Last weekend Venice High’s drama crew debuted their showing of Little Shop of Horrors, this year’s spring musical. This being the second time Venice has done this musical, the cast and crew were excited to revisit the classic story and, of course, the man-eating space-plant, Audrey II, dubbed by Venice graduate, Lawrence Hatcher.

The cast could not have been better picked with people like Eddie Henry as misfit Seymour, Christina Grant as squeaky-voiced Audrey, David Guzman as pathetic businessman Mr. Mushnik and John Ho as sadistic Orin.

Audience members warmly welcomed the company in the opening number, “Little Shop of Horrors,” led by the urchins, played by Tierra Allen, Vilma Diaz and Chelsea Garnett. Soon thereafter, Allen, a junior, blew the audience away when she belted out her intro to the second number, “Skid Row (Downtown).”

The story takes place at Mushnik’s “customer forsaken” Flower Shop, on Skid Row. Business miraculously picks up instantly however, after Seymour and Audrey, the misfit employees, decide to place Seymour’s new, “strange and interesting plant (Audrey II)” in the windowsill to attract customers. Seymour soon discovers that the flytrap look-alike plant is quite the picky eater, and eats only human blood. Audrey II quickly grows and Seymour has to start feeding it people.

First to go is Orin, Audrey’s hotshot, motorcycle-riding, abusive, dentist boyfriend, who is obsessed with pain. Ho plays the hotshot incredibly, keeping the audience laughing the duration of his number “Dentist,” in which he sucks on nitrous oxide and sings about how much he loves inflicting pain.

The cast and crew have been working hard since February to put on the show, with some students such as Ramirez, Ho and Garnett playing two and even three parts. Ramirez can be seen playing Skip Snip, Patrick Martin and a member of the Company. Ho plays both Orin and Bernstein, and Garnett plays Ronnette (an urchin) and Dream Sequence Audrey.

The rest of the cast includes Jessica Mann as Mrs. Luce, Anthony Milani as Dream sequence little Seymour, Taryn Thrasher as Dream sequence little Audrey, Michael Shepard as the Audrey II puppeteer, and The Company: Vashti Ayalas, Brianne Bear, Victoria Canton, Nicole Dennis, Kimberly Fink, Jessica Mann, Christina Ochoa, Leo Ramirez, Michael Shepard, Samantha Smith, Brittany Wilson and Adam Wolf.

While the cast performed with much confidence and prestige, the technical crew, directed by teacher, Barry Vella, had some issues in the beginning with faulty microphones and feed back. The first half of the show was ridden with technical mishaps, but the cast kept a “show must go on” attitude and pulled off an amazing performance.

The set was great, thanks to the stage crew, and the support and donations of Venice High parents, faculty and the Venice Boys and Girls club.

Off stage, but not out of the spot light, musical prodigies Nate Festinger on piano/ keyboard, Christina Rodriquez on Bass, Luis Rosas on Percussion and Mr. Scott Burstein on Guitar carried the tunes that help keep this musical alive and flowing. Without these musicians’ talents and efforts, there would be no musical.

If you have not seen the musical yet, it is not too late! Be sure to check it out this Friday or Saturday, May 7 and 8 at 7:30 pm in the auditorium.