A man-eating plant has officially outlasted its own origin story. The Westside Theatre revival of Little Shop of Horrors has become the longest-running production of the musical ever staged, surpassing 2,200 performances over seven years at the Westside Theatre.
The milestone landed in September, when the revival's tally reached 2,226 performances, making it the longest-running production of the musical, according to Playbill. The original 1982 production had held the record for 44 years before the current run, directed by Michael Mayer, finally caught up and passed it.
The original version of the show, created by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, was an Off-Broadway production, as ABC7 New York and Playbill note.
A Revival Built to Outlast a Pandemic
The current Westside Theatre run began as a first preview on September 17, 2019, officially opening a month later, per Playbill. It was initially conceived as a limited engagement, not a multi-year institution. Then the pandemic forced a shutdown that stretched from March 2020 until the show reopened on September 21, 2021.
Despite that gap, the production kept its footing. It swept the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Drama League Award for Best Musical Revival in 2020, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album the following year, according to Broadway World.
The Westside Theatre's intimate setting has turned out to be part of the show's appeal rather than a limitation.
A Revolving Door of Stars Keeps the Plant Fed
Much of the production's staying power comes down to a rotating cast of recognizable names. The revival launched in 2019 with Jonathan Groff, Tammy Blanchard, and Christian Borle, and has since cycled through performers including Darren Criss, Sarah Hyland, Jinkx Monsoon, Corbin Bleu, and Matt Doyle, per Playbill's reporting.
That turnover continues this month. Ethan Slater and Betsy Wolfe, who currently play Seymour and Audrey, will give their final performances on October 25, according to ABC7 New York. Hannah Cruz and T.R. Knight are set to take over the roles.
Wolfe told ABC7 New York that the theater's intimate setting creates a special connection between cast and audience, and said Audrey, at her core, is a character seeking safety and a home. She named Suddenly Seymour as her favorite song in the show, while Slater picked Call Back in the Morning. Slater described the production as a uniquely New York kind of experience and said every performance has remained enjoyable for the cast, per the same account.
Wolfe also pushed back on assumptions that the show's dark subject matter makes it unsuitable for younger audiences, suggesting it can be more family-friendly than expected if parents talk through its themes beforehand. She added, simply, that people who haven't seen the show yet are missing out.
From a 1960 Film to an Off-Broadway Landmark
The musical's roots trace back to Roger Corman's low-budget 1960 film, according to Ford's Theatre. That film became the basis for Ashman and Menken's stage musical.
The current revival's record-setting run has made it an Off-Broadway landmark.
