The Jist!
The opening titles warn the audience, in the best Hollywood fashion, of a "terrifying threat to our very existence" which emerged in the "seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places": the Skid Row slums of New York in September 1960. We are introduced to Mushnik's Flower Shop by three young girls, Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon, who appear throughout the film both as street urchins who watch the story unfold from the sidelines and as a glamorous doo wop-singing Greek chorus ("Little Shop of Horrors").
Mushnik is struggling financially, and both of his employees, nerdy Seymour Krelborn and the beautiful but ditzy Audrey, separately dream of escaping their hopeless poverty ("Skid Row (Downtown)"). A day without a single customer prompts Mushnik to threaten to close the store, but Audrey persuades him to let Seymour display a "strange and interesting" plant to attract customers. Several days earlier, during an unexpected total eclipse, Seymour discovered a mysterious new plant, which resembles a Venus Flytrap ("Da-Doo"). He names the plant "Audrey II" after Audrey, who he is secretly in love with. The plant successfully attracts several new customers but suddenly wilts after the shop closes for the day. Seymour's attempts to find proper nourishment for the finicky plant until he accidentally pricks his finger on a rose thorn, and discovers that Audrey II has an appetite for human blood ("Grow for Me").
As the plant thrives (and Seymour grows anemic), business booms at Mr. Mushnik's previously failing flower shop, and it is revealed that Audrey, who is being abused by her boyfriend, has been fantasizing about marrying Seymour and settling down to a peaceful life in an idyllic tract house far from Skid Row ("Somewhere that's Green").
The plant grows to about four feet tall and Seymour becomes a local celebrity ("Some Fun Now"), but he is very weak because Audrey II needs increasingly more of his blood every day. While they work, Seymour attempts to ask Audrey out, but she has a date with her dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello D.D.S., who is revealed to be an abusive sadist, with an addiction to nitrous oxide ("Dentist!").
Eventually, the now-huge Audrey II begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give. The machiavellian plant offers Seymour fame and fortune if he will kill someone to provide it with food. Seymour refuses until he witnesses Orin slapping Audrey, and, enraged, agrees to feed him to the plant ("Feed Me (Git It)").
Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a revolver, although he cannot bring himself to use it. Orin, already frustrated due to an appointment with a patient who is an over-enthusiastic masochist, is about to operate on Seymour when he decides to amuse himself by huffingnitrous oxide. He puts on a special gas mask (which provides a constant flow of gas), which malfunctions, preventing him from removing it. He begs Seymour for help while laughing hysterically, but Seymour takes no action and Orin dies from asphyxiation with a big grin on his face.
Seymour drags Orin's body back to the flower shop where he uses an axe to chop it up for Audrey II (per its demands). Mr. Mushnik witnesses Seymour's actions and flees in fear without being noticed. Seymour feeds the body parts to the plant and it continues to grow larger. After a sleepless night, Seymour discovers two policemen questioning Audrey about Orin's disappearance (Possibly a reference to the two policemen in the 1960 film). She says that she feels guilty about Orin's death, even though she did not cause it, because she always secretly wished that he would disappear. Seymour tells Audrey that she is beautiful and should not have such low self-esteem. They admit their feelings for each other and kiss passionately ("Suddenly, Seymour").
That night, Mr. Mushnik confronts Seymour and accuses him of being an axe-murderer. Seymour admits he did chop Orin up, but that he didn't kill him. As Mushnik prepares to hand him over to the police, Audrey II yearns for Seymour to lead Mushnik close to it in order to get him out of the way ("Suppertime"). Before leaving the store, Mushnik suddenly decides to bargain with Seymour, offering Seymour "a one way bus ticket out of town" if he allows Mushnik to take care of (and profit from) the plant. With no way out, Seymour maneuvers Mushnik toward the plant, which eats Mushnik whole.
Seymour's fortune continues to grow and he becomes a media star ("The Meek Shall Inherit"), but he is very worried about Audrey II's growth and insatiable appetite. He is also afraid that Audrey will only love him if he continues to be famous. He decides to get out of town and marry Audrey, leaving the plant to starve. Audrey II catches him leaving and demands another meal; Seymour agrees, but insists on ground chuck from the local butcher. When Seymour briefly leaves the shop to get the meat, Audrey II decides to put an end to the distraction Audrey has become to his plans. He telephones Audrey and coaxes her into the shop, then tries to eat her ("Suppertime (reprise)"). Seymour returns and saves her just in time, and tries to explain to her what happened. When he mentions that he thought she liked him because of the plant and his fame, Audrey reveals that she liked him the day she started working at Mushnik's ("Suddenly, Seymour (reprise)").
As they share this moment together, they are interrupted by Patrick Martin, a salesman from World Botanical Enterprises. He offers Seymour a contract to breed Audrey II and make a fortune by selling the plant to families around the world. Seymour, shocked, realizes that Audrey II planned for this all along, and that it is planning for world domination. Seymour confronts and fights the gigantic plant, which by now has little offspring buds. Audrey II bursts out of its pot and reveals to Seymour that it is an alien from outer space ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"). After a brawl with Seymour that destroys the entire shop, Audrey II manages to latch onto the store's support beams and completely yank the shop to pieces, seemingly killing Seymour in the process. However, Seymour's arm bursts through the rubble and he grabs a broken exposed electrical wire, using it to electrocute the massive plant and its buds, blowing them all up.
Seymour, having miraculously survived the collapse and the explosion, safely reunites with Audrey. They wed and move to the suburbs that Audrey dreamed of; however, just before the end credits start to roll, the camera pans down to a small, smiling Audrey II bud among the flowers in their front yard.
And the top score for this is....
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