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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:05] Robert Bannon: Happy Friday, everybody. TGIF, you made it. It's Friday, which means what? It's a Broadway World exclusive with me, Robert Bannon, here at The Roundtable. We have a special show for you. A rare chat with the one and only Ellen Greene. She is the Audrey. She is the original Audrey off Broadway at the West End and the incredible, iconic movie, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. They're doing screenings across the country with Miss Greene herself. All you've got to do is go to scottstandard.com backslash LITTLE SHOP and you can see where they're going to go around the country where you can meet her and get a picture and an autograph and then listen to a chat and watch the movie. Some of the dates, one of the dates is even me moderating the chat.

So how did she come up with that voice? Oh, Seymour. That's my version. I would go, I would get out of retirement to be Seymour. I think it's one of the most beautiful love stories with the most incredible iconic score. Mencken, Ashman. And this is just Broadway musical theater royalty history. I'm so excited for my chat. She called me up on the phone and we kiki it up and I get to present it to you. Get your tickets to the 40th anniversary. Go to scottstandard.com, get your tickets and then come see this incredible piece. Bring your kids to fall in love with the magic that is LITTLE SHOP of Horrors. Take a listen.

[1:40] Robert Bannon: Hello. How are you?

[1:42] Ellen Greene: I'm very good. Thank you.

[1:44] Robert Bannon: Ms. Greene, I am so honored and so excited to talk to you about the—I am so excited. I grew up watching you and being obsessed with this. Congratulations on 40 years of the movie, but I think your relationship with LITTLE SHOP goes a little bit more than 40 years. If I've got the 44 years. Incredible. I'm going to ask you on August 21st at the Fisher because guess who's the moderator at the show? Little old me and you. So I'm so excited. In Detroit, Michigan.

[2:12] Ellen Greene: Oh, great. Okay.

[2:14] Robert Bannon: Yeah. I'll act surprised when I ask the same questions. And let's get to say that. So for you and your journey, you are a Tony nominated Broadway superstar actress, and you are on Broadway and you're working and doing shows and doing incredible cabaret work. And then somehow the incredible iconic Audrey came into your life with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. How did it happen?

[2:41] Ellen Greene: Well, I was doing Seven Deadly Sins in Cambridge the year before. And the Lord was coming to love a lot. And Howard wanted to meet me. He was casting real life funnies. And so I came into New York and we spent an hour laughing, running through every song I had. And we just hit it off. You know, chemistry is a real thing. And so the next year when he sent me, I got the script and I got green. That's all I got was the script in green. And I went, I remember walking down the street and going skid row, skid row, skid row. I don't want to be in a camp musical. And but then I'm online for unemployment, listening to green. And normally, I have to learn a song before I can actually sing it. But this one just came out of me.

I started singing quietly online and tears started rolling down my cheeks. And I knew Audrey was waiting to be born. And I've done this with other parts, like in Three Penny Opera, when I did My Pirate Jenny, or in the Boomer Room with Chrissy at the Public Theater. There were certain characters that I create over there. But they're over there, but they start inside. I do instinct, and then I add technique. And I came into audition. The voice, speaking voice, just came out of me. I had no pre-plan. And then I asked to sing green. And it was a very tiny room. And Howard was behind the table with Stanley Sobel. And Alan got into the piano right next to me. We did green. And the three of us were crying.

Well, the four were crying at the end of the song. And we were bonded together forever. And then when we got together, Howard and I, at the WPA on Fifth Avenue, woke up over a massage parlor. We got $50 a week for a month of rehearsals, and then two months to go. And Howard and I sat on the stage, and we talked through the play. And I said, look, I don't want to be in a camp musical. There was a number that was an F&M number. I said, you don't need this. There's a great play here. And you don't need this. So he was impressed with the material. He immediately got rid of it. And we just respected each other. We trusted each other. It was unbelievable the way that Howard and I just worked together.

We were seamless. And we blocked. He edited it and blocked the first act the first week. And the second act, we went through that. And then he also let me change things. Like I said, nightclub's not funny. He said, what's funny? I thought for a moment, and then I said, night's stuck. I said, that's funny. He laughed, like he laughed. And I always get a smile when I smirk when I hear people laugh at that line, because it's my line. And Howard was just so great. And then he kept evolving. Like I wanted her ripe enough to fall off a tree, like a real ripe peach. I wanted her in high heels teetering, just like the humor and the pathos. I wanted her, I put her in a cocktail dress like Gracie, because I thought she would think it was good taste.

And then I thought, I did her makeup. And then I thought, it's gonna be too hard. I need a soft crown. So I called Howie up and I said, meet me on 14th Street at this wig place. And I was wearing a blonde wig that was long and with bangs. And he was half in and half out smoking a cigarette. And he wasn't sure. And he just said, I said, just let me finish, let me do it. And so then I went back to the theater and Paul Holmes, who was stage manager, helped me cut the wig. And it was sort of halfway done. And they didn't, weren't sure that they liked it. And so I said, well, let me finish her and I fed the wig and I did all this, the fight, you know, the little touches. He loved it. And I think, you know, it doesn't have to be this way. But of course, that's how he ended up being. Anyhow, that's how she was born.

[8:02] Ellen Greene: She was born and she has been a part of pop culture and theater and movies. Ever since then, while we're talking, everyone, you're on tour for the 40th anniversary screening, go to scottstandard.com. You're going across the country, telling these stories that we have been dying to hear, maybe even singing a little something. I hope to meet all the little Audrey's that were in high school or the Seymour's or the grandparents who loved their performance.

[8:24] Ellen Greene: Or the parents who met during LITTLE SHOP. I want every time people keep LITTLE SHOP alive, my Howard lives. And I am very grateful and humble to everyone for loving this piece. But of course, we all love it because we all know that we want a place where we're comfortable, where we can be ourselves, where we can love and be loved and feel free to be our authentic self. And it's everyone wants that and, and a little whimsy, this land that's full of whimsy and silliness. But it's got deep underpinnings of morals that if you give into greed and you give into riches and you give into power, well, you're not going to like yourself a whole bunch. And you're not going to like the outcome. And so it's a real Faustian tale.

And it is a tale that we need more than ever, nowadays, and we need to remember. And that's why I'm so excited to be able to relive this film with you. The off-Broadway show, the original show ran for five years, you went to the West End and did it must have felt like an explosion. It must have been incredible. And then the film came along. What was it like when you heard you were cast in the film? Were you afraid? Were you excited? What was you had done television and film before that? So were you ready?

[10:04] Ellen Greene: Yeah, yes. Yeah, I love film. I love film. I love the medium because it's a team sport. You know, I was taught at the public city, you leave your ego at the door and you walk in. Everyone's talented. So no one's talented. Art is the star. And so it's never about me. It's about the work. And it's always about the work. And so was I thrilled? Yeah. Howard really wanted me to get the part. I knew Frank and Jim from Sesame Street because Marty Robinson would design the plant for the play. And I had come to Sesame Street so often. So I knew Frank and Jim very well. And Frank, but Frank did test me. And I did have to sing and do some things. You know, with all the blur, the screen test, I was very excited.

I think the thing, it's a funny thing. I was so excited because I was going back to London. I had done, I fought for in my contract. The only thing I fought for at the beginning was to do the London show. And so I was going back to London where I lived. I actually lived in the same news when I did the play at the comedy. So returning back to London was so exciting for me. I came that August and we started, we did pre-production, which was very exciting. Bob Gaudio, who was the, who made that album and the soundtrack was just extraordinary. Levi Stubbs, I was there when he was recording and it was amazing. I mean, there were so many great things that happened prior that were very exciting. And then we started filming October 21st and I filmed for nine months and Rick for 10 months.

Then during that summer, they had showed the film twice to different audiences and they really didn't like that we died. Although I thought it was quite a beautiful thing. And then we came back for two more weeks in September and then it came out December 19th. And Warner Brothers is releasing a new anniversary of footage of the film and interviews with me and Frank on the DVD and or the whatever it is. And they also, I think, are including some of the director's cut. So it's going to be a real trove.

[13:02] Robert Bannon: What a magical, it's such a magical special show. Perfect present. It's the perfect present for Christmas. And if you're going to be in a city that Ms. Greene is coming to, it's the perfect date night. Bring your friends, bring your kids, bring your parents, bring your loved ones to go celebrate a special night, especially for the young theater people in your life who have maybe never seen it or never seen it on a big screen. It's a special. Help them come and see me and introduce themselves and tell me about their whole experience with, well, I won't be able to hear everybody's experience, but some people's experience of being in the play because, you know, everybody loves to be in that world.

[13:47] Ellen Greene: Yes. And we love you for creating and giving her to the world. And now there are millions of Audreys that have gotten to take, when I talk to you, I pinch myself because your voice is so iconic. I can't believe you're here and you're talking to me. You are the blueprint of what it means to do musical theater truly in this country.

[14:08] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Are you in Detroit? Are you from Detroit?

[14:13] Ellen Greene: I'm from New Jersey and I moved to Detroit two years ago for my husband. And when Scott calls and says, do you want to talk to Ellen Greene? I say, tell me when, where, how, why I'll get on a bicycle. I'll ride a horse. What do you need me to do? I'm so excited to be able to have a conversation with you with incredible group of people at the Fisher Theater.

[14:35] Ellen Greene: Oh, great. Okay.

[14:37] Robert Bannon: So for you.

[14:38] Ellen Greene: I'll be excited to speak with you.

[14:41] Robert Bannon: I'm excited. I want everybody right now to go to scottstandard.com. Check out all of the incredible dates, all of the rest of the story, all of the rest of the inside. You were talking about Levi Stubbs. Talk about Detroit. It's got some history here in this city. So you got to come out and check out Little Shop of Horrors 40th anniversary. We'll get more insight about what it was like on set with the stars, what it was like working with the puppet, what it was like working with the incredible Frank Oz and all of the tales that Ellen Greene has when you come across the country. It's such an honor.

[15:11] Ellen Greene: Just a shout out. Allie Willis worked co-check at Reno Sweeney. Reno Sweeney gave birth to me and my career in July 73. And she and I were friends for years and she did a lot for Detroit because she loved Detroit. And I just wanted to mention she's the one who wrote the music for Friends.

[15:37] Robert Bannon: Oh.

[15:38] Ellen Greene: And she's no longer here. But I just wanted to shout out because I love to see we were friends for a very long time. And I know that she was in love with Detroit. And it's resurgent.

[15:53] Robert Bannon: It is. And you're going to be impressed. We're going to show you a good time. I promise. That's a date. I'm going to listen to Somewhere That's Green when we hang up and I cry every time I hear it because nobody can sell a song with emotion and truth like you did. You teach us how to do it. And I'm so excited and honored to get the chance to talk to you today. And I'll see you when you get here. Thank you so much for being here.

[16:16] Ellen Greene: Bye-bye.

[16:17] Robert Bannon: Bye-bye. How about that? Thanks for sticking around and hanging out with me and the wonderful, incredible Ellen Greene. And I will see you all on the road. She'll be on the road. And there's Somewhere That's Green for all of us. I know that's corny, but in a time like this, where the world is crazy, it's important to remember that the best is always yet to come. Thank you for hanging out with me every single Friday right here on Broly World's exclusive chats on the roundtable. I'll see you next time. Bye, everybody.