The Doo-Wop girls shuffle onto stage, starting the “Little Shop of Horrors” opening night performance. However, just moments before, actors were backstage, chaotic and panicking. Opening night was everything they had been prepping for, and many of them were nervous of falling short. Would this performance reflect all their hard work? Would it be a performance that they could be proud of?

“Little Shop of Horrors” has been around for a long time with its first performance coming to stages in May of 1982. It is a well-known musical, and the original production became the most successful off-broadway production of its time with 2,209 performances.

The musical follows the main character Seymour, and his discovery of a terrifying human-eating plant. The plant brings him great fortune, but challenges his morals by making him kill other people. As it grows, Seymour has to make a choice to be a good person and lose his luck, or to keep feeding the increasingly hungry, killer plant.

“Little Shop of Horrors” has a small cast of only 11 actors, with some of the main roles including Seymour, Audrey, the Dentist and the plant Audrey II.

Andrew Hillier, MCHS’s musical director, has been teaching and directing at MCHS since 2013. He’s been the head of several musicals, with “Little Shop Of Horrors” being his fifth.

“It’s [directing] kind of like my interpretation of the storytelling,” Hillier says. “You read the script, the story that’s in there and translate that to the stage for the audience to view and hopefully take something away from it.”

Hard work from both the students and the staff have been put into creating “Little Shop Of Horrors.” Hiller expressed being very proud of the performance that has been brought to the stage for the audience to watch.

“It’s a small cast musical, and yet, our actors fill the stage – there’s humor, there’s excitement, there’s silliness,” Hillier says. “You’ll see students who are very professional, who have taken nothing and made it into something.”

Directing comes with a lot of responsibility since everyone sees the cast on stage singing, dancing and acting.

“There’s a lot of work, more than I think people realize,” Sara Plaiss, who plays Audrey, says. “You have to learn lines, you have to learn blocking, which is where you’re standing at any given moment.”

Plaiss has been acting since her freshman year and absolutely loves it. Being casted in this show as Audry is her first time being casted as a lead role, which has taught her many new parts of acting that she’s never been able to experience before.

“It’s [acting] always been my favorite form of self expression,” Plaiss says. “I’ve always preferred it as my art method, and I always feel most like myself when I’m on stage.”

Sophomore Matthew Zurawski, who has been acting for seven years, was casted as the lead role of Seymour. He has also been able to express himself through this musical.

“Acting means everything to me, Zurawski says. “It is my way of escaping all of the stress and stuff from school and sports and outside of school. It’s my way of putting myself out there and having fun.”

Many actors, including Plaiss and Zurawski, made new long lasting connections with people they’d never meet otherwise through the musical. “My favorite part about acting is definitely working with and meeting new people,” continues Zurawski.

There’s more to a production than just the actors and directors, though. While those are major roles with great importance, “Little Shop of Horrors” couldn’t be the musical it is without the incredibly hard working crew and pit.

The crew is an essential part of the team. They’re the people behind the scenes who make everything happen on stage.

“Crew members do everything that the actors don’t. Anything miscellaneous, like moving set pieces, designing the lights, the sounds. They do really important things that make the show what it is,” says crew member Cameron Music. “Without the crew, the show would not be what it is. It literally would not work.”

Even though they’re not seen on stage, crew members still have lots of fun being a part of the musical. Junior Kathryn Ryan stated why she loves being a part of the people behind the set.

“I like moving the set pieces a lot, and I also like being around my friends,” says Ryan. “A lot of my friends are on crew, so it helped form a new theater family.”

Finally, the last piece that brings everything together – the pit.

The pit, directed by Ryan Cabildo, is the miniature band that creates the live music for the musical. Without them, there wouldn’t be nearly as much life to the show.

“Having live musicians to provide the music definitely adds another layer to the production value, or even the showmanship of a given performance,” Cabildo says. “Audience members walk into the theater and think, ‘Oh, wow, this is going to be awesome,’ because you see all the musicians and their instruments.”

The pit is also important for its adaptability. It’s much easier to adjust to a mistake or mishap with live musicians than with a recording. A live pit also opens more opportunities for interpretation and individuality to a performance.

“Music is a great way to express feelings and emotions and to communicate in a way that kind of transcends the borders of words,” says senior Jiji Thorne, who’s been a part of the pit for four years. “It’s also a way for me to connect with other people. I’ve made really important connections and friends through music that I wouldn’t have made otherwise.”

There are many words of appraisal for the musical. “All of the cast is so amazing, and they’ve brought so much energy to the show, and I honestly love them all so much,” Plaiss says. “I could not have asked for better actors to be on stage with.”

This production has been an incredible success. It’s brought joy to the audience and those involved in the production, as well as paved the way for new passion among many.

“I just want to thank the directors and the production staff, along with the crew and the pit, and everyone that’s helped build the show together.” Zurawski says, “We couldn’t have done it without any of you guys.”

And just like that, every actor is running onto stage and making their final actions. Opening night was a little hectic at first, but it turned into something amazing that every actor was proud of. All their hard work, effort and everything else came together and made a performance that was worth it. As the performance came to an end, every actor held hands with their friends and, together, took their final bow.