The lights begin to rise and the curtains open as Freedom High School Musical sets up to perform this year’s musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” With many months in the making, the cast is finishing up their final touches and checking everything off their to-do lists. The production will be opening its doors for performances on March 27, 28 and 29.

“Little Shop of Horrors” was originally a fantasy and sci-fi movie that was released in the late 1980s by director Frank Oz before being adapted into a musical. 

The performance is about two main characters, “Seymour” and “Audrey,” who go about their everyday lives on Skid Row, the not-so-perfect part of town. Playing the main roles of Seymour and Audrey in this musical are seniors Mason Hedge and Alyson Horner. Hedge plays the part of Seymour and Horner plays the part of Audrey. In this musical, Seymour begins to fall in love with Audrey, in which he begins to do everything to impress this young lady and this is where he discovers and helps grow a new, unexpected plant. This plant is unlike any other and begins to take over the world, quite literally. As the audience follows along, this musical will take them for a major ride with shocking scenes they would never expect. 

“I am extremely excited to be a lead role this year! It will be a lot of hard work and concentration, but with having some experience from the past with musical I think I have the talent to pull off a successful Audrey,” Horner said. 

The cast is represented by 24 students ranging from 9th to 12th grade. In charge of the entire show is Debra Williamson, who has been the director of many musicals here at Freedom, including previous musicals such as “The Addams Family” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Since the start of January, this small cast has been working extremely hard to make sure everything flows the way they want it to. Currently all the stage props are being built with the help of many contributing people. The actors have been rehearsing their lines and have been practicing to make sure every move feels natural. The orchestra has been fine-tuning their music along with the actors practicing vocals. 

“Even though we have a small cast this year, the show that we are doing can be done with a small group of people. With that said, in a small cast, mistakes are really easy to notice, so we have to make sure that everything on stage is as clean as possible. It’s been challenging, but we always pull through,” Hedge said. 

This performance is unlike any other performed at Freedom High School. This year, there is a life-sized puppet that represents the plant that causes this plot to twist and turn in many directions. Senior JoAnn Sharpless is in charge of the puppet.  

“To be completely honest, I’m absolutely terrified. I’ve never been on the stage so it’s a little daunting, but I think the play in all is going to be fantastic,” Sharpless said. 

While “Little Shop of Horrors” is nothing new to the audience’s eye, it is sparking interests close to home. Running along similar roads, the Pittsburgh Public Theater is performing the same classic musical, “Little Shop of Horrors.” This musical is unlike anything ever performed in this Pittsburgh Public Theater and has been enjoyable to everyone that has watched it. 

With this entire cast’s hearts and dedication put into this year’s musical, they are inviting everyone to come join them with enjoying “Little Shop of Horrors” on March 27, 28 and 29.