Lsoh Twoey - Blog Posts
human AudreyII
!!TW blood under the cut!!
Some Seymour fanart I did during a rewatch of little shop of horrors
for the first post of 2023 I decided to draw something for one of my favourite musicals!
It is LSOH Day once again >:-)
Okay I haven't seen the Beetlejuice musical yet (I really want to though it looks great)
But I think swapping Twoey and Beetlejuice could result in some fun AUs
okay i was just about to get in the shower when i was thinking about how exactly twoey’s physiology would work. so i started thinking “well, it’s gotta have some sort of tougher outer layer of ‘skin’ almost like an exoskeleton…but it also has teeth too??” and then i was stumped. like yeah, it’s an alien…but then it struck me:
what if twoey wasn’t a plant at all? like whole ass flesh and bone plant-looking monster? that to me sounds like a very terrifying concept! but all of that aside, i do still want to collaborate on twoey’s anatomy as an actual chlorophyll-haver.
i’m genuinely curious: how do you think twoey anatomically works? i get that her design kinda doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it, but damnit! i still wanna try!
so yknow, if the botanists of tumblr wanna collab with the lsoh fandom then…by all means…
“i’m a boy” “im a girl” okay???? gee id like a harley machine????? zoomin around like i was james dean??????? makin all the guys on the corner turn green????????????
This idea literally just occurred to me (by that I mean a few hours from when it's being queued, ignore the fact that it was queued for 7 in the morning) but what if Orin was reworked slightly to be Audrey's shitty abusive father and by killing him Seymour achieved the dream of every queer person ever to kill their best friend's shitty parents? I'm imagining that he left to get the milk when she was a kid like she describes in Suddenly Seymour and then took advantage of her kind nature and societally mandated obligation towards him to be able to crash at her apartment after she became an adult and not have to pay rent after his crimes as a dentist finally caught up to him and ruined his career and sent him looking for the solution to the suite of problems he now has at the bottoms of beer bottles. And his abuse towards her still has a sexual component because he sucks. And he 'justifies' it to himself by telling himself and her that her mom probably cheated on him anyway (and therefore she wouldn't be genetically his but is still apparently obligated to let him crash at her apartment and put up with his treatment of her for... reasons?)
Also the parallelism of Seymour killing Audrey's abusive father and his abusive father is nice. It'd be even better if she was the one to kill his abusive father, but I can't think of a way to make that work without significantly restructuring the plot. There could also be some parallelism with Seymour x Twoey considering that there are some jokes based on the premise that Seymour is a father figure of sorts to him (he gets mad at him when he curses and tries to sneak out on him with suitcases like a deadbeat dad and does midnight feedings with blood.) I would probably introduce Audrey's past at The Gutter through her saying (in very different words than the ones I'm using) that her very creation cursed her to be awful and not worthy of a good life (because her mom was a sex worker at The Gutter who Orin solicited the services of), which honestly sounds cooler than her having met him there and plays into the theme of the characters' lack of agency under capitalism that is explored throughout the movie.
The dynamic between Seymour and Audrey II
Since I’m ALWAYS thinking about musicals, especially horror-comedy ones, I was thinking about how Seymour interacts with Twoey and came up with something interesting I wanted to share!
So, the plot hinges on Seymour being bullied/persuaded by Audrey II to do its bidding. This got me thinking about how something as simple as who voices the plant could affect the relationship between the two.
The role is, of course, traditionally male. Seeing as the only vaguely parental figure Seymour ever had was Mushnik, who constantly berated and verbally abused him, it makes sense that Seymour would feel inclined to obey the giant baritone monster plant barking orders at him.
With Twoey having a male voice, Seymour likely operates in a place of fear and submission, feeling like he has to obey because that’s what he’s always done with the authority in his life. He convinces himself he deserves Mushnik’s abuse, and carries that attitude on to Twoey.
But masculine-sounding Audrey II is not what I wanted to focus on today.
I don’t know if you guys have seen any bootlegs of productions where Twoey was voiced by a woman, but hot damn are those ladies amazing. I brought this up to my drama teacher recently and she questioned how the would affect the dynamic between Twoey and Seymour.
So here’s what I think:
I believe it would be easier for it to manipulate Seymour if it had a more feminine voice. As I mentioned before, Seymour had no parents, and his only caretaker was Mushnik (a man) who contributed a great deal to Seymour’s inferiority complex and fearful nature.
So imagine, if you will, Seymour taking care of this plant, nurturing it in a way he never was. When it speaks to him for the first time, with the voice of an adult, human woman, imagine how this boy would react? This boy who grew up with no parents, riddled with fear and guilt towards the only guardian he has, suddenly having some sort of female authority in his life, promising him everything he wants? Of course he’s going to listen!
With a masculine voice, Twoey taps into Seymour’s fear of letting people down. I think a feminine voice would prey on his eagerness to please. They stem from the same place, of course, but the subtle differences are what I feel define the possible dynamics between Seymour and Audrey II.
Neither is better or worse, they’re just different. They’re differences the audience would pick up on, even subconsciously, and I think it’s a fun dynamic to analyze.
TLDR; Masculine Twoey manipulates Seymour’s daddy issues, Feminine Twoey manipulates his mommy issues.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk
plus I made my music director laugh SO loud at the end of rehearsal today
Him: Hey, have a good night. And sorry you cut your hand, hope it feels better
Me: Ah, it's fine. We'll start back up on the left hand tomorrow
Imagine..
Little Shop of Psychological Horrors
#no i think the houseplants WANT your skin
... That is just a straight up picture of Audrey 2 dear article. When she is done with you you will not have skin.
"I can't help it if mirrors love my face
It's genetics, yeah, I got these genes from outer space!"
I haven't watched Wish, but does this line remind anyone else of Twoey? Specifically the song Mean Green Mother From Outer Space?
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken worked on The Little Mermaid and Little Shop of Horrors, so this could plausibly be a purposeful reference
Does anyone have any additional insight into this like potential parallels between Magnifico and Twoey/additional references/etc?
Mutual 1: guys I talked to the girl at my work today!!! And I killed her boyfriend but don't mind that.
Mutual 2: mmm I need human flesh but this LOSER won't give me DEAD PEOPLE
Mutual 3: free root canals!!! Stop by my office (I won't hurt you)
Mutual 4: about to get married!!! I feel so alive!!! 🥰😍
Mutual 2 again: give me your blood
Mutual 5: [picture of giant plant next to a guy] autism be dammed my boy can grow a plant
Mutual 6: shaa booop shaa dooop
haha funny plant go nom
do you guys like the funny plant musical