Love Calls Us

Chantel Martin

Character Chart

Little Shop

30 October 2014

Ronette Jones

1.  There is not much said about Ronette, but there is dialogue directed toward her. Mushnik refers to her and the other Urchins as “ragamuffins.”This line reveals the girls to be shabby and part of the ghetto scenery that they have grown up in. Ronette and the girls are also uneducated, having stated that they went to school “‘til the fifth grade before splitting.”  As the show progresses, the girls are asked by Mushnik to deliver flowers to buyers, so their importance to the side characters increases to where they become useful to the protagonist’s friends. Ronette and the other Urchins’ become figurative ferrymen on the “River Styx” of Skidrow. During “Meek Shall Inherit” Ronette and the girls usher sponsors toward Seymour and practically deliver him to the greedy people “That’s him Mr. Berstein,” “Here he is, Ms. Luce...” and “Here he is, sir. The incredible Seymour Krelborn.”  Those three instances reveal Ronette’s true intention to pressure Seymour into giving into the plant. Through the show, Ronette’s significance and purpose increases. From the beginning, she was considered a nuisance, the middle she was seen as an asset to profit, and toward the end she is seen as a key player in manipulating the characters into giving into the plant.

        Ronette does not specifically refer to herself in conversation, but her way of speaking reveals a lot of her character.

• “Aw, we aint bothering nobody, are we Crystal?” (To Mushnik, Scene 1 Act 1)- Ronette is not afraid to challenge someone if she is feeling disrespected or she feels like she doesn’t have to change. She is bold and fearless.
• “Uptown you cater to a million jerks, uptown you’re messengers and mailroom clerks...”(“Skidrow”)- Ronette works uptown where richer people live and she doesn’t enjoy her work. Although she is required to work, she wishes she were somewhere else and feels that she is too good for the labor.
• “Girl, I don’t know this mess you hangin’ out with, but he is hazardous to your health.” (To Audrey)- Although, Ronette has yet to find love, she has a certain standard for who her next suitor will be. She wants someone who is the complete opposite of the abusive, sadistic Orin, a kinder man who will treat her right.
• “You’re an overnight sensation, Seymour. Who woulda believe it?” She is very sarcastic and doesn’t seem to very much into the hype surrounding Seymour, but because she is willing to do the plants bidding, she is willing to play along.
• “Step right up and see the Amazing Audrey Two. The most strangest, the most interesting...” (Scene 2 Act 1)- Ronette has become part of the frenzy of Audrey Two’s fame. She is luring more people into viewing the plant, increase the interest for it. She knows that all the fuss and buzz about the plant is good because she is doing its bidding.
• “There’s another big hotshot looking for you, Seymour...”  Ronette is beginning to take a more aggressive approach toward Seymour and leading him to selling out. As extension of the plant she wants nothing more than for Seymour to give in to the temptation.

As previously discussed, Ronette challenges Mushnik when he approaches her and the other Urchins. She is very in-your-face and unabashed. She does a level of maturity which is evident in the way she behaves. As the other girls are giddy about snagging Seymour into the plant’s trap, she is quiet, observes from afar. She has a little more of a polished quality to her approach, but she is just as sinister as the other girls. As an extension of the plant, she is aggressive when it comes to getting what she wants.

The character’s past life:

        a. It is revealed that the girls did not finish school past the fifth grade. To make ends-meet, the girls work uptown, serving jerks and catering to whores. They all live in the ghetto, but they are doing what they have to to survive.

        b. RONETTE JONES (18)- She used to live an apartment, close to Peach Chiffon and Crystal Waters. Her hometown is Manhattan, NY. In America. The political conditions were during the 60‘s around the last years of Eisenhower’s presidency, so there is a level of racial tension when she and her friends go Uptown to work. The moderate level of poverty in Skidrow forces Ronette, Chiffon and Crystal to live together and work together to make ends meet. The girls have no education past the fifth grade so they take whatever job they can get. As for family, Crystal and Chiffon are all Ronette has. Her parents were not there for her. Although she knows who her father is she does not have a consistent relationship with him, he cast her away as trash. As for her mother, the woman was too incompetent to tend to Ronette. She was forced to learn how to survive alone, the closest thing to family were her school friends, Chiffon and Crystal. Her father is actually the owner of a florist shop in the area, but he doesn’t know that “Mushnik and Son” should be “Mushnik and Daughter.” Since Ronette cannot get an upperclass job, she must work Uptown.

        c.  I feel like Ronette is a booji girl. This means that she is lower class, but has a highbrow attitude. She is a bit rude because she feels that she is above everything. Ronette is very intelligent, but doesn’t have the papers to prove it (diploma). She wants nothing more than to have her life be better. She wants a romance of her own and wants to be happy. She has suffered for a while and now wishes to be sitting in the lap of luxury. While Uptown she notices a Venus Flytrap and buys it with her little bit of money. She is the person who originally finds “Audrey Two” and bring it to SkidRow. She shows the girls and as she does he speaks to them, telling them who he is and what he wants (world domination). He promises the girls that he will spare them if they aid him in his goal. Once Ronette gives the plant what he wants, she will find fortune and a better life.