Nikki M. James On Making 'Little Shop Of Horrors' History

When the curtains rise on the current Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, audiences are treated to a cultural milestone hiding in plain sight. For the first time, the central romantic duo of Audrey and Seymour is led by two Black actors: Tony Award-winner Nikki M. James and Jordan Fisher. It is a striking evolution for a musical that has spent more than forty years cemented in a specific, mid-century white aesthetic. Yet, stepping into the iconic blonde, high-heeled shoes of Audrey felt like a natural homecoming for James, who recently spoke to MadameNoire. 

“Audrey is a role that, although I stepped into it with such ease—I mean, I feel like I put on that black dress and those high heel shoes, and I knew exactly who she was—yet, it was never a role that was on my bingo card because I’d always seen non-people of color play this part,” James reflects. “And when it occurred—when I got the offer, I thought, ‘Oh my god, yes, that’s perfect.’ I love that in my 25 years in this business, both the business has changed enough that people are starting to go out of the boxes that they assume shows or roles or characters are meant to be played by certain people. And I also love that I’m still being surprised, that I’ve created a body of work that other people see me as things that I haven’t even seen in myself yet. There’s something really amazing when a person says, ‘You’d be great at this,’ and you think, ‘Really?’ and then you are. That means that I’ve created a body of work and also relationships with directors and musical directors where people respect me, and they’re thinking about me in ways that I’m not even thinking about for myself. I’ve put my own self in a box and other people are helping me bust out.”

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Bringing Untouched Humanity to an American Classic

For decades, Audrey has often been rendered as a tragic comedy, high-pitched archetype of a woman trapped by her circumstances on Skid Row. James approaches her not as a vintage trope, but as a modern archetype of resilience.

“This is such a great play, right? It’s a great musical, it’s a good story, it’s very funny, and you know, it’s surprising, and it’s a little scary. But it’s just the idea that this is just a woman who has had a string of bad luck, and she still has just a little bit of hope in her. Just enough hope to put on a good face and some red lipstick, and go about her life. There’s something really accessible about that, and I think really modern, even though the show is 40 years old and takes place in probably the ’50s or the ’60s. There’s something really timeless about a person whose life circumstances have not completely beaten her down—she still has a smile on her face. I loved wanting to bring that humanity.”

This grounding transcends traditional racial structures, allowing the universal weight of Audrey’s journey to resonate through a 2026 lens. “I feel like that opens up Audrey to people of all different backgrounds,” James notes. “I don’t have to play a Black woman because I am a Black woman. Right now, when I walk on stage, Audrey is a Black woman. But I am bringing my personal point of view and experience and my life to this character as I always do.”

This cultural framework is further deepened by James’s relationship with the show’s trio of urchins—Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronnette—who traditionally serve as a sub-narrative engine. “I love that all three of the urchins in our show, the sort of girl group that is there, function as the narrators of our show. They’re like the Greek chorus. I love that they are the same as me. In my mind, in our version of Little Shop, these three urchins could grow up to be an Audrey—they share a past and a shared language. So, that’s been fun to put into it, to make it my own.”

Rejecting Laughs for Domestic Abuse

Perhaps the most profound choice James made in taking on the role was her refusal to treat Audrey’s turbulent domestic reality as humor. Historically, Audrey’s relationship with Orin Scrivello has been played with a comedic edge. James firmly drew a boundary, choosing instead to lean into the sobering weight of intimate partner violence.

“It’s not the funniest part of the story to tell, but I really didn’t want my performance for any of those moments that she is in, where she is receiving physical abuse from her partner, her boyfriend, to be played for a laugh. So, I’m not saying other people haven’t done that, but that was a very serious and important storyline for me and a plot point. She is really afraid of Orin. She starts the show with a black eye, and at one point she has a broken arm—or she has at least her arm in a cast, some kind of sprained cast—and these are all injuries she’s sustained from her boyfriend. I really try not to play that for laughs.”

The artistic risk was immediately vindicated by the audience’s real-world response. James recounts an emotional encounter at the stage door that solidified the necessity of her creative choices: “I felt really rewarded in that. I was signing autographs on the autograph line, and a young woman—I was signing her Playbill—and she said, ‘This show changed my life.’ Not this production, but this show, Little Shop, changed my life. I said, ‘Oh, that’s sweet.’ And she said, ‘No, I know many people say that, but I was in an abusive relationship, and I found this show, and it was actually through this show that I was able to see that I was in a relationship that was abusive, and I got out of it because of this show.’ That’s when I realized that I’m doing that part of this show, of that Audrey, for women like that.”

Audrey and Seymour

At the emotional core of the production is the enduring appeal of Audrey and Seymour’s dynamic, which continues to charm theatregoers generation after generation. James attributes this to the nature of mutual, unexpressed longing.

“I love that it’s this unrequited love that’s going both directions. He’s in love with her, and he thinks that she’s unattainable. And then you learn in Somewhere That’s Green that she kind of has a feeling for him, too, but in her mind, he’s too good for her. So, it’s these two people who are pining for each other when they’re each afraid to say it until, you know, this plant comes into their life, and their life gets turned upside down. And then he feeds my boyfriend to a plant, so that opens the door for him, I guess! Not all of us are going to have man-eating plants in our lives to shake them awake, but I think that’s something that’s really sweet about Audrey and Seymour. When they finally get together, it’s like Ross and Rachel getting together, or whoever. There’s something about two people that are meant to be together but can’t see it. Plus, you know, we sing great together, so that’s helpful, too.”

The sheer magic of the production helps elevate that central bond. James expresses awe for the complex puppetry that breathes life into Audrey II, the plant. “We joke that it’s a perfect musical,” she says. “It’s just like the right amount of great singing, a good smart plot, surprising twists, funny and heartbreaking, all in an escapist story that can only exist on a magical stage. The puppetry is so incredible to watch. The artists who are operating the plant, they’re really like magicians. They bring this inanimate object to full life. I’m doing scenes with this plant, and I know it’s two people operating it, but I have moments where I have feelings about this creature, this plant thing.”

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Juggling Theater, Marvel, and Motherhood

To speak with James at this point of her career is to witness an artist operating at the absolute peak of her powers, seamlessly managing an extraordinary, multi-disciplinary workload. In a display of stamina, she has spent recent weeks simultaneously performing as Audrey, filming a massive television series, and stepping backward through her own history.

“I went back into The Book of Mormon for a week, and I was able to revisit Nabulungi, this role that I won a Tony Award for, and I’m also playing Audrey,” she reveals. “I’m doing that at the same time. And then I’m also in the middle of shooting the third season of Daredevil, which is a television show that I’m on. I’m doing all of those things at the exact same moment. So, tonight I’m playing Audrey, yesterday I was on set shooting, and Sunday I was playing Nabulungi twice on Broadway. And I’m a mother to this incredible three-and-a-half-year-old kid. I just think all parts of my artistry are being stretched. All parts of my day are filled with things that I love doing.”

“I think I’ve been around long enough to recognize that these moments are rare, and to say that you’re tired but also, in every moment of look of exhaustion, I’m so grateful. This won’t last forever, and not everyone gets to experience this. So, that’s the thing that’s been different about this moment. I think with the hindsight of how hard I’ve worked and how hard it is, I’m able to really take in all these moments for what they are, which is lightning in a bottle, and not rush it. Not wish it over. Not to wake up in the morning and say, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to go to bed tonight,’ but to really fill all of the moments that I’m healthy and alive and living in this incredible city and making work—theater, television, creating characters, telling stories, making connections with people, fans.”

Joy as a Radical Practice

This philosophy of deep presence is heavily reinforced by her life as a mother. “It’s so fleeting. My daughter’s three and a half… you actually forget how short they’re babies for. It’s so hard. They don’t sleep, you don’t know them, you’re worried every minute. But it’s such a short period of time, and to be wishing any of those moments away is like—there’s arrogance in that, because you’re going to be at a point when you’re going to miss these moments. When my kid is still asking me to rub her back for 30 minutes…in five years she might be like, ‘Get out of my room.’ So, I try to just have a sense of humor about all of it.”

Ultimately, James’s current professional and personal outlook is rooted in a piece of wisdom passed down through her theater community—a lesson on choosing joy through the inevitable seasons of hardship. She recalls a conversation regarding a longtime colleague from her Book of Mormon days, John Eric Parker, who recently endured the tragic loss of his husband to cancer.

“We call John Eric the Oracle,” James shares softly. “Another friend was talking about John Eric and said, ‘He’s so wise,’ and I was trying to figure out why he is so wise. And this is what I came up with: which is that all of the hard things in his life that he’s going through, you can just see that he focuses on still finding joy, and still being able to laugh, and using all of these hard things as lessons to find more joy and not as an opportunity to be down or to be negative or to blame or jealous. I want that kind of life. I want to have the good and the bad also help me find joy in my life. That’s a real lesson for this time in my life, too—this sort of stroke of luck I’ve had career-wise the past few months.”

As Little Shop of Horrors continues to draw packed houses, James hopes audiences leave with an appreciation for the vocal execution and socio-political layers wrapped up in camp. “I hope that they think that we sound fierce,” she smiles. “This is a singer’s singing show. There’s lots of singing in this. I think the show is a little bit of an allegory about the ills of desire for fame and fortune. Seymour kind of sells his soul to the devil a little bit… it can be a slippery slope when you’re trying to reach the highest highs. But I hope people just have a really good time and laugh.”

Beyond the laughs, the vocals, and the puppetry, James recognizes that her very presence on that stage signifies a shift in the theater world. Black women are no longer forced to stay within designated lanes, but are empowered to rewrite the classics entirely on their own terms.

“We joke that it’s weird—it’s somehow become a Black show,” James concludes. “It’s an amazing thing to see representation and people of color in starring roles in New York City in these classic musicals. It is really something special, and not to be ignored or glossed over. It’s really special.”

Little Shop of Horrors is currently running Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre.

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