Performers to bloom with horrific tunes

A MACABRE musical theatre classic is set to be brought to life by student performers with the Ballarat Centre of Music and the Arts as part of the company’s next production.

About 35 young performers will take to the stage at Mount Clear College’s Gay E. Gough theatre for a two-day showing of Little Shop of Horrors.

BCMA’s organisational and creative director Paula Heenan said the production will be a nuanced display from the group’s musical theatre students aged between 13 and 17 years old.

“It’s pulled on different skills on them with a really strong emphasis on acting,” she said.

“This group presented Bring It On last year, and this will be a very different show. It’s not a musical that has a happy ending but there’s incredible music and strong dancing.”

First debuting off-Broadway in 1982, Little Shop of Horrors was also adapted into a 1986 horror comedy musical directed by Frank Oz.

BCMA’s adaptation is one of four major works in 2023 following Imagine This and Finding Nemo Jr, which is set to conclude later this year with a production of The Wizard of Oz.

Heenan said the show will be a spectacular display for the company’s production values.

“We’ve actually hired a puppet for this that will probably be one of the best puppets that Ballarat’s ever seen, and we’re hiring it from a Melbourne theatre production group,” she said.

“We’ll have full sets as well so it’ll be pretty sensational as far as that’s concerned.”

BCMA’s Little Shop of Horrors production will be performed on Saturday 23 September at 7pm followed by a 2pm show the next day.

Tickets range between $18 and $30 and can be booked at bit.ly/47S5a8k.