Roundabout’s ‘Rocky Horror Show’ revival is the ultimate time warp
If, in your younger years, you were part of the so-called “shadow cast” that made midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the 1975 musical movie, an interactive experience, with an audience armed with props and set callbacks, you may be tempted to try to re-experience that at “The Rocky Horror Show” now at … Read More
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If, in your younger years, you were part of the so-called “shadow cast” that made midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the 1975 musical movie, an interactive experience, with an audience armed with props and set callbacks, you may be tempted to try to re-experience that at “The Rocky Horror Show” now at Studio 54.
Nostalgia, however, can be disappointing. What made the movie a cult classic and a social event for many late Boomers and Gen X kids was never the quality of the show. It was the community and the permission to be raucous and “misbehave” in a theater that was the draw. You went with your friends, and it was all about acting up and acting out, not about appreciating the sophistication and nuance of musical theater.
That is not the experience of the show on stage, and Roundabout has gone to some lengths to dissuade the audience from trying to revisit their youth. It’s mostly successful. (More on that in a moment.)
So, what we’re left with is the show itself. It’s a mess in terms of plotting, but it has a largely charming score, and under the direction of Sam Pinkleton (the director of “Oh, Mary!”) the production is bright, brash, often hilarious, and the cast is giving their all to enroll and entertain the audience.
If you don’t know the story, it goes somewhat like this: Newly engaged Brad and Janet, the essence of 1950s virginal purity, get a flat tire in a rainstorm. They find their way to a secluded castle where they ask for help. (We won’t wonder how this was place in Denton, Texas. Just go with it.) Once inside, they are drawn into a world of sex and sensuality, overseen by Frank-N-Furter, who has landed on earth from the planet Transexual in the Transylvania galaxy. He is creating an ideal boy toy for himself, the titular Rocky. Frank is what we would call today gender queer, and his minions serve him because… Well, we have no idea why. Rocky is his latest attempt to create an ideal love object, but of course, the monster he creates doesn’t fulfill his dreams. The show is really a series of set pieces held together, somewhat, with the help of a narrator. Don’t ask it to make sense.
Encountering the material decades later (I only experienced the movie mayhem once in my teens.), underneath the excesses, wonderful scenic design by dots, amazing costumes by David I. Reynoso, and high-voltage choreography by Ani Taj (including the iconic “Time War”), there is an inherent sweetness to the show. Everyone is looking for where they fit in the world. From Brad and Janet finding some liberation from their Eisenhower-era repression to Frank looking for someone to love him as he is, even if he has to make him, the essential question is, who are we — and who are we allowed to be — in the context of our world? It’s an especially relevant question now, particularly for the transgender community. Though Pinkleton handles it with a light touch, that dramatic tension is what keeps one emotionally invested in this cockamamie tale, even in the midst of what seems like non-stop chaos on the stage.
[caption id="attachment_62741" align="aligncenter" width="467"]
Rachel Dratch in "Rocky Horror."Joan Marcus[/caption]
The performances are uniformly strong. Rachel Dratch is ideal as the semi-pompous narrator, and she knows how to parry the quasi-canonical, audience outbursts, endearing her even more to the crowd. Juliette Lewis is delightful as Magenta, who also starts and ends the show with the framing song, “Science Fiction Double Feature.” Amber Gray has, hilariously, transformed her gorgeous presence into the creepy, manic, over-the-top, and ultimately evil Riff Raff. I expect she’s having the time of her life. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez is spectacular as Columbia.
Andrew Durand and Stephamie Hsu as Brad and Janet are perfectly straitlaced…until they’re not. They are both wonderfully comic actors and charming in their roles.
Luke Evans pretty much walks away with the rest of the show, however, and watching him walk, dance, and strut in skyscraper heels and the requisite bustier and fishnets is a show in itself. Evans’ Frank is a combination of excess and heart, and there are moments when he seems like a lost boy, which give the performance depth. While your wardrobe choices may differ, anyone who has ever struggled with their identity — or the search for love and acceptance — can relate.
This subtext, fortunately, saves the production from devolving into total camp, which would trivialize it. That’s also what allows it to avoid indulging in nostalgia and delivering something a bit more substantive to an audience.
As the ancient philosopher Heraclitus observed, “A man cannot step into the same river twice because it is not the same river, and he is not the same man.” There is no question that the world has radically changed since the mid-1970s. Nor are we the same as individuals or a country. Part of the effect — and dare I say fun — of this production (as with “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” in a more extreme example) is to encounter and experience beloved material as who we are today and, perhaps, see it with different eyes. That is the ultimate “time warp.”
The Rocky Horror Show | Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54 | 254 West 54th Street | Tues, Thurs 7 p.m.; Weds 2 & 8 p.m.; Fri, Sat 8:30 p.m.; Sat, Sun 3 p.m. | $82-$339 at Roundabout.org | 1 hour, 50 mins, 1 intermission
Rachel Dratch in "Rocky Horror."Joan Marcus[/caption]
The performances are uniformly strong. Rachel Dratch is ideal as the semi-pompous narrator, and she knows how to parry the quasi-canonical, audience outbursts, endearing her even more to the crowd. Juliette Lewis is delightful as Magenta, who also starts and ends the show with the framing song, “Science Fiction Double Feature.” Amber Gray has, hilariously, transformed her gorgeous presence into the creepy, manic, over-the-top, and ultimately evil Riff Raff. I expect she’s having the time of her life. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez is spectacular as Columbia.
Andrew Durand and Stephamie Hsu as Brad and Janet are perfectly straitlaced…until they’re not. They are both wonderfully comic actors and charming in their roles.
Luke Evans pretty much walks away with the rest of the show, however, and watching him walk, dance, and strut in skyscraper heels and the requisite bustier and fishnets is a show in itself. Evans’ Frank is a combination of excess and heart, and there are moments when he seems like a lost boy, which give the performance depth. While your wardrobe choices may differ, anyone who has ever struggled with their identity — or the search for love and acceptance — can relate.
This subtext, fortunately, saves the production from devolving into total camp, which would trivialize it. That’s also what allows it to avoid indulging in nostalgia and delivering something a bit more substantive to an audience.
As the ancient philosopher Heraclitus observed, “A man cannot step into the same river twice because it is not the same river, and he is not the same man.” There is no question that the world has radically changed since the mid-1970s. Nor are we the same as individuals or a country. Part of the effect — and dare I say fun — of this production (as with “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” in a more extreme example) is to encounter and experience beloved material as who we are today and, perhaps, see it with different eyes. That is the ultimate “time warp.”
The Rocky Horror Show | Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54 | 254 West 54th Street | Tues, Thurs 7 p.m.; Weds 2 & 8 p.m.; Fri, Sat 8:30 p.m.; Sat, Sun 3 p.m. | $82-$339 at Roundabout.org | 1 hour, 50 mins, 1 intermission 
