For Immediate Release: November 2, 2005
Media Contact: Bryan S. Clark, The Academy Theatre, 609.291.9000

Completing The Academy Theatre’s third season (its fourth season begins in March 2006) is the Off-Broadway sensation, and later Broadway revival phenomenon, Little Shop of Horrors. Loosely based on the low-budget cult film by Roger Corman, Little Shop of Horrors opened at the Orpheum Theatre Off-Broadway in New York City, and played more than 2,000 performances, becoming the highest grossing and third longest running musical in Off-Broadway history.

Mushnik’s Skid Row Florist Shop is just as its name implies, a total waste of carbon dioxide. The owner’s disheveled assistant, Seymour Krelbourn, is nothing more than a total failure as a botanist and the scapegoat for lousy business. Completing this trio of hopeless slum residents is Audrey, who is caught in a terribly abusive relationship with an eccentric and sadistic dentist. It seems, at the opening of the production, that all would be kaput for these three, until Seymour reveals a strange and interesting new plant that he’s been trying to nurse to health. Things slowly begin to look up when, after placing this plant in the window, business miraculously booms. Seymour is now under real pressure to get the plant healthy –but what to feed it? His very blood?

Through a strange twist of fate, this new plant, now named the Audrey II, has an incredible knack for bringing in business that seems to have no end, until the blood runs dry and Seymour needs to look toward other sources…

Director Jessica Sentak will finish the season with a bang finally bringing her first Off-Broadway success to her home at The Academy Theatre. Jessica first directed Little Shop of Horrors for New York audiences at the Theresa Lang Theatre in 2001. Jessica has also commissioned the help of Louis F. Goldberg as musical director, who returns to The Academy after his success with A Chorus Line earlier this year, and Choreographer Andrea L. Davis, whose previous work with The Academy includes A Chorus Line, The Rocky Horror Show, and serving as the resident dance instructor for Pandora’s Academy.

Bryan Lesnick will portray the hapless Seymour Krelbourn. Bryan first arrived on the arts scene in 2001 and has been a force ever since. Working strictly as an actor for the past couple of years, Bryan’s professional credits include, Evita, Godspell, Cabaret, A Chorus Line, Nunsense…Amen! and The Rocky Horror Show with The Academy Theatre, Jesus Christ Superstar with Midnight Productions, and Footloose. He has also just released his EP Bryan Lesnick: A Page Out of Suburban Boredom for your listening enjoyment.

Also returning to The Academy Theatre to play the part of Audrey is Bre Cade, who was referred to by Stuart Duncan of The Princeton Packet as “an 18-year-old phenomenon.” Although so young, she has already established a repertoire as an actor that would make many nod their heads in admiration. She has been seen regionally in The Wiz, Into the Woods, Rumors, Looking Glass Land, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, to name a few. If that weren’t enough she was the featured performer with the Point Pleasant Borough Show Choir on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

The role (and we mean the entire role) of Audrey II will contain a bit of a twist and be played by Jaimie L. McMillin. Jaimie’s alluring and captivating voice has contributed to several shows at The Academy Theatre before including this season’s Cabaret, A Chorus Line and The Rocky Horror Show, last season’s Godspell and Baby, and the inaugural season’s Evita and My Way. Regionally, she’s worked with The Newtown Arts Company, Midnight Productions, and can also be heard singing on the recently released EP, Bryan Lesnick: A Page Out of Suburban Boredom.

The returning Anthony D’Amato will play the part of Mushnik. Anthony is a professional soul rock/R&B vocalist that has performed throughout the tri-state area in theatre, television, music, and nationwide as a master of ceremonies. His solo cabarets have sold out NYC venues such as Rose's Turn and Don't Tell Mama, and made his Off-Broadway debut in 2002 with Rock & Roll Fantasy, a 21-song solo classic rock show at the Triad Theatre. Select regional theatre credits include Blood Brothers (George Street Playhouse), Jesus Christ Superstar, The Wiz, Grease!, Corpus Christi, Assassins, Sweeney Todd (2005 NJACT Best Musical), Little Shop of Horrors, Meshuggah-Nuns, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Jekyll & Hyde, Titanic, and was a 2001 Papermill Playhouse Rising Star Award nominee as the Headwaiter in She Loves Me. Anthony is now recording original pop music and represents Screaming Cat Studios in Asbury Park, and is a rock/pop/R&B vocal coach to many professional and upcoming singers throughout the state. His upcoming cabaret, My Melancholy Blues, will debut on December 11th in NJ, and bring Anthony back to NYC in January.

Completing the returning All-Stars to The Academy Theatre is Bryan S. Clark, who will play the multi-faceted Orin Scrivello, DDS. Bryan joined The Academy Theatre team this year as head of the theatre’s marketing department, but has spent many years in the Greater Philadelphia area in a variety of theatrical capacities. As an actor, he was last seen on stage in 2004 with The Academy’s first production of The Rocky Horror Show in the role of Frank N. Furter. Since then he has contributed to every production The Academy has put up this season and even took time to direct this year’s A View From the Bridge. He also writes for the weekly publication Out and About as a theatre critic and is a Judge for the Barrymore Association of Greater Philadelphia.

Little Shop of Horrors’ opening night (December 2) will offer an opportunity to meet and speak with all the performers and the producers of the show. This event will also include special offers on next season, invitations for local media groups and organizations, and free concessions after the show.

Little Shop of Horrors has, at this time, a limited run of only 8 performances. The show runs from December 2 to December 17, 2005. Performances take place every Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Saturday December 10 and 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets may be reserved by calling the box office at 609-291-9000. To see a seating chart or for more information on The Academy, check our website at www.theacademytheatre.com.

For more information regarding The Academy Theatre, this press release, or to arrange for interviews call Bryan S. Clark at 609-291-9000 or by emailing clarkbs1@juno.com or theacademytheatre@yahoo.com.

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