Ellen Greene

It’s interesting to compare Ellen Greene’s two most noteworthy roles on the stage. One of them was in one of Broadway’s most notorious flops, one of the shows that gets discussed in hushed tones wherever fans of the failure gather together. The other was off-Broadway but ran for five years. It was then made into a movie, with Greene reprising her role, the only person to appear in both the original production and the movie. Both made her a cult sensation, just in two very different cults. And, of course, there’s the cult role I know her from, where she doesn’t sing at all.

In theory, Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don’t You Ever Forget It) probably looked like a great choice. The role was written for Bette Midler. That she passed on it ought to have been a warning, but if you’re a struggling actress, it’s hard to blame you for taking it anyway. Granted, its writer and costar Paul Jabara’s great co-credit of “It’s Raining Men” was a decade in the future, but still. You take the role. Then the show is terrible and never gels and closes after seven preview performances. And then you go back to other roles if you’re lucky, because that’s how Broadway works.

I don’t mean to denigrate what she did between the two, because she was after all nominated for a Tony in 1977 (losing to Delores Hall for Your Arms Are to Short to Box With God), and she appeared in the film Next Stop, Greenwich Village. But arguably the best thing for her career was befriending a young songwriting duo. Namely Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Who cast her as Audrey in a little off-off-Broadway show they were doing that went off-Broadway after a month. Specifically Little Shop of Horrors.

Audrey is what gives the show heart. Seymour is a weaselly little creep without the nerve to do much of anything but go along with the events of the story. Mushnik is a big abusive creep; ditto Orin. It’s notable that Audrey gets the film’s “I Want” song, “Somewhere That’s Green.” Her desires aren’t for fame and fortune; her desires are for tract housing. But it’s better than Skid Row. She wants a simple, happy, quiet life away from crime and an abusive boyfriend. Greene shines in the role, sweet and gentle and caught up in events far beyond her comprehension.

And, yes, she’s the English teacher in Pump Up the Volume who is an inspiration to Christian Slater’s Mark. She’s supportive and determined. She wants to inspire her students, and it’s not her fault the whole school is under the tyrannical authority of a woman who just wants to have the best test scores in the state of Arizona and doesn’t care who she throws under the bus to get them. It’s a fine role, one of many she’s done post-Audrey. Better off than some people who did notorious flops, anyway.