As anyone who knows me probably knows, I LOVE autumn and Halloween and everything about it. In fact, from the tricks or treats to the sweets to the parties to the costumes to the decorations to the movies (not usually a horror fan but I still love gothic, dark or eerie stories), it’s one of my absolute favourite times of year. As it is finally spooky season again (😊 😊), I decided to write a post about some musicals that have a kind of Halloween vibe or a fitting aesthetic for this time of year (much like the ‘Beetlejuice’ musical, for example.)
The first musical is ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, which was written by Richard O’Brien in 1973, just two years before the movie version was released, and has since become a cult classic and favourite among many. For instance, in a 2017 ‘Rolling Stone’ poll, it was voted the best movie musical. The musical parodies and plays with the horror and gothic genre as well as exploring and referencing the sci-fi genre and the musical in itself as a genre. Some of the best known songs include ‘The Time Warp’, ‘Sweet Transvestite’, ‘Dammit Janet’, ‘Hot Patootie-Bless my soul’ and ‘Science fiction/double feature’ (which is sung by a mysterious pair of red lips.) The movie version features big names such as Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry in leading roles. It’s known all over the word and has had a massive impact on culture and other musicals and forms of media as people often get dressed up as the characters and join in to recite all the lines and dialogue whenever they go to watch it. It even inspired a whole episode of ‘Glee’ back in their second season in 2010, which was… interesting to say the least and definitely had some questionable moments, anyway shall we move on?
The next musical we’re taking a closer look at is ‘Little shop of horrors’, which contains songs such as ‘Downtown’, ‘Dentist!’, the eponymous ‘Little shop of horrors’ and the super catchy, pretty awesome ‘Suddenly, Seymour’. ‘Little Shop’ started off as ‘The little shop of horrors’, a 1960 Richard Corman film, before being adapted into an off-Broadway musical comedy and then a black comedy movie musical in 1986. The 1986 film features a lot of talent and some big names, such as Rick Moranis, Levi Stubbs, Steve Martin and Ellen Greene (which seems appropriate as there is a song called ‘Somewhere that’s green’.) In fact, Ellen Greene also played Audrey in the stage version of ‘Little shop’ four years before appearing in the 1986 film version. Some other famous names such as John Candy, Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, Miriam Margolyes and Christopher Guest also appear in the movie and it was directed by Frank Oz. Now, Oz is possibly best known for voicing Miss Piggy and Fozzie (and several other characters) in ‘The Muppets’. At first glance, it seems like Seymour, one of the main characters, might be a typical ‘nice guy’ as he’s mild-mannered, shy and lacking in confidence and has a crush on Audrey, who he doesn’t think likes him back. However, he turns out to actually be sweet and caring (if you can look past the murdering aspect with him and Audrey II, the extra-terrestrial venus flytrap that feeds on human blood.) Also, Audrey’s boyfriend, Orin, is so awful to her that you just want her to be happy and safe no matter what and she and Seymour make quite a nice couple as they’re both shy, awkward and genuinely sweet and kind and looking for a real connection.
Hope you enjoyed this post and that you have a wonderful spooky season and a great Halloween. :)
