🌱 Catch ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at this Central Florida theatre

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Winter Garden’s downtown is known for having beautiful plants and flowers everywhere, but at Garden Theatre, you can expect to see a blood-thirsty plant with a rather large appetite.

“Little Shop of Horrors” is kicking off Garden Theatre’s 17th season.

The musical has been around for 40 years and follows the story of Seymore Krelborn, a meek floral assistant pining for his coworker, Audrey.

When his crush goes unnoticed, Seymore comes across a new breed of plant he names after her, “Audrey ll.”

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The plant quickly becomes the shop’s main attraction and it promises Seymore fame and fortune, as long as he keeps feeding it blood.

Seymore continues to feed the plant until he realizes too late, its extra-terrestrial origins and its plans for world domination.

Mell-Vonti does the voice for Audrey II. He is back home in Florida after spending the almost 20 years doing theatre across the country. He says Audrey ll is a dream role for him.

“‘Little Shop’ has been a dream show since middle school. I remember watching it on YouTube and saying ‘I wish my voice was deep enough to play Audrey ll.’ 14 years later from the dream, it became a reality. It’s such a blessing,” said Mell-Vonti.

He said even though his character is after blood, he does relate to him in some ways.

“Audrey ll is something! I feel like I relate to Audrey ll′s passion for getting what he wants! As an Actor, you have to be willing to take risks and trust your gut! If I want something, I’m going to work extra hard to get it,” Mell-Vonti said.

“If I don’t get it, It won’t defeat me, I’ll find a different approach and go after it again! Also, I love to eat,” he joked.

John Rochette plays Audrey’s (the human) dentist boyfriend.

“The challenge with Orin is making him feel like a human being with relatable wants and needs.  It can be difficult to not have Orin just be a complete lunatic with every line. I tried to make him a functioning, yet extremely damaged, human being when he’s sober, then somewhat of a cartoon character only when he’s high on gas,” said Rochette.

In total, he actually plays 7 roles in the show.

“I essentially play every ancillary character in our story when I’m not the dentist.  Many of which represent evil forces trying to manipulate and exploit Seymour. Just when he thinks he’s done with me, I return as someone else to essentially haunt him and pressure him into bad decision making,” said Rochette.

Tickets for the show start at $45. Click here to purchase them.

“Little Shop of Horrors” will have a performance with American Sign Language interpretation on Saturday, July 27 at 2 p.m.

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