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    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors"
    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors"
    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors"
    Ebook51 pages31 minutes

    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateMay 15, 2018
    ISBN9781410393395
    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors"

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    • 3/5
      While this has a decent synopsis and a few fun things to think about, it also includes a lot of irrelevant info and plot statements which are plain wrong. Maybe better than nothing for a study guide, but take it with a grain of salt.

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    A Study Guide for Howard Ashman's "Little Shop of Horrors" - Gale

    16

    Little Shop of Horrors

    Howard Ashman

    1982

    Introduction

    In 1960, the B-movie producer Roger Corman—B-movies being low-budget movies originally made to accompany the main films in double features—took advantage of access to some street sets and had the screenwriter Charles Griffith put together a quick script. In two days, they filmed a parody of horror movies called The Little Shop of Horrors, about a plant that grows by consuming human blood. The film was cheap and funny, making it a natural for Howard Ashman, a young actor, writer, and producer, to adapt for his small theater company twenty-two years later. With memorable songs by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Ashman, Little Shop of Horrors became an audience favorite and went on to a five-year off-Broadway run. The musical was adapted to a 1986 film with Rick Moranis; Steve Martin; Ellen Greene, who achieved national fame from her role in the play; and Levi Stubbs, the lead singer of the Temptations, as the voice of the plant.

    The story tells of Seymour, a timid young assistant in a bankrupt flower shop who finds that business picks up when people come in to see a strange new plant he has brought to the shop. His boss is happy, and Audrey, the coworker Seymour secretly loves, is happy. The only one not happy is the plant, which soon starts talking, first begging for and then demanding human blood. As Audrey's boyfriend, a motorcycle-riding dentist with a sadistic streak, becomes increasingly abusive, it becomes easier and easier for Seymour to see who should supply blood to satisfy the plant's thirst. The plant is not satisfied with just one victim, though, and insists on more and more. The plant's popularity ensures that bloodthirsty offshoots will be spread across the globe.

    Like the carnivorous plant, Ashman and Menken's musical spread. Even before a successful 2003 Broadway revival, it was a standard of school and community theater companies. It has yielded songs considered classics of modern musical theater, including Downtown (Skid Row), Somewhere That's Green, and Suddenly Seymour. Its awards included the New York Drama Critics' Circle award for Best Musical of 1982–83; Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Special Effects; and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Off-Broadway Musical and Best Score.

    Author Biography

    Ashman Was Born In Baltimore, Maryland, In 1950. His Father, Raymond, Was A Salesman, And His Mother, Shirley, Was A Full-Time Homemaker. Ashman Was Interested In Theater At A Young Age And Acted In The Baltimore'S Children'S Theater Association As A Child. He Attended Several Colleges, Including Boston University, Tufts University, And Goddard College, From Which He Received His Bachelor'S Degree. He Went On To Earn His Master Of Fine Arts Degree From Indiana University In 1974.

    After graduate school, Ashman moved to New York City with Stuart White, his longtime companion. He worked by day in the editing department at Grosset & Dunlap publishers while trying to break into musical theater. He and White were founders of the

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