding for several of the actors, Lisa Hunt as Audrey, John Cronin as Seymour, Ron Weber as Orin, the dentist, and Michael Vodrazka as Mr. Mushnik. Each had an “amusing” death scene to perform, with three being eaten by the plant and one laughing himself to death. The first purchase when rehearsals began was a package of knee pads. Rounding out the cast were the “Ronettes,” Laura Byrne, Donna Duran, and Marsha Oliver; the voice of the plant, Ray White; a customer played by Karen Dielmann; and our very own “flasher,” Sue Brockhoff.
One might be thinking, why do such a demanding show with a cast of age 55 and up actors? The answer is because they can, in spite of age, in spite of the challenges of memorizing lines and lyrics, in spite of lack of experience for a good part of the cast. Through hard work, focus, a good sense of humor, dedication to doing their very best, support of a very hard-working production crew, wonderful music directors, Diane Cronin and Lisa Hunt, and a very patient band, Nora Shelton (also accompanist supreme during rehearsal), John Sutton, Connie Koza, Amy Petersen, and Dennis Bierman, this musical was brought to life for a super appreciative audience.
Theater at the Ranch would like to thank the Robson Ranch community and those who came from further out, as well as the families of those involved, and our generous business sponsors for their support. Business supporters included Absolute Construction; Eloy Hospital; Remax A Bar Z Realty; San Tan Golf Carts; Stephano Slack, LLC, Accountants; Odysseus Arms; Scott’s Pest Control; Innovative Write Angle; Freund Associates; Sue Wells, Realtor; Sharliene Tripp Insurance; and Guild Mortgage. Stay tuned for announcements about next year’s project, after the ensemble catches its breath. To get on the Theater at the Ranch email list, contact Producer/Director Deborah Dorman at deborahdorm@gmail.com.