PORTLAND, Maine — When a stage production is stumbling along and its flaws are evident, the actors in it would—with good reason—rank awfully low in a job satisfaction survey. But when a play is running smoothly, actors tend to be about the happiest employees you’ll ever meet.
The current production of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” at Ogunquit Playhouse must be going swimmingly, because the three actors we talked with about it radiated good cheer.
“I would say that this show has been received absolutely as you would wish a show to be received,” Adam Heller said. “The laughs are full, and the story of a man-eating plant is a universal that people love.”
Talia Suskauer summed it up succinctly: “When the audience is having a good time, we’re having a good time.”
The third member of the cast we sat down with was Christian Probst, who (unless memory fails me) has the distinction of being the first understudy we’ve interviewed of all the hundreds of actors we’ve talked with on “207” over the years. That very night he would be stepping in to play the lead role of Seymour.
What’s his approach to such an unusual and unpredictable job?
“I think it’s best summed up as always be ready,” he said. “You could go on in rehearsal. You could go on during the show. So you just always have to be ready.”
Not one of the three is eager to have the show come to an end, and they have loved their time in Maine.
“You’re so lucky that you get to be here,” Heller told me. “It’s really just the sweet dream.”