The Little Shop of Horrors’ final show was on Dec. 6 at the San Jose City College Theater. With the theater filled with an enthusiastic audience, the final show was fun and playful.

Anita Reyes, head of SJCC’s theater department and director of the play, made changes to the original play, which is set in New York’s Skid Row. This rendition was set in Los Angeles’ Skid Row to keep the play local and relevant to what’s happening today. Though the Little Shop of Horrors is a comedy musical, it deals with dark themes like abuse, poverty and greed. 

“[Skid Row] is a place that has somebody out of nothing,” said Veronica Brooks, a former SJCC student, who created the art for the play’s poster. “It’s symbolic … you’d do anything to get where you want to be, but the consequences of that are tragic.”

The SJCC theater department was supposed to put on the play in early 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic had them postpone the show indefinitely, until they decided to bring it back this semester. 

Former students, set to appear in the 2020 production, came back and reprised their roles. The production used two casts, one made up of current students and one made up of former students, who did not get to see the production through in 2020. 

“They’re all students, but that second cast was my original cast from 2019. One of them, he’s married and has a child and has a full time job, and he came back to do it,” said Reyes, referring to Erwin Rommel Dumantay, who played Mr. Mushnik in the Skid Row cast. 

The play is centered around Seymour, played by Fabian Rodrigues, who is a nerdy and awkward botanist working at Mr. Mushnik’s plant shop. Audrey, played by Alejandra Ruiz, is his quirky coworker who is in a relationship with the abusive and sadistic dentist, Dr. Orin, played by Miguel Guerra. Seymour is in love with Audrey, whom he names his plant after. 

Seymour discovers that Audrey II, played by Rolando Larrea, has a taste for blood, so he feeds it his own. As Audrey II grows, so does the clientele at Mr. Mushnik’s plant store, where everyone is curious about the mysterious plant. 

The chemistry within the cast was very evident, which made the production all the more enjoyable, given how much of a full circle moment it was emotionally. 

“[During rehearsals] … [Ruiz] turns around, and she’s like all teary eyed,” Reyes said. “She’s like, ‘I just started getting emotional, because we’re finally doing it.’” 

The production reflected the greyness and grit of Skid Row with a newspaper background, but it transformed with colorful lighting as the murderous plant grew in size and in hunger. 

Some audience members never saw the original production, such as Gilbert Llanas, who was there supporting his cousin Ruiz.

“It’s really good. I hadn’t watched the original, where it came from, but I really enjoyed it,” Llanas said. “I’ve only heard about the movie, but I haven’t watched it.” 

In the ending scene, cast members came out of the audience for the final number, “Finale Ultimo (Don’t Feed the Plants)”, then they gave their bow as they received a standing ovation from the audience.