Musical theater fans RABIAN by ‘baby nepo’ Maude Apatow cast in Little Shop Of Horrors

Many musical theater fans were furious about the casting of an Off-Broadway revival of the classic show Little Shop Of Horrors.

Euphoria actress Maude Apatow, daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, is making her stage debut as lead Audrey.

When the announcement appeared on Playbill’s Instagram account, the comments were filled with scathing comments alleging that she was hired out of nepotism.

One Instagram user declared the start of ‘nepo baby season’ as another quoted stage legend, Patti LuPone: ‘Broadway is becoming a Disneyland for the rich.’

“Nepo baby strikes again,” one commenter sneered while another quipped, “I had to double check this wasn’t a meme.”

“Oh well, I was worried someone who worked for the part might get it,” said one social media commenter.

Another scoffed, “it’s good to see nepo babies thrive when so many can’t get a job,” and yet another noted, “stunt casting AND baby nepo.”

‘Why is this the choice?!?’ one Instagram commenter wondered when a young actress wrote in exasperation: “Yeah let me break my headline.”

‘Can she even…you know what, never mind?’ one social media user complained in the comments. ‘She forgets I almost asked.’

Maude also had some defenders, including one who argued that casting a TV personality was helping “the whole cast and crew” “keep their jobs a little bit longer.” It’s never really just about one person.

Broadway has a long history of welcoming showbiz legacies, from the famed Barrymore acting dynasty, including John, Ethel and Lionel, on up.

Carol Burnett became a star in a musical called Once Upon A Mattress with music by Mary Rodgers, whose father was Richard Rodgers of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Oscar Hammerstein himself was the son of an impresario who opened a series of opera houses and is now the namesake of New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

Since 1965, the youngest winner of the Best Actress Tony Award has been Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland and renowned director Vincente Minnelli.

Liza was just 19 when she took home her Tony for Flora, The Red Menace, the first Broadway show to be scored by Kander and Ebb of Cabaret and Chicago fame.

In more recent years, Ben Platt, the Tony Award-winning lead in the musical Dear Evan Hansen, is the son of film producer Marc Platt.

Jonah Hill’s little sister, Beanie Feldstein, opened in a revival of Barbra Streisand’s old vehicle Funny Girl last year, only to receive a blistering critical response and be replaced by Glee star Lea Michele, who began her career on Broadway.

Maude is one of a host of starlets with famous parents, from Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp to Andie MacDowell’s daughter Margaret Qualley.

Maya Hawke, whose parents are Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, and Kaia Gerber, whose mother is Cindy Crawford, have also risen to fame in recent years.

Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon, Heidi Klum’s daughter Leni Klum and Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough will also participate, among others.

Online talk about ‘nepo babies’ reached a fever pitch after New York magazine published a viral cover story about the phenomenon.

Dakota Johnson, whose parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and whose grandmother is blonde Hitchcock Tippi Hedren, was one of the faces on the cover.

Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of psycho actress Janet Leigh and Some Like It Hot heartthrob Tony Curtis, stridently waded into the debate.

Calling herself the ‘OG Nepo Baby’, she said: ‘The current conversation about nepo babies is designed to try to belittle, denigrate and hurt.’

Little Shop Of Horrors is a 1980s musical with a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and lyrics by Alan Menken, a duo who became one of the leading players in the Disney renaissance by writing the songs for The Little Mermaid and Beauty. and the beast.

The show follows a mild-mannered florist named Seymour who simultaneously pins for the love of his life, Audrey, while taking on a gigantic talking Venus flytrap in his care who survives by eating people.

Before Seymour learns of the plant’s man-eating tendencies, he names her Audrey II due to his feelings for the protagonist.

Little Shop Of Horrors first opened off-Broadway and then moved off-Broadway for five years beginning in 1982.

Based on a 1960 film, the musical features a beloved score heavily influenced by the music of the 1960s, particularly Motown.

A huge success, Little Shop Of Horrors became the highest-grossing Off-Broadway show ever, but Howard Ashman resisted the idea of ​​a Broadway transfer because he felt the project was off-Broadway, according to the New York Times.

Little Shop Of Horrors reached new heights of fame when it was adapted into a 1986 film directed by Frank Oz, who played Yoda in the Star Wars movies.

Ghostbusters actor Rick Moranis headlined the cast as Seymour, while Audrey was played by Ellen Greene, who had originated the role off-Broadway.

The musical finally made its way to Broadway in 2003, in a revival that over the course of its run featured names like Billy Porter and Joey Fatone.

Audrey was played by Alice Ripley, who a few years later won a Best Actress Tony Award for the Pulitzer-winning musical Next to Normal.