The Rocky Horror Show
Richard
O’Brien (Book, Music, Lyrics)
 |
| D'Arcy Drollinger as Frank-n-Furter |
Hot men
and women in sensuous, black corsets of lace and leather who are raised on high
by spiked stilettos, all singing and dancing in rock numbers that are
precursors of later musicals like Grease or Hairspray can
mean only one thing: The Rocky Horror Show is yet once again in revival.
Generations
of costumed, crazed audiences around the world have sustained decades of infatuation
for this 1973 West End musical as they toss toast and rice, talk back to actors
in unrehearsed unison, and dance to the well-known line steps of “Time Warp.” While there is always some camp involved in
any Rocky live staging or screen showing, Ray of Light’s
anniversary revival of Richard O’Brien’s The
Rocky Horror Story is
first-class, musical theatre in every respect.
Bringing together a stellar cast, eye-popping set and costumes, electric
choreography, lighting and sound exactness, and a group of musicians that play
‘70s era rock like nobody’s business, this Rocky soars
well beyond the midnight fare many in the audience are accustomed.
On a dark
and stormy night along a lonely patch of road, just-engaged Brad Majors and
Janet Weiss, who look like they stepped out of a early 70s Young Republicans
meeting or an ad from a Sears and Roebuck catalogue, find themselves with a
flat tire. Flashing lights from a nearby
castle draw them nervously into shelter from the downpour. A blue-lipped, black-lashed butler in skirt
and apron named Riff Raff and his sister Magenta, a frizzy-haired, wild-eyed
and snarling maid, greet their knock on the door. Nervous, Brad and Janet enter a house full of
roaming, all-too-curious, scantily-clad Phantoms of questionable gender. They are soon introduced to a mad scientist
in black net stockings and tight corset, Frank-n-Furter, who describes himself
as a “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.” As they are stripped of wet clothes to their underwear
by the by the grabby Phantoms, Janet and Brad become swept up in a grizzly
murder of Frank’s former lover Eddie (already missing half his brain from an
earlier operation by Frank) and the laboratory birth of a muscularly perfect
and oh-so tanned Rocky (conceived to become Frank’s new beau). The two are then led to separate, upstairs bedrooms
while Frank imagines his upcoming nuptials with the biceps-popping, sexy, and
already frisky Rocky. But night’s dreams
are not going to play out just in their sleeping heads but instead become
live sex fantasies their former straight-laced selves could never have
imagined. The night ahead will bring more
surprises, twists, and turns for all inhabitants, including Frank, in this other-worldly
mansion.
All of
these fantastical scenes -- over-flowing with every sexual perversion and
matter of undress imaginable -- are musically punctuated by rock numbers right
off a 45 RPM record, close harmonies both eerie and beautiful, and soaring
solos that moan and haunt. To complete
the telling are sexy, snappy, and highly coordinated dance numbers by a chorus
of ten pan-gendered sets of high-heeled legs – a chorus directed by Bobby Bryce
that sometimes resembles frenzied teens at a high school dance, June Taylor
dancers raising in patterns legs and arms while prone on the floor, or
Rockettes high-kicking their way to glory.
Jason
Hoover’s direction of this Rocky Horror pulls
every stop possible to tantalize, fascinate, and excite an audience that is
already buzzing with excitement upon entering.
The stage-filling, sweeping, futuristic staircase with its underneath
nooks and crannies are part of Kelly Tighe’s stunning set design that is
enhanced magnificently by Joe D’Emilio’s lighting enhancements. Storm sounds shake the auditorium thanks to
Anton Hedman’s sound creations while the sounds of David Brown’s band again and
again almost steal the show’s focus, especially every time Hermann Lara bears
down on his mean sax. And this
production is nothing with out the skimpy, imaginative, shocking costumes of
Miriam Lewis -- all cosmetically highlighted in deep blues, blacks, and reds by
make-up artist Lexie Lazear. Together,
this production crew has created a Rocky Horror that
rivals and even surpasses other past viewings.
But wait,
there is more. The cast – this
particular cast – is to a person so deliciously detestable to be totally
delightful with each bringing a myriad of ways to deliver knock-out
performances in action, song, and dance.
Leading the line of course is local favorite playwright and performer D’Arcy
Drollinger whose Frank-n-Furter is brimming with drippy sultriness, provocative
plunges and spasms, and sensuality that is both alarming and attractive. With voice that can belt with bombastic
blasts (as in “Sweet Transvestite”) or lure in its victim with dripping tones
of perverted promise (“I Can Make You a Man”), this Frank-n-Furter is always
deservedly center stage.
His
castle cohorts are equally well-suited to shock and satisfy. Paul Hovannes as Riff Raff brings a rock-star
voice with notes that pierce incredible heights when he leads the troupe in
“Time Warp;” and from the first moment he slides on stage, he exudes evil
waiting to burst forward in a final act of revenge. Tielle Baker and Mary Kalita each step up to
bring exactly the right creepiness and intrigue to Magenta and Columbia,
respectively; and both provide solid, confident voices in song when called
upon. In the skimpiest of gold Spandex
shorts and with bulging crotch, super-toned Alex Rodriguez literally shines as
the lab-manufactured Rocky. When he
sings “You better wise up, Janet Wise” in “Planet, Schmanet, Janet, ” there is
nothing false about his voice or his great showmanship.
Ryan
Cowles and Chelsea Holifield could hardly be better cast as the Brad-Janet duo.
From their well-sung “Damn-It Janet” in
which love is professed with youthful, emphatic sincerity to later numbers
where clothes and inhibitions are shed and tempos intensified, the two make us
believe their initial fears, their middle curiosities, and their later
hedonistic enjoyments. Whether in
Janet’s steamy seduction of an excited Rocky in “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” or
in Brad’s mournful, contemplative “Once in a While,” each shows capacity to
cross many emotional thresholds while still remaining true at core to that
naïve, small-town couple we meet in the beginning.
The
Second Act of Rocky never seems to live up to the
First as storyline always peters out a bit.
This production comes close to overcoming that built-in deficit with
well-paced direction, a rousing and arousing “The Floor Show” (complete with
most everyone in pink and black heels and stockings), and Frank-n-Furter’s
desperate plea for a home among his earthly pleasures and playthings in “I’m
Going Home.”
In an
evening so perfect in many respects fall only a couple of flaws. The opening and final “Science Fiction/Double
Feature” hits the target when expanded to full chorus in song and dance but
misses the chance to score big when Madeleine Pla as Usherette fails to belt
her solo portion with total, spot-on accuracy or power. And while it is expected and is fun that
audience members in a Rocky Horror evening are going to banter the
actors with standard taunts, Opening Night was peppered almost constantly by
one male from the balcony who hardly let a minute go by without hollering his
interruptive mimics, commentary, and questions, even during some solos. I for one was perplexed that some usher did
not go over and shut him down and was amazed how composed actors remained. Even though I was in the theatre in D.C.’s
Georgetown in 1978 for my first Rocky
Horror Movie with my own
bag of prepared goodies to show and toss, maybe I am not enough of a fanatic to
laugh off and appreciate his rudeness.
Once
again, Ray of Light blows to bits all incoming expectations with a revival of Rocky Horror Show that is New York in quality and San Francisco in
quirkiness.
Rating: 5
E’s
The Rocky Horror Story continues through November 7,
2015 as a Ray of Light offering at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th
Street, San Francisco. Tickets are
available online at http://rayoflighttheatre.com/the-rocky-horror-show-2015/.
Photo by Erik Scanlon.
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