Just in time for Halloween, The Jerry Herman Ring Theater opened the thrilling comedy, “Little Shop of Horrors”, on Thursday, Sept. 26. However, instead of its traditional setting on Los Angeles’ infamous “Skid Row”, the show is set right here in Little Haiti, Miami, making it even more special for the star of the show, BFA Musical Theater and commuter student, Carlos Guerrero. With this adaptation of the show’s setting, the show hits extra close to home for Guerrero.
Guerrero comes from a family of actors. His grandfather was a famous actor and poet in Cuba prior to fleeing the communist country. Guerrero’s father, Carlos Guerrero, then followed in his grandfather’s footsteps doing theater and working his way into television and film. His father began acting at a young age in plays and movies. He recently worked on the movie “Bad Boys for Life” with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Inspired by his father and grandfather, Guerrero began acting at 3 years old.
“I saw my dad acting on TV and a spark went off inside of me,” Guerrero said.
After proving to his father that he was serious about acting, his father set him up with an agent and he began to audition. Since then, Guerrero has worked on television, film, and print work.
The young actor decided to further his training and audition for college theater programs. He ended up at the BFA Conservatory at UM. Guerrero feels that the program really helped him prepare for the role of Seymour.
“The program taught me methods I need to use for analysis of my character and the show,” Guerrero said.
Along with his hard work, the Little Shop of Horrors’ cast has enjoyed sharing the stage with Guerrero.
“He’s really professional, keeps a cool head, makes new choices every day, cracks jokes and is polite to everyone in the cast,” said castmate and junior BFA actor, Tony Arambula. “Carlos possesses the poise of a seasoned professional and is extremely humble.”
Another junior BFA actor, Tim O’Malley, who plays Orin in the show, has worked with Guerrero for the past two years in the BFA program.
“Working with Carlos has been super fun because we already know each other very well from working all day, every day together for the past few years, so we already had a level of comfort and readiness to ‘play,” said O’Malley. “It has been nothing short of fun playing such a crazy, adventurous role alongside Carlos because his willingness to commit to exploration was extremely motivating to craft the very best dentist I could.”
You can see Carlos performing at the Ring through Oct.5. Get your tickets today at www.miami.edu/ring or at the door.