Hi Susan. We did Little Shop twice, once when it first came pout in 1988, and again in 1999. Several places we used a chorus were:
1. As the audience arrived to the theatre, we had the chorus, in costume, out in front of the school and in the lobby creating a "skid row" atmosphere. Panhandlers, winos, even 2 dueling vocal groups (boys vs/ girls) who worked with the vocal coach to learn period accapella doo-wop tunes. We heard several parents comment that the school was going to the dogs, and where was security? ...until they caught on, and then they got a big kick out of the ambiance. You could even have the concessions area dressed out as street vendors (Red Hot Carts, Snack Carts, etc).
2. Chorus members were added to "Skid Row", "Don't Feed the Plants", and as assorted passers-by and local residents in "Closed for Renovation", "Don't It Go To Show", and other scenes to provide local color.
3. Check with the publisher to see if it would be ok to use more Urchins, and possibly add the chorus to the Urchins vocal part towards the end of "Suddenly Seymour".
4. The combo and conductor dressed as Skid Row bums for the productions, and entered sipping bottles of soda or water in brown paper bags.
If you would like some ideas for the set, I have some production pics and ground plans. We used a raked stage so the 3rd and 4th puppets could be fully seen from even the first row. Also, we did 2 story tenements with fire escape balconies SL and SR, so the Urchins could look down on the proceedings. The chorus also used these areas during Skid Row, and Don't Feed the Plants. Lastly, we dropped dyed, knotted muslin vines from the FOH onto the audience, and used blacklight and UV paint to paint vines all over the backdrop and tenements for the end of Don't Feed the Plants, and then dimmed the wash so Audrey II looked like it was taking over everything.
If you would like any of our materials, please let me know.
Have fun with the show, if you decide to produce it!
Bob Fowler
Interactive Educational Video, LLC