“Feed me!” demanded Jason Beeferman, a senior who played the carnivorous, man-eating plant, Audrey II.

With amusing acting to non-stop singing, the members of Great Neck North High School’s theater troupe revived the original 1982 iteration of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken for three consecutive days.

“I choose plays based off of what we have done in prior years and what the spirit of the particular group is that is auditioning,”said Ms. Meredith, director of the plays at Great Neck North High School. “Since we did ‘Phantom of the Opera’ last year, I wanted to choose something a bit more comedic.”

With excellent acting, singing, pit orchestra and costumes, the students were able to deliver a very memorable performance. Many students enjoyed the show including Marcus Pang and Eve Elkouby, a junior.

“The singing and the acting were on point. I especially found the acting from the plant and the mad dentist to be very amusing,” Pang said.

“The play was great overall, my favorite scenes were when the two protagonists kissed and when the plant started to ask to be fed in the really creepy way,“ Elkouby said.

Behind the scenes of this outstanding performance was the stage crew who supervised and operated various technical aspects of the production.

The stage crew each year are praised for their hard work and effort. This year was no different. In fact, students particularly noted the stage crew for their captivating decorations, the marvelous plant and the detailed costumes.

“I was very impressed with the quality and the amount of decoration they put up,” Pang said.

Ms. Meredith even went as far as to call this year’s stage crew “our best crew yet.”

“Not only were they great with Ms. Hasse building and decorating the set, but they were also incredible learning how to run the show,” Ms. Meredith said. “At the end of the day, the backstage, lighting, and sound crew are what make the show run seamlessly.”

Additionally, the pit orchestra executed their role immaculately and added to the exciting atmosphere of the play. The musicians played a variety of different music, including, “Skid Row,” “Git It” and “Don’t Feed the Plants.”

“Mr. Rutkowski is absolutely amazing to work with.” Ms. Meredith said. “He knows the script inside out so that he understands when scenes happen and how that integrates into the musical sections. Unlike some conductors in a high school, he spends a lot of time with the singers weeks prior to the show, so they can work with the musicians and set tempos, and cue lines, etc.,”

Whether it be the orchestra, the stage functions or the acting, the audience enjoyed the play immensely.

Hani Kang, a Sophmore in the pit orchestra, credited the crowd-pleasing production with consistent hard work during rehearsals.

“We had to go over many of the same songs multiple times to make sure they knew how fast to go.” Kang also noted the challenge of coordinating the actors singing with the calculated time of the music.

Despite the preparation for the play also ran on a much shorter timetable than past musicals, the play still warranted raving reviews from both student and teachers.

“The play this year wasn’t their best performance, and I liked it overall. But the pit orchestra, I felt, was outstanding this year,” said Matthew Xu, a junior.

“It’s always hard having say goodbye to a show and cast you’re working with,” Ms. Meredith said. “However, it’s nice that we’ll be starting rehearsals for our next play, ‘The 39 Steps,’ right after Thanksgiving!”