Inside the Murray E. Nelson center, the cast and crew of Little Shop of Horrors runs through a dress rehearsal. With opening night Thursday, Oct. 27, this is crunch time.
“We’re always ready,” said actor DJ Mills. “We’re going to have to be, there’s no other option,” added castmate Jordan Griffiths, who plays the evil masochistic dentist.
This latest Key Players production is a comedy rock musical about a hapless flower store worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The show is just in time for Halloween.
“The plant is freakin’ awesome and so giant and it took us so much time to make all of them because there’s multiple plants, there’s not just one, because it grows and grows and grows,” said Mills, a man who will be playing a woman on stage.
“We have an amazing cast, ultra-talented. It’s like I almost don’t have to do much because they’re able to just pick things up,” said musical director Luna Rivera, who also plays one of the lead roles.
The two-act show runs about two hours. Although there are some first-time thespians, many of the actors started out in kids’ shows and have a long history with the director.
“All of the principal characters have been with me for 10-plus years acting in shows. So I guess this has actually been a couple decades in the making,” said show director Michele Zofchak.
Show producer Jonelle Kop said the sheer talent of the cast will blow audiences away.
“The acting and the voices, the voices. Wait till you hear it. You will just go ‘Oh my God,’” she gushed.
One cast member, 17-year-old Jayden Ferrell, is blind. The Coral Shores High School senior delivers a stellar performance.
“He has a phenomenal voice. The cast has been phenomenal with him because they bring him on and they bring him off,” said Kop. “He’s very spatially oriented. So once you show him something once or twice he usually gets right on it.”
Ferrell said he has wanted to do this musical ever since it was canceled at his high school. “We were going to do it three years ago but COVID happened so we couldn’t do it, so I wanted to do it this year.”
Behind the scenes, stage manager Charlene Sammis is in charge of the props and making sure the set is ready before the curtain rises. Sammis has been with the Key Players since 2006. She’s had roles on stage and off and said that for a show to be a success, everyone needs to be able to think on their feet.
“You don’t have to be perfect, but you should be seamless,” said Sammis. “So if you drop a line or if a prop isn’t there, you just kind of move on because the audience does not have the script.”
Putting a show together is hard work. From building the sets to endless hours of rehearsals, it is an investment of time and energy.
No one from The Key Players is paid. So why do they do it?
“It’s just something that I enjoy doing. I think it’s just something I take pride in,” said 22-year -old Andrew Fleites, who plays the flower store owner, Mr. Mushnik.
“I love the group, just theater people in general, the creativity,” added Griffiths, the evil dentist.
“Little Shop of Horrors” will run two weekends at the Murray E. Nelson Government and Cultural Center. Performances take place Oct. 27-29 and Nov. 3-5 at 7 p.m., with a matinee on Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. Adult tickets are $23 (online and at the door). High school or younger student tickets are $10, with proof of age. Adult tickets only are available at three ticket outlets in advance for $20: Key Largo Chocolates at MM 100, Shear Paradise at MM 99.3 and PostNet in Islamorada at MM 88.
For more info/online tickets, visit www.Facebook.com/TheKeyPlayers.
