When it comes to Showbiz Queenstown’s Little Shop of Horrors, it could be said Megan Gross is the star of the show — you just don’t get to see her.
The 32-year-old, originally from Wisconsin, moved to Queenstown a couple of years ago for a ski season and decided not to leave.
With a BA in theatre from California State University-Northridge, and a background working at Disneyland, and appearing as an extra on shows like Big Bang Theory and American Horror Story, the Kinross wine advisor decided to audition for Showbiz’s Little Shop musical, initially as the voice of the carnivorous alien plant, Audrey II.
While she didn’t get that role, she was asked a month later if she’d instead be Audrey II’s controller, and jumped at the chance.
She’s since perfected the art of operating the massive puppets, describing the third version of ‘Twoey’ — which she’s physically inside — as the ‘‘most demanding’’.
‘‘It’s like a full-body workout.
‘‘I’ve got some stage crew that help me get in and out of plant no.3 and a lot of times my face is just dripping with sweat when they pull me out.
‘‘It’s not necessarily heavy, it’s just a really weird angle I’m positioned in that makes it more difficult.’’
An additional challenge is having limited sight and muffled sound queues.
‘‘It’s just a matter of timing, learning the songs, learning the dialogue, so I can synch up the mouth movements with the voice as much as possible,’’ she says.
Surprisingly, she says the fourth plant, which stands about 8 feet tall, compared to her more diminutive 5ft 4in, is the easiest to operate — that involves a rock-climbing harness and levers.
Little Shop runs at the Memorial Centre till tomorrow night.
Storage needed
Showbiz Queenstown chair Marty Newell’s on the hunt for someone willing to store a 20-foot container, holding all four Audrey II puppets and the set from this year’s show.
In part, that’s be cause Newell wants to do some cosmetic surgery on ‘Twoey’ once the show’s finished, with a view to hiring the puppets out to other theatre organisations.
However, set expenses also doubled this year.
‘‘If we can keep the set then we can use it next year and, hopefully, the year after.’’
Anyone who might be able to help can email [email protected]
