Little Shop of Horrors Trivia
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60 free Little Shop of Horrors trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Little Shop of Horrors trivia for musical-theatre fans, movie-night regulars and anyone who has ever sung 'Suddenly, Seymour' into a hairbrush. The quiz covers all three lives of the story: Roger Corman's two-day, $28,000 1960 film with a young Jack Nicholson; Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's 1982 off-Broadway musical and its five-year run at the Orpheum; and Frank Oz's 1986 movie with Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin, Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II and cameos from Bill Murray and John Candy. Expect questions on the songs, the plot (how Orin dies, how Mushnik meets his end, what the plant is really planning), the puppetry and slow-motion trickery behind Audrey II, the reshot ending restored in 2012, the Broadway debut of 2003 and the later revivals with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jonathan Groff. Difficulty runs from easy to expert. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01Who composed the music for the Little Shop of Horrors musical?
Alan Menken
Alan Menken wrote the score, his first major hit; with the same lyricist he went on to write The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin for Disney.
Q 02Who wrote the lyrics and book of the musical, and directed the original production?
Howard Ashman
Howard Ashman wrote the book and lyrics and staged the original production himself; he later wrote the lyrics for Disney's The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast before his death in 1991.
Q 03The score is written in the style of which musical era?
Early 1960s rock, doo-wop and Motown
Early 1960s rock, doo-wop and Motown shape the score, and the three street-urchin narrators take their names from girl groups of that era, such as the Ronettes.
Q 04In which year did the musical premiere?
1982
1982 saw the show open off-off-Broadway in May and transfer to a larger off-Broadway house in July, beginning a five-year run.
Q 05At which off-Broadway venue in the East Village did the musical run for five years?
The Orpheum Theatre
The Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue housed the show for more than five years, from its July transfer until November 1987, one of the longest off-Broadway runs of its time.
Q 06What does Mr. Mushnik offer Seymour to keep him and the plant at the shop?
To adopt him
To adopt him is Mushnik's scheme: having seen the plant draw customers, he offers Seymour a father so the boy and the plant will stay in his shop.
Q 07How does Seymour discover what makes the plant grow?
He pricks his finger and it drinks the blood
He pricks his finger and it drinks the blood: Seymour cuts himself on a rose thorn, the wilting plant opens its pod toward the drops, and he realises what it wants.
Q 08The musical is loosely based on a 1960 low-budget film directed by whom?
Roger Corman
Roger Corman directed the 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors, a black comedy shot on a shoestring from a script by Charles B. Griffith.
Q 09Roughly what did the 1960 film cost to make?
$28,000
$28,000 is the commonly cited budget; the director shot the film in a hurry on leftover sets, using them before they were struck.
Q 10The 1960 film's interior scenes were shot in how many days?
2
2 days was all the interior shooting took, because the director had only brief use of sets left standing from an earlier production before they were struck.
Q 11Which future star appears in the 1960 film as a pain-loving patient, heavily promoted on later video releases?
Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson, then a little-known 23-year-old, plays Wilbur Force, the patient who begs to be hurt; later video releases traded on his fame.
Q 12What is the plant called in the 1960 film?
Audrey Junior
Audrey Junior is the name Seymour gives the plant to flatter his co-worker Audrey Fulquard; the musical later renamed it Audrey II.
Q 13Why is the 1960 film in the public domain?
Its producer never copyrighted it
Q 21How does Orin die in the musical?
He suffocates on laughing gas
He suffocates on laughing gas: Seymour arrives meaning to shoot him but loses his nerve, and when Orin's nitrous-oxide mask jams, Seymour simply stands by and lets him die.
Q 22How does Seymour lure Mr. Mushnik into the plant's jaws?
He says the day's takings are inside it
He says the day's takings are inside it: Mushnik, who suspects Seymour over Orin's disappearance and wants him to go to the police, leans in to look and is swallowed.
Q 23In the musical's finale, the plant is revealed to be planning what?
World conquest
Its producer never copyrighted it: made as a quick throwaway, the film was released without a copyright registration, so it has been free for anyone to distribute ever since.
Q 14Under what working title was the 1960 film produced?
The Passionate People Eater
The Passionate People Eater was the working title; screenwriter Charles B. Griffith had earlier pitched a vampire-music-critic story called Cardula and one about a cannibal salad chef before settling on the plant.
Q 15In the 1960 film, where does Seymour say he got the seeds for his plant?
From a Japanese gardener
From a Japanese gardener on Central Avenue, Seymour says, came the seeds; he claims to have crossed a butterwort with a Venus flytrap to produce the plant.
Q 16On its October 1960 release, the film was paired on a double bill with which other Filmgroup title?
Last Woman on Earth
Last Woman on Earth, another Filmgroup cheapie from the same director, shared the original double bill; the film later reached a wider audience as the second feature under Mario Bava's Black Sunday.
Q 17Which of these is one of the three street-urchin narrators in the musical?
Chiffon
Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette, named for the girl groups the Chiffons, the Crystals and the Ronettes, act as a doo-wop Greek chorus throughout the show.
Q 18In which song does Audrey dream of a tract house, frozen dinners and plastic on the furniture?
Somewhere That's Green
"Somewhere That's Green" is Audrey's fantasy of suburban bliss with Seymour; it is reprised as she dies and asks him to feed her to the plant so they can be together.
Q 19In which duet do the florist and Audrey finally admit their feelings for each other?
Suddenly, Seymour
"Suddenly, Seymour" follows Audrey's confession that she feels guilty about Orin's disappearance because she had wished for it; Seymour answers that she deserves better.
Q 20What is the profession of Audrey's sadistic boyfriend, Orin Scrivello?
Dentist
Dentist is his trade, celebrated in the number "Dentist!", in which Orin boasts that his mother steered him into a job where he could be paid to inflict pain.
World conquest is the plan: a salesman from World Botanical Enterprises wants to sell cuttings to florists across America, and the finale warns the audience not to feed the plants.
Q 24Who directed the 1986 film adaptation?
Frank Oz
Frank Oz, the Muppet performer who had just directed The Muppets Take Manhattan, was hired for his puppetry know-how, needed for the giant Audrey II.
Q 25Who plays Seymour Krelborn in the 1986 film?
Rick Moranis
Rick Moranis, already known from SCTV and Ghostbusters, plays the meek Seymour and sings his own numbers, including "Grow for Me".
Q 26Who plays Orin Scrivello in the 1986 film?
Steve Martin
Steve Martin plays Orin Scrivello, D.D.S., the leather-jacketed, nitrous-oxide-sniffing sadist who roars up on a motorcycle and sings his own number.
Q 27Which Motown lead singer voiced Audrey II in the 1986 film?
Levi Stubbs
Levi Stubbs, lead singer of the Four Tops, gave the plant its growling voice; his numbers include "Feed Me (Git It)" and the plant's taunting finale duel with Seymour.
Q 28Which comedian improvised his lines as the masochistic patient Arthur Denton?
Bill Murray
Bill Murray played Arthur Denton, the patient who delights in pain, a role absent from the stage musical but revived from the 1960 film for the movie; his scene was largely improvised.
Q 29Which comedian plays radio DJ Wink Wilkinson in the 1986 film?
John Candy
John Candy, another SCTV alumnus, plays the motor-mouthed radio host whose on-air interview about the strange plant makes Seymour a local celebrity.
Q 30Which actress played Audrey both in the original 1982 production and in the 1986 film?
Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene created Audrey in the original off-Broadway production, played her in London in 1983 and kept the role for the 1986 film; she returned to it in a 2015 New York concert staging.