TRACK #81:

Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors) by Michelle Weeks, Tichina Arnold and Tisha Campbell-Martin with Bill Mitchell

It’s a bit crazy to think we’ve made it 80 tracks into a horror themed playlist without including anything from one of the most beloved horror musicals of all time, Little Shop of Horrors.

I’ll be honest, I don’t care for musicals, generally speaking. They’re unnatural, disorienting and show tunes really aren’t my bag. Why is everyone singing all of a sudden? Am I on drugs? What’s going on up there? What world is this where random strangers are all suddenly singing, and well?

It’s never happened to me.

Granted, I’ve never been attacked by a mummy, either. Nor have I ever seen a Ghoulie in my toilet. But it could happen. I can imagine that world.

I can not, for one moment, imagine a world where all of my friends and I are having a conversation at a diner, then suddenly and for no apparent reason, we all burst out into song to detail plot points, describe feelings or externalize inner monologues through music.

So infectious is our glee that all the waiters and line cooks join in on the number, until our mirth can no longer be contained by the diner itself! We spill out into the streets and stop traffic. A crossing guard and truck driver add a verse. The whole of the town gather behind us in harmony, until finally a car careens into a fire hydrant and an urban geyser punctuates our final note! Then we just start talking again like normal people, without even acknowledging whatever the fuck that nonsense was that just happened.

Can’t picture that ever happening.

I can more easily imagine a cult of satanists rushing the door with an ancient amulet demanding the hostess be sacrificed over a plate of moons over my hammy. I’m prepared for that. I think I could handle that, mentally. I think an impromptu and unacknowledged musical number would fuck me up. I don’t know if I could move passed that. Maybe that makes it more horrific.

That being said, there are a few musicals I can enjoy, mostly because of their genre leanings or satiric nature. Rocky Horror, Cannibal: The Musical, and Little Shop of Horrors all have just the right amount of je ne sais quoi that allows me to get passed that unnatural sensation, and enjoy the musical as I believe it should be, without all my logical, earth-bound hang-ups.

So, in that spirit, we return to the Shindig after a long hiatus with the title track from Little Shop of Horrors. Enjoy!