Musically We Roll Along

Hopefully all of you had the chance to watch Jordan Fisher and Nikki M. James in Little Shop of Horrors! Sunday, July 19, was (sadly) their final day in the show at Westside Theatre. 

We flew to NY during Spring Break specifically to watch this off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. We booked our tickets as soon as they announced the incredible cast. We are all big fans of Jordan Fisher after watching his amazing performance in Moulin Rouge last summer. (We’ll have a separate appreciation post about that in the future!) Along with Jordan as Seymour, Tony Award winner Nikki M. James was announced as Audrey and Andy Karl, who played the Duke across Jordan in Moulin Rouge, was revealed as Dr. Orin Scrivello. 

WHAT WE LOVED

The cast, obviously! All three leads – Jordan, Nikki and Andy – fit their characters perfectly, bringing the perfect mix of dorkiness, vulnerability and humor. (Theatre Kid: Honestly, Jordan puts the dork into Seymour. He is very talented as Seymour. He is also very funny and really makes Seymour, Seymour.)

Just watch this clip of Jordan & Nikki singing “Suddenly Seymour” together 😍

We’ve now seen Andy Karl be the ‘bad guy’ in both Moulin Rouge and Little Shop, and he has so much range! He was very cool as the Duke, but he was devilish and insane as the dentist. We will never forget that scene with the laughing gas! 

The supporting cast, including the urchins (Christine Wanda, Savannah Lee Birdsong, Mecca Hicks), Audrey 2’s voice (Christian McQueen), Mr. Mushnik (Reg Rogers) and puppeteers, were also amazing. When we watched Merrily We Roll Along on Netflix a month later, we realized that Mr. Mushnik was also in that production!

The smaller theatre gave Audrey 2 a larger than life presence! It was fun watching the plant grow bigger and bigger and bigger until it’s taken over the stage and snaps at the audience. We especially liked “Grow With Me” (we still haven’t figured out how Jordan made the smaller potted Audrey 2 snap at us) and “Feed Me”. 

Note for families with kids: You might not want to sit front and center because of Audrey 2’s surprise move at the end. Jordan was really sweet the night we went and comforted a young girl who was startled by the plant.

Because it was April, they had some great opportunities for fans to support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. In addition to Playbills and posters autographed by the cast & crew, fans could also purchase special items used in the show, including Seymour’s glasses along with a meet-and-greet with Jordan Fisher.

The cast stayed onstage longer after the bows as they listed the different items and encouraged the audience to give back to a great cause. Understandably, Little Shop of Horrors was one of the top fundraisers for off-Broadway shows! 👏

Here’s a fun gif from the night we went, of our favorite plant dancing while promoting his Little Shop of Horrors items for Broadway Cares:

LET’S ALL GO DOWNTOWN AGAIN

We can’t wait to see what Jordan Fisher and Nikki M. James do next, and we also hope that they will return to Skid Row one day along with Andy Karl! 

Another thing we really loved about this trio was how much they seemed to enjoy being part of this production and also the fun clips they posted on social media. This one from Andy Karl, with the ‘delusional’ voiceover by Joy in Inside Out 2, was one of our favorites!