LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS!

Yes, it's true.  It is tech week for Little Shop.  They open on Friday August 31.  The littles and I sat through dress rehearsal last night, and I have some photos and video (if it loads correctly) to share with you!  You're welcome!

But first, let me just say that hands down, this was the easiest tech week ever for me.  I contribute that fact to having space to work and pull and plan.  The awesome production crew and cast had a lot to do with it as well!  :)  And next, true to form, I will tell you a cute little story about my kids.  (awe, I know you love the cute little kid stories!!)

We were sitting in the theatre last night waiting for the show to start.  Daniel Davisson is doing the lighting, and he always does a fantastic job.  In this show, there's a projection on a scrim that says "Little Shop Of Horrors".   So, I'm sitting next to Benjamin, who is sitting next to Rachel, who is sitting next to Aaron.  Benjamin asked what it said.  So Rachel says, "Little Shop of Horrors".  Benjamin then looks at me and says, "why do they call it little shop of hoarders?"  So I giggle and say, "it's HORRORS - not hoarders.  A hoarder is someone who keeps lots of stuff, a horror is something scary."  Ben replies, "OH!  We're hoarders, we have lots of toys. So why do they call it Little Shop of Whores?" .,, Me (laughing out loud) "It's HORRORS, not whores or hoarders."  Benjamin, "Oh, hhoooaaaarrrdddeeerrrsss".   By this point I figured it wasn't going to stick and I was just glad he was calling it little shop of hoarders instead of little shop of whores.  And I was doubly glad he didn't ask what a whore was... because THAT is a conversation for another day. End of Story.  I know, it's cute.  And funny.


First of all, this week was full of building this and that.  The challenge was to take this orb and turn it into a gas mask of sorts for the dentist...

Here's my sketch of what I wanted to make... 

I took vinyl, foam board, battery operated christmas lights and lots of duck tape and put it all together.  Jennifer, the awesome props gal found some empty canisters to use as gas packs.  I attached them to the back of this later.  (you'll see it in the pictures later). 

And this is me, trying to sew a vinyl shoulder piece to the orb.  Just so you know, despite my best efforts to sew it on the machine it didn't work, and I got to sew it on by hand.  :)  

 Here are some pictures from the dress rehearsal, and mic check.  Please remember that these are taken ONLY in rehearsal, and they are taken with my phone.  Picture and sound quality is lacking, but I thought you'd like to see it any way.  And, if it's THIS good in bad pictures think of how amazing it will be through the run!  Seriously, buy tickets NOW!!  Theatre Works in Peoria.

 

Feed Me Seymour!  Feed me all night long!

And, sadly, the last video isn't loading... I'll try again tomorrow.  For your viewing pleasure.  :) 

Here's the latest!

Goodness!  I've been so busy I haven't had time to blog.  I have been better about taking pictures though!!  And I have been VERY busy.  Little Shop opens next weekend, which means next week is tech week.  For those of you who don't speak theatre, it means lots of long, long, long hours and lots of last minute work.  On top of it, Theatre Works is like ten thousand miles away.  Ok, it's not that far but it's a drive.  And, for those of you who haven't come by to see the shop - here's a little peek!

My BFF Claire painted that sign for my shop!  Awesome, huh???  YES!!  

And, in case you haven't driven by - we got a new sign.  Yes, it is the ugliest sign I've ever seen, too.  But it's visible and easy to read.  That's what I wanted, and that's what I picked.  :)  

See?  I told you it was ugly - and you didn't even believe me!  

Aside from signage and the usual siliness, I drove out to Theatre Works for fittings on Saturday. 

Here's Theatre Works.  

This is my little side kick that went with me for fittings.  

And here are some quick shots of some of the costumes!!  

Orin, the dentist is on the right in the red pants.

The Trio has matching bright outfits throughout the show. 

Here's Orin in his dental smock. Nice, huh?  Yah.  I like it too.  And yes, I made that. Thankyouverymuch.

To get the bright colors on the girls was pretty easy.  To get it on the boys was more of a challenge.  I took whatever khaki pants I could get in the appropriate sizes and I dyed them, and then painted them.  

Now I have several pairs of bright colored pants.  And a couple suits, too!  What?  You want to see more?  Well, buy your tickets and come see the show!!  

Aside from Little Shop,  I've been busy making Ariel the mermaid for Princess Amerah.  I started out having my girls make as many scales as they could.  And then I had them make some more!  Once they made the scales, I serged them and then started attaching them to the fin. 

I was especially happy to have my BFF here to help with this huge project!!!  

And a little snack of M&M's didn't hurt either...

 And then, finally we had this:

Isn't it pretty!  Yes!  Yes, it is.  And no, she won't be topless.  I bought a bra and covered it like the Ariel at Disneyland.  Then I added gems to it.  It's pretty, too but I don't have a picture of it. So you'll have to wait!  

And now my girls don't have to make scales any more.  Now they're back on leaf duty.  I'm pretty sure they're not so happy with their jobs right now... but someones got to make them!  And, well, since I'm the boss I chose to make the fun stuff.  (sorry girls... sad but true) 

That's all for now!  Come by and see the shop!  And don't forget to pick out your halloween costumes!!

Finally... I blogged!

I'm back!  It's been a bit of an adjustment getting into the new routines of life but I think I've finally got it down.  Ok, well I think at least I know what's going on some of the time anyway...  I'm guessing you've all heard WE PASSED INSPECTION!!  YIPPEE!  That is great news, because we opened for business the very next day.  We've been open now for about 2 weeks, we've made a few sales and have several walk in's per day which is promising!  On top of the shop opening, school started for the littles AND I'm busy building Little Shop of Horrors.  Here's the ins and outs of what's been going on here...

First of all, we had to lock up the littles.  Ok, kidding but it was funny to take this picture.  :) 

Next, the costumes for Spelling Bee came back.  Which was my first ever return at the new shop!  I took the laundry home to wash it, and was at a quandary as to what to do with the wedding dress (rented for another show, returned at the same time) It for sure needed a wash down, but the dry cleaners wanted big bucks because of the crystals on the dress.   So I did the unthinkable and washed it in the washing machine.  :)  So, wanna know what happened to a super expensive wedding dress with crystals on it when I washed it????  It got clean.  And it looks beautiful.  I washed it on gentle and hung it up to dry.  seriously, I wonder if dry cleaning is some sort of scam.  Kidding, I know there's some things that really need it (like suits and wool) but still...

While all of that was going on, I was also building Little Shop.  The amazing director wants everything in larger than life colors, which isn't too much of a challenge BUT seriously - how do you make a homeless person in bright colors???  Well I'm doing it. And it's looking amazing.  I found the polo shirts for the Trio's opening uniforms and dyed them purple.  I couldn't find bright colored pants for the men, so I found some bone colored dockers and dyed them...

purple water!

pants... 

green water!!

And yes, I washed the washing machine after and most of that pretty rainbow stuff on the agitator is gone.  And I love my washing machine - GO KENMORE! Just in case you're wondering... 

And the plant.  There's 4 of them.  I got to work on the second one.  So we make lots of leaves.  And here's how it went...

leaf pattern. 

big leaf with the casing in it for wire.

Here's how the leafs go onto the plant. 

Here's the pod covered with fabric.  The green tube on the bottom is where the hand goes.  It will be covered with vine and leafs. 

FEED ME RACHEL!

Here's the inside of the mouth.  It will be painted and such so it will actually look quite a bit different once it's finished.  

And... we had a great photo shoot!!! 

And I'm in love with Audrey's dress!  She's so cute!!

Seymour has 2 of these jackets - one will be attached to the puppet I made (above).  This one is his actual jacket. 

And... the kids are fantastic and helpful coming back to the shop after school!!!  Only problem is.... I bought this amazing dress form to work with and... well... Rachel not only named it, she pretty much took it over.  She's always draping things on it and actually takes my stuff off of it!  That kid!!  Or she asks me when I'll be done so she can get back to work.  Geesh!  But she's so talented and cute!!  

She's ready for Project Runway!!!  

Ok, I need to get back to the sewing.  And painting... I'm painting costumes today 'cause the dye wasn't bright enough for my liking.  :)  More to come soon!!!!