Ellen Greene is revisiting one of her defining roles for the 40th anniversary of \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n
In conversation, she seamlessly slips in and out of that singular voice \u2014 a little breathy, a little squeaky, a little lispy, a little New York \u2014 that made her \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d heroine an instant icon. It wasn\u2019t a register she\u2019d planned on hitting at the audition. It just came out of her in the moment, and it stuck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think about it,\u201d Greene, 75, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. \u201cIt was weird, I mean, I don\u2019t know where half of this stuff came from.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her long and robust career on the stage and screen, Audrey is perhaps Greene\u2019s defining role. Her tragicomic shopgirl of skid row belted her way into audiences\u2019 hearts off-Broadway in 1982, and then in Frank Oz\u2019s 1986 film opposite Rick Moranis.<\/p>\n
The catchy musical about that flesh-eating plant is never too far in the rearview either. Every few years it seems she\u2019s beckoned for an encore. In 2015, she reprised the role for three sold-out shows, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing Seymour.<\/p>\n
Starting this weekend, she'll be making stops around the country for the next few months for 40th anniversary screenings, from Seattle (Aug. 18) to Atlanta (Nov. 13). Performances of \u201cSomewhere That\u2019s Green\u201d have been promised too.<\/p>\n
That aching ballad about wanting more, aside from being one of the big showstoppers, holds a special place for Greene. She remembers first listening to it on the unemployment line, waiting to get her check, and quietly singing along.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just knew there was an Audrey inside of me waiting to be born,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n
She carried that feeling to the audition where composer Alan Menken jumped in to play the piano with lyricist Howard Ashman, already her great friend, looking on. When she finished, everyone was in tears.<\/p>\n
Getting the role wasn\u2019t any sort of immediate windfall either. When they started at the WPA Theatre in New York, she was being paid $50 a week for a month of rehearsals and two months of shows off-Broadway. But it was a hit. One night, Steve Martin, who would later play Audrey\u2019s abusive dentist boyfriend in the film, even came to see it with Mary Tyler Moore.<\/p>\n
On the stage, she performed \u201cSomewhere That's Green\u201d sitting on a trash can. For the film, Ashman wrote the number to be staged like the Leslie Caron and Cyd Charisse numbers they both loved, where a character walks into a room and suddenly they\u2019re in a different outfit for the song.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would think I would just have been floored and so excited that he gave me this gift,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead, I call him up and I\u2019m crying my eyes out. And I\u2019m saying, wait for this, \u2018Where\u2019s my trash can?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashman, she said, just laughed and assured her that they\u2019d elicit the same response when the camera pans out to reveal she\u2019s still on skid row. Ironically, this whole exchange happened before she\u2019d even officially been cast in the movie.<\/p>\n
The story of how the film was made is long and bumpy. John Landis was originally attached to direct, then, briefly, Martin Scorsese, before it found its way to Oz. Greene\u2019s participation was never a given, either. Producer David Geffen wanted to get a \u201cbigger name,\u201d like Cyndi Lauper, on screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I would have gotten the film,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n