Meet The Star Power Of Skid Row: How Karylle, Nyoy Volante, Sue Ramirez, and Reb Atadero Brought ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’ To Life

The Sandbox Collective’s Little Shop Of Horrors is a show that feels a lot larger than life.

Set in a struggling flower shop, the story revolves around Seymour, a meek assistant who discovers an unusual plant that he names Audrey II, after his crush. As the plant grows, it reveals a taste for human blood, leading Seymour into a series of morally complex situations to explore themes of ambition, romance, and ethical dilemmas — all wrapped in a quirky, macabre package that has delighted audiences for decades.

Bursting with talent, humor, and creativity, the Philippine adaptation of the cult classic musical has effortlessly won audiences over with its darkly comedic approach that blends horror, science fiction, and rock and roll. While the production features outstanding direction, stunning set designs, innovative puppetry, and vibrant costumes that transport the audience to a whole new world, it is the lively, enthralling ensemble of performers who bring the heart and soul of Skid Row to life.

Through their exceptional performances and heartfelt dedication, actors Karylle, Nyoy Volante, Sue Ramirez, and Reb Atadero have all proven that even the darkest of stories can bloom with a touch of humor, a lot of heart, and a little bit of horror. Thanks to their unique flair and undeniable chemistry, this stellar cast has succeeded in introducing the offbeat charm of Little Shop of Horrors to Filipino audiences.

Before the curtain falls on its final set of shows this weekend, Billboard Philippines sits down with the four lead performers of the production to talk about what drew them to join the show, how they approached their unique renditions of their characters, and what they find most rewarding about bringing such a beloved musical to life.

How does it feel to bring such a beloved, cult-classic musical like Little Shop of Horrors to life here in the Philippines?

Nyoy: It’s always a balance of things since you want to put your own flavor — your own take on the character — on the show. But of course, there’s a responsibility to stay true to the original material. So there’s always the question like am I pushing it too far? But obviously, I would like to believe that we’ve kind of met that balance and that we’ve achieved a good job of doing that.

Karylle: It feels great that Little Shop of Horrors is being staged off-Broadway because I love watching their videos. It feels like a dream to be part of it. I was talking to my bestie Paula Boon who just asked me, ”How does it feel to do a show that was our favorite when we were kids?” And it’s something that I don’t think you can put into words quite easily. But as I said in our show program, it’s making my inner child very happy!

Reb: For me, this is pretty cool for me because it’s very rare for an actor to get to do a role twice. Because I did it in 2011 with Toff (De Venecia, director) who was also the director for our Ateneo Blue Rep(ertory) production. And all these years later, I got the call that he wanted me to audition with Sue [Ramirez] and then I definitely said yes. 

So on a personal level, it’s pretty cool to do this again. But as a Filipino artist, it’s such a privilege to be able to introduce this cult classic to a new generation of people and to remind the fans of the music that “Hey, we can do this too!” It’s such a wonderful ride to be doing a show like this, and it’s such a blessing. Because even when I watch Nyoy and K here, I just laugh my head off all the time. I’m just very happy to be a part of this experience.

Sue: Little Shop is a classic favorite of mine and it’s such an honor to be given the opportunity to bring to life the iconic role of Audrey. It was a very exciting journey and experience to be able to build the character and to tell the story as it has never been told before, especially here — which is why I feel very proud to be part of this production.

So what drew each of you to audition for the show?

Nyoy: Seymour has always been an interesting character to me. I’m very attracted to roles that have a comedic purpose and that I can really play around with on stage. 

Of course, there was also Audrey II that I would have loved to have played, but in general, this is my sort of comeback to theater after the pandemic. The last major one that I did was in 2019. And then this year, I was able to do the Spelling Bee production, and I knew of Little Shop of Horrors.  So I really considered it, and Seymour seemed like a great character for me to portray.

Karylle: I love auditions and the process of it, so it was a no-brainer to audition for a show I practically memorized from Side A to Side B! But at first, I didn’t want to audition for Audrey because my favorite songs are actually by the Street Urchins. (laughs)

Sue: This was actually my first ever offer to audition for a theater play, and I immediately said yes to it.  It has always been a dream of mine to do something like this, and then all of a sudden a door has finally opened — though I still had some doubts. But I didn’t want to miss the opportunity, so I took my shot. I told myself, “There’s no harm in trying,” but in my heart, I was really praying hard that I would pass the audition. And here I am!

Can you each share your thoughts on the unique challenges and joys of performing in this iconic show?

Reb: No BS, but every experience working on this was a great experience. Everybody is just so thoughtful and we really take care of everybody else, so I love going to work because of that. This experience is a journey that we’ve shared, and that’s what I love about all about the magic of theater — because everybody is discovering and learning things at the same time.

Especially with a director like Toff, who’s absolutely wonderful — he really allows you to explore as much as you can and he just basically guides you and steers you on the right path. It’s really one for the books because I’ve done a lot of productions for 18 years. But this really rockets to one of the top three that I’ve been a part of.

It’s just a lot of fun to be among these people who I deeply admire and to be in the company of people like Toff and EJ — who I both started in Ateneo with, you know — as well as Abby, who plays one of the one of the urchins, it’s just so wonderful. It’s like a storybook experience for me.

Karylle: Coming from Carousel where Julie Jordan has domestic violence issues to this one where Audrey gets slapped onstage by her boyfriend the dentist is difficult. First I have to come to terms with why I’m cast in parts like this. Second, I also take the discussion of violence against women and children seriously, and there’s a part of that that needs to take center stage so that people can learn and also heal. 

During Carousel, a friend of mine confided that she felt healed by seeing Julie go through her journey. It was an unresolved hurt that went unnoticed so I’m glad that our art helps with healing.  Theater as an art form goes into those spaces in our hearts, bodies, and minds where simple words or hugs cannot reach. So it is really a joy to be able to help in conveying that message

Sue: What I found challenging for me was the singing. I used to be so scared to belt out my high notes even when I knew they were in my range, and there was the fear of making a mistake in front of everyone. But eventually, with the encouragement and support of my Little Shop family, I was able to overcome the fear. 

Of course, I would still get nervous before every show, but it was because I cared about it so much. I wanted to be good at it and to really give justice to this once-in-a-lifetime chance to play Audrey in this masterpiece of a show. So the best part is getting to work with such an amazing team! They’ve all been so helpful and patient with me. I always catch myself in awe, watching my co-actors perform. They inspire and motivate me to do good and to double down on the work so that I may catch up with how amazing they all are. It has been such a beautiful process and I definitely feel like I’m a different person now after this experience. 

So, Nyoy and Reb, how did you each approach the character of Seymour? What did you find most important in capturing his essence?

Nyoy: For me, I realized that we have to understand who he is first before adding certain nuances to the role. Because before adding the little details that you’d like to put on the role, you really have to understand who he is. 

[With Seymour], he’s somewhat of a late bloomer. He has something to offer to the world, but there’s never really a chance until that time wherein his expertise as a botanist was required. Until that moment, he was just a really simple guy. And then for the love part, you had to convey the hopeless romantic in him — especially with how he was so in love with Audrey. Then you can add the comedic details to the character. Personally, that’s what I was so excited about finally putting there because it’s hard to just start with the comedy otherwise it won’t work. So in accomplishing all that, it was really about studying, making yourself understand the character, and following the direction of Direk Toff.

Reb: With any character I approach, if there’s a source material, I never watch it. I actually just watched the movie for the first time two weeks ago for the very first time, and that was already after we already opened. (laughs)

So my approach has always been (especially for campy material) is that you still need to be as truthful as possible — like how would a person you know? For me, being in the moment is being an actor. So, being in the moment every time we create the scene, that’s how a character comes to life. And I believe that no one actor owns a character — because everybody has something to do with it.

With what you’ve both said, can you share any specific inspirations or preparations that helped you bring your unique renditions of Seymour on the stage?

Nyoy: Here we go again — it’s really about the comedy because I am a very big David Schwimmer fan. So, I don’t know if it’s obvious, but every time I do theater, most of my comedic routine or comedic timing is inspired by David Schwimmer’s style of comedy.

Reb: Honestly, if I was going to drill to the bedrock of it, it’s because I’m just torpe in real life. (laughs)

Rather than just the usual goofy, adorable type of nerd aspects of the character, audiences could feel the conflicts, loneliness, and lived-in nature of both your renditions of the Seymour character. How did each of you balance Seymour’s nerdy, endearing qualities with his darker, more desperate actions as the story progresses?

Nyoy: Understanding the script definitely helps, because in doing so you understand where it’s supposed to go. With all the dark, the light, the funny, and the heartwarming parts, it allows you to know where you should channel all these aspects and emotions. Kumbaga (In other words), less yung chances of you putting the wrong thing in the wrong place. So malaki talaga ‘yung factor na (it’s a huge factor that) you understand what’s happening.

Reb: Again, you go back to the truth of the situation. You don’t really think something is absurd while it’s happening to you, and that’s what I love about comedy. It’s not the opposite of tragedy when you think about it — because comedy is just tragedy zoomed out.

The characters who are dealing with the circumstances of the narrative handle it with almost no dignity, and the text is so well written that it’s the easiest thing to just flow through when things gets serious. Because the seriousness has always been there, especially for the characters. 

Seymour, for example, will probably deal with it in a very different way than a regular Joe. Because he has such low self-esteem. And he’s around the girl of his dreams all the time every day. But he can’t say anything. Then all of a sudden, there’s a talking plant. So what do you do when there’s a talking plant? And it just goes on from there, like it just flows, and then you react. So what I tried to do was to really handle it like how any normal person would given the scenario.

As the Audreys, what aspects of the character do you find most compelling and how did you channel those into each of your performances?

Karylle: I honestly love how she never loses hope. She’s stuck in a dire situation with her boyfriend Orien and in a shop that doesn’t sell so much as a fern. Yet it’s through there that she finds a way through her cute marketing ploy for the “strange and interesting plant.” 

I admire how dreams for a better life and finds the courage to do so with the help of her friends the Urchins in the song “Somewhere that’s Green.” But even in the part where she thinks she doesn’t deserve anything good, she finds that gust of love to get to a better-waking life. 

Sue: It was about finding light even in the darkest of times. The character of Audrey reflects each of us who have good intentions, and want so little from life, but unfortunately still get mistreated. 

I have had similar experiences when I had to prove myself and my worth over and over to a person, I made all the right choices, but I still didn’t get what I deserved. It wasn’t very hard to channel Audrey because I could see so much of myself in her — and she is such a relatable character which is why I think people are so drawn to her too.

Could you discuss how each of you approached Audrey’s distinct voice and mannerisms?

Karylle: Obviously, I love the movie, so I did a little tribute to Ellen Greene by finding my own “barking sound.” We all have some kind of mannerism when we’re extremely joyful and I guess that’s Audrey’s. And it’s something that has stuck with me since my childhood. 

To prepare for the role, I also did voice lessons for this project with my teacher Paula Paguio who plays Chiffon from the Urchins. I also love how our Musical Director, Ejay Yatco, is the biggest fan of the material, so madami siyang in-order na (he ordered a lot of) special things for this show. 

It was a challenge that I tried my best to deliver. He really wanted to challenge me by making sure that the songs weren’t simply sung, but were performed with the right emotions and nuances — especially with Audrey’s dark and complicated past. So the fact that she’s a character who remains hopeful despite all the challenges she’s faced is another beautiful flavor that I had to reflect in her voice.

We had a very long session working on that and it was quite frustrating at first. There was a base to character that Ejay kept on reminding me to add, which is how I’m actually very weird because he said it was perfect for the role. (laughs)

But in life, there is no challenge that we back down on… especially when it is an opportunity to grow and become better as both people and artists.

Sue: For me, the voice just kind of came out! I didn’t plan for it or anything, but I really wanted to do something different for Audrey’s voice. So I worked very hard to make her talking and singing voice match. As for the mannerisms, of course, I had to base it on the period in which the play was set, which was the 1960s, so there were lots of TV references. I ended up watching I Love Lucy as a reference while also researching trauma behaviors in women to really capture who Audrey was, while also doing it in my own way. 

What I found most interesting about both of your performances of Audrey was that there were so many layers to your renditions of the character. Rather than being the usual type of love interest, there was an individuality to her that made the audience empathize deeply with the depth and dreams both of you conveyed. So how did you navigate the balance between Audrey’s vulnerability and her strong, hopeful spirit?

Karylle: Wow, thank you. I did research on the life of a prostitute during their time [of the ’60s] and found this one really in-depth article. Although Audrey only works in the gutter sometimes, it still gives us a peek at some [if not a lot] of the things she has gone through in her life.

As for staying hopeful despite all the challenges the world has thrown, I do get that from my own life because I’ve been lucky enough to find people to give me a little bit of sunshine on the rainiest of days. So though there are moments when we may lack hope, we never really completely lose hope.

Sue: I wanted Audrey to be seen. I wanted her to still have humor behind all that heartbreak, and to show that she’s more than just the bruises that we see of her past. I wanted people to root for her to succeed so I had to make her a lovable character to achieve that. 

With the help of our director, Toff, we really nitpicked how I was going to approach Audrey. We both knew that she needed depth, so the two of us worked together to build a past, present, and future for her. It became very clear when I knew where she was coming from, who she was in the present, and what she wanted from life. 

What was it like to work with your fellow cast members and alternate in your respective roles?

Nyoy: Oh, well, with Reb, nakakatawa (it’s funny) because I don’t know how true this is, but our castmates, always say that we’re the same person. I don’t know about the acting or the approach, but when we were creating the character backstage, we both had our antics and we were both collaborating. We both based our energy on the same thing.

With Reb, we feed off each other whenever we do rehearsals. I get so much from him. I can’t really speak for him if he gets anything from me. (laughs) But for me, if I see someone, I’ll go up to them and say, I got that from you, you know?

I’m also very happy that I got to finally work this closely with K. While we’ve worked on several other things in the past, there’s a special connection that you develop in theatre because you’ve been together for two months or more.

So yeah, I’ve gotten to know K so much. She’s such a hard worker, and she’s so meticulous about the things that we do as scene partners. I’m just so happy that she’s always so creative in thinking about stuff that can be added to the show. Ultimately, I’m very happy that I got to work with her because it’s like a full circle moment that is the perfect capstone to our collaborative journey after all these years.

Reb: Nyoy Volante is just a wonderful co-actor. You know, he’s always, he’s just so funny. And he’s also so handsome. And no, he did not pay me to say this. (laughs) Then you also have K, who’s been in this business for so long, while Sue is unbelievably just a newbie right?  So then you just watch them work and you get so inspired by what you see.

Then you add the other cast members, Abby, Mikey, Julia, Paula, and then Tito Audie Gemora — who’s like a pillar of this industry.  And then you have OJ Mariano and Julia Serad, as Audrey II. And then the dentists, you know, David and Markki. Then you add the musical direction of Ejay is just absolutely brilliant.  You put all of that together, then you just have this one big machine where no one is looking to be the star. That’s what I love about theater. It’s not about one person per se — it’s about the whole machine. It’s about the story. The story is king.

It’s really a collaborative effort. You see the entire team working to do their best to bring the story to life as best as they can, and I think that’s a strong element of why the result of this production is one that people love.

Karylle: It is great to be working with such a small cast because we get to bond and learn about each other every day. It was great that our director Toff De Venecia encouraged us to share daily learnings, big and small, whenever we’d start rehearsals. Those tidbits of info go a long way. And every day, you share a little more and you feel a little more comfortable with the people you’re around.

Everyone is so talented, but that also made them in demand, so sadly there wasn’t as much bonding after rehearsals. However, we did try to watch the shows of the other cast members that coincided with rehearsals to support them, which were Buruguduystunstugudunstuy of Julia Serad and Rent of Reb, Abi, and Markki. I honestly don’t know how they were able to juggle all that work —  but they did! 

Sue: My favorite part of the experience was working with my castmates. As I said they were all so supportive and really guided me through — considering this was my first time doing something like this!

The friends I have gained and the unforgettable memories I have shared with them are things to be cherished forever. I don’t find it difficult to ask for help knowing that everyone around me wants me to succeed, as there was such a healthy and safe space that we have created for each other. 

Especially Reb, who I work with on most of the scenes. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in this production. Hands down, he is one of the most talented actors I know, and he is the most generous scene partner and such an amazing person overall. I swear I wouldn’t have gotten through this whole journey without his words of encouragement and constant reminders that he has my back. 

I was also so proud to tell people I was alternating with Ate Karylle, because what an honor! I observed her during our rehearsals in admiration, and I was able to learn so much from her. 

How do you handle the dynamic of having alternating actors for the same roles? Does it affect your performance or preparation in any way?

Karylle: It did get to a point when it was confusing because obviously, different sets of casts have different approaches on the same piece. 

However, it was nice to be able to explore and make mistakes and to see how certain choices fit better with Sue because it doesn’t quite work with me. It’s a long process of playing around but it’s so beautiful to see all the unlimited possibilities that we could work with.

Sue: To me, it gives people even more reasons to love the show, how this story can be told in different ways. It’s actually amazing that without having to try, the dynamics of both shows turned out different even when we were all doing our rehearsals together. It only goes to show how different perspectives will still have the same impact as long as we all do it as truthfully as possible — especially when knowing the intention of each character and keeping the heart of the story intact. 

Having alternates also expands your creativity and thinking. It’s awesome how much you can learn just by observing and absorbing from your cast mates.

What has been the most rewarding part of being part of this production to Little Shop Of Horrors?

Karylle: I love how my parents came out to support the production and I could that they both really enjoyed it. My dad was always a big fan of the original film, and the sight of my mom taking photos with the plant billboard as if she was being eaten by Audrey II was something I had a laugh about, too.

Several of my colleagues and friends made the effort to come out and watch the show, and it was too special of a feeling to see them all at the meet and greet. I was able to hang out a little with my block and their kids after, and the kids had so many questions about the show. I enjoyed answering all their questions, especially since there’s quite a demand for a Part Two and a Q&A portion of the show. (laughs)

But really, hearing the audience enjoy themselves so much at the end of the show is music to my ears. The show has a very deep message but it’s wrapped up in such enjoyable music and material that it makes me glad that people go home happy.

Reb: For me, the most rewarding aspect is the job itself. That’s it. I don’t know if theater actors would tell you this, but the way I view theater is that it’s an exercise in empathy. So whenever you do it, somebody out here or there could relate. And you never know.

My favorite thing is that there are kids who would come up to you and go, “I want to be an actor because of what you just did.” It’s nice to inspire people with what you do, and that inspiration leaves a lasting impression on its audience.

Sue: The most rewarding part is being able to do something I never thought I could do. This amazing experience has changed me as a person. Now, I believe in myself more — and I know I can get through anything.

Nyoy: What’s so nice about this production is that you saw everyone working so hard, with everyone being on the same plane, and so into it. We were continuously discovering what we could bring into the show, and it was easy to get others on board with that. It was really collaborative, so it’s important to note how everything the audience saw was the fruit of such labor. And to me, that’s already a reward in itself.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

_{Photographed by Kieran Punay of KLIQ INC. Art direction by Nicole Almero.}