The drama department hosted their first and only musical of the year, “Little Shop of Horrors” last week.

“The show has something for everybody,” lead actor senior Hayden Cox said. “Younger audiences will love the fun, lighthearted music and sharp comedy. Older audiences will find a great story with very real themes scattered throughout.”

According to theater teacher Robin Welch-Wood, the musical was based off a movie that follows the story of Seymour, Audrey and Mr. Mushnik who all work at a flower shop struggling to get business. In the process, Seymour encounters a plant almost similar to a venus flytrap, but is unsure of its species. Both Seymour and Audrey attempt to attract business through the help of this plant and go through a series of unexpected events.

“It’s a fun show,” Welch-Wood said. “It’s not meant to be scary or suspenseful, it’s more of a fun take on a movie.”

According to lead actor freshman Madeline Driver, the show was something special to the audience.

“It’s basically just like going somewhere you never even dreamed about for a couple of hours,” Driver said. “For this show in particular, though, it could serve as a reminder to some people that [things] could be far worse. We also have amazingly talented actors and singers onstage that are ready and willing to entertain anyone and everyone.”

According to Welch-Wood, the drama department will also be participating in the Tommy Tune Awards.

“Tommy Tune is an artist who was born and raised in Houston. [He] worked with the Theater Under the Stars program and has since been on Broadway and in movies. He’s won Tony Awards for his choreography, starred in musicals and he’s a very renowned artist at the professional theater level,” Welch-Wood said. “Houston wanted to have an award similar to other large cities, such as L.A. and New York, where they recognized high school theaters and their musicals. In honor of him, they named their awards the Tommy Tune Awards. Tommy Tune has come back and appeared at several of the awards shows, and he’s given his blessings over the whole thing. It’s all about creating excellence in high school musical theaters.”

According to Cox, the drama department has been unlucky the past few years in getting to attend the award show, but they are still optimistic about this year’s show.

“Klein Collins has received nominations for the past few years but no wins,” Cox said. “We are very hopeful that the company’s hard work will impress the judges.”

Although the Tommy Tune Awards is a big event, it is not the sole purpose of having a good show, Welch-Wood said.

“We just do the best that we can in a lot of different things,” Welch-Wood said. “We do the same thing, either for the awards or without the awards, because we’re not performing just for the Tommy Tune judges; we’re performing for all the people that come and see the show. There are three judges, and they have their opinions. We hope that they like our show, and we hope that they honor us by nominating us for the different awards, but our goal is to do a good show for all of our audiences.”

According to Cox, he is elated to bring “Little Shop of Horrors” to life.

“Excited is an understatement,” Cox said. “I am thrilled to bring the students of Klein Collins this incredible story. It has so much heart, and anybody of any age could find something to take out of it.”

Welch-Wood believes that this year’s musical will be fantastic.

“It’s going to be great,” Welch-Wood said. “It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s got a lot of singing and dancing and visual elements that people are going to be enjoying. It’s just a different kind of show.”