Sarah Hyland’s husband Wells Adams might love her accent as Audrey in Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors a little too much.
During an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark on Friday, May 31, Hyland explained to hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos how she developed her unique accent for her role as Audrey in the current musical revival of The Little Shop of Horrors (and the reaction it garnered from Adams).
“I don’t do the Ellen Greene accent from the film, or exactly like Kerry Butler from the revival, but it just kind of came about,” she said. “My husband was asking me on the phone, ‘Do it for me.’ So, I gave him a little preview over the phone of the accent and it was the wildest reaction I ever could have imagined. He goes, ‘This is going to be very sexual for me.’”
The Modern Family alum added, “He was like, ‘It’s like my wife is doing Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny and it’s very hot.’” (Hyland and Adams have been married since 2022.)
The role of Audrey Fulquard was previously played by Ellen Greene in the 1986 film and by Kerry Butler in the 2003 Broadway production. Hyland stars as Off-Broadway’s current iteration of the Little Shop of Horrors heroine, alongside Andrew Barth Feldman as Seymour and James Carpinello as Dr. Orin Scrivello D.D.S.
The actress told Ripa and Consuelos that she was “terrified, nervous, fearful” and “judgmental” of her abilities as a performer upon returning to the stage.
“It’s been 17 years since I’ve done 8 shows a week, so it’s been a really, really long time,” said Hyland, who previously played Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier in the original Broadway production of Grey Gardens in 2006. “But everyone that’s a part of Little Shop, the crew, the creative team, all of the actors, are just the kindest, nicest, most talented people.”
Hyland added that she is “friends with a lot of the past Seymours,” including Darren Criss, Skylar Astin and Matt Doyle, who reached out to show their love for the production. “They all said the exact same thing — the exact same verbiage,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Am I joining a cult? ‘Cause I think I’m into it.'”
Hyland and Feldman, 22, are the most recent addition to a long line of actors and actresses who have joined the award-winning production in New York City’s Westside Theatre. Other stars who have graced the Little Shop stage include Jonathan Groff, Tammy Blanchard, Evan Rachel Wood, Maude Apatow, Lena Hall, Gideon Glick, Constance Wu, Jeremy Jordan, Conrad Ricamora, Corbin Bleu and Jinkx Monsoon.
