The auditorium is empty, except for the teachers who sit in a line taking notes and exchanging looks from time to time. The sound of students outside practicing the songs they choose for auditioning is slightly audible. A student enters the stage, presents herself, and starts to sing. The teachers nod to each other and write down what role the voice that echoes through the room would fit. This describes this year’s fall musical auditions.

The auditions, held in the beginning of September, were split into a mandatory audition for everyone and a callback audition to find a fit for the main roles.

One of the main characters is Seymour, played by senior Logan Dawson. Seymour is a naive and insecure assistant at a floral shop who finds a strange plant, which he affectionately names after his crush, Audrey. Audrey will be played by sophomore Samantha Potter.

Although most of the students have sung before, for some, the musical is a new experience. The students will learn how to act, create characters and work well together in a group.

“It’s a whole new world and I have never acted before or anything like that, but I think that [Seymour] is probably in my range of acting abilities,” Dawson said. “I just have to embrace my inner nerd. I’m definitely clumsy at times. I’m kind of Seymour-y, so it won’t be too far from me. It was an attainable role.”

“I didn’t see the movie,” Potter said. “Before I auditioned I had actually never even heard of it before. Ever since, I’ve been watching snippets of the movie and [of] a performance at Broadway.”

Besides the mandatory online survey, every student had to show their singing and acting skills in an audition. Aidan O’Hara said that about 29 students auditioned for the fall musical. Sadly, five students weren’t accepted. Many students were attracted by the new schedule that allows students with a sport commitment to still take part in the musical, as they could attend the Wednesday night practices.

Different from the blind a cappella auditions, all the musical auditions took place in the WHS auditorium in front of teachers O’Hara, Rachel Carroll, Eliza Solomon and the piano player Jody Pongratz. During the three hours, the students learned and presented a scene from the musical, as well as sung a prepared 30-60 seconds solo. A song could be sung accompanied by the piano or a scale.

“I love acting, and being part of the musical is something I enjoy because I get to express myself,” sophomore Maggie Britton said after auditioning.

The callbacks were similar to the first audition, the only difference being that the students performed songs from the musical. A final cast list was posted online.

“When it came to callbacks, they had me sing the first song in the musical, which is ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’ song,” Potter said. “They also had me sing ‘Suddenly Seymour.’ That was the first time I had ever been exposed to those songs and it turned out well, although it was the first time.”

“I just went in and did a scene with Samantha, and it went really well,” Dawson said. “It was really fun, and I felt like there was some kind of magic happening, which is good. There was a good dynamic between us.”

“Little Shop of Horrors” will run Nov. 16, 17 and 18 in the WHS auditorium.