Suddenly screen stars! Fire Island star Joel Kim Booster and RuPaul's Drag Race favorite Shea Couleé will co-star in a one-night-only concert performance of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's Little Shop of Horrors at Los Angeles nightclub Catch One January 17. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Ali Forney Center and their work to support and provide shelter to homeless LGBTQIA+ youth. Zhailon Levingston (Cats: "The Jellicle Ball:") will direct.
Booster and Couleé will be reprising their performances from a 2006 production at Illinois community theatre Only A Stage, with Booster playing Seymour and Couleé playing Audrey II. They will be joined by a queer cast to be announced. Casting is by RBT Casting's Ryan Bernard Tymensky.
George Strus (Breaking the Binary) is producing via their Benson Drive Productions, in association with Carson Gleberman. Producer Hub is serving as a fiscal sponsor. The concert is being presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International.
With a book and lyrics by Ashman and music by Alan Menken, Little Shop of Horrors turns the 1960 B horror film of the same name into a cult stage musical favorite, centering on a man-eating plant from outer space and the nebbishy florist who finds her and becomes her pathway to world domination. The original production opened Off-Broadway in 1982 and quickly became a huge hit, making the jump to the silver screen in 1987 with original leading lady Ellen Greene reprising her performance as Audrey. The musical played a Broadway run in 2003, and is currently in the sixth year of an Off-Broadway revival at the Westside Theatre.
Tickets for the upcoming concert are available at BensonDriveProds.com.
