Little Shop Of Horrors Analysis

In the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” Davis Weaver plays the antagonist role of Orin Scrivello, the cringey, sadistic dentist and abusive boyfriend of Audrey. I was particularly impressed with Weaver’s versatility as an actor, being that he plays five different roles throughout the musical. Additionally, Weaver’s various vocal tones, postures, facial expressions, tactics, movements and gestures, and use of props effectively reveals Orin’s superobjective and allows Weaver to be as believable as this character possibly can be given the circumstances.

I felt that Weaver believably integrated Orin’s internal struggles with his violent background and history of abuse into his external performance, conveying an emotionally unstable character.

His voice wavers between being deep at times when he is trying to display dominance over others. Then at other times he shifts to a much higher pitch and faster pace when he gets excited or takes a hit of nitrous oxide. When conversing with other characters, Weaver talks in a somewhat seductive, whisper-like, creepy tone. When someone threatens his title of power like Audrey does when she leaves out D.D.S. from his name, he lashes out for a brief moment before recollecting himself. These sudden outbursts or erratic behavior show how insecure and unstable he really is. Weaver’s laughing is also a huge contributor to Orin’s frantic and disturbed characterization. Every time he inhales the nitrous oxide, he explodes out into loud, hysterical, over-exaggerated laugh either for short bursts or extended amounts of time. I think his exaggerated laughter was spot on, capturing the euphoric insanity of the character. He even pleasurably grunts and moans in response to inflicting pain on others, revealing his animalistic and masochistic side. The erratic use of nitrous oxide also serves to represent Orin’s problems with addiction and his underlying insecurities. Maybe he self-medicates to escape the demons that are inside his head, using his laughing gas to make living a little bit