No rocky road to this show — just a jump to the left
Published: July 10, 2009
At least, it will be the first time for Phil Horst.
Horst, you see, is the man who went to Play On! — A New Virginia Theatre and told its board that it would be a great idea to stage “The Rocky Horror Show.”
They agreed.
So Horst decided that it would probably be a good idea for him to see the film version, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“I have only seen the movie once,” said Horst, who is directing the local show that kicks off Thursday night at the Theatre at Ix.
And that was only after he pitched the idea of staging the musical. He read Richard O’Brien’s (think Riff Raff) original script. He listened to the soundtrack. And, dammit Janet, he then popped in the movie.
“That was the first time that I watched it,” he admitted. I am glad I did it that way, or else I might have been completely overwhelmed. This way I can have some elements of the film, but it will also have an original feel.”
It’s definitely an original, and a show geared for mature audiences.
The play — written by O’Brien and directed by Jim Sharman — opened in London in the Theatre Upstairs on June 19, 1973. (If you are looking for a Charlottesville connection, Sharman was working on former local resident Sam Shepard’s play “The Unseen Hand” during Rocky’s formative years.)
The film followed in 1974, both movie and the original play starred Tim Curry as Dr. Frank N. Furter, the “Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania.”
Three years later, the film had gathered a cult following.
Audience members dressed up as their favorite characters and headed to midnight screenings, where they would act out scenes and add their own dialog to the script. Oh, yes, and throw things.
Water pistols soaked many a theater during
Janet and Brad’s walk in the rain. Toast sailed through the air when a toast was made during dinner, and toilet paper was unfurled when “Great Scott” made his appearance.
The “Picture Show” became the best-known and most successful midnight movies of all time.
“I lived in Pennsylvania, and the theater showed it all the time,” Horst said.
“I had friends who went to see it, and they said how much fun it was. I never did get to see it, but that was what made me think it would be a good show.
“I thought I would see if I could get [Play On!] to agree to do the show.”
They agreed.
“Just about all of the board members were in ‘Rumors,’ and that was the first play I did with Play On,” Horst said. “They were very welcoming to me. That is how I got to keep doing this. They took me under their wings.”
He also didn’t have any shortage of actors who wanted to be a part of “Rocky’s” cast.
Zack Bonnie stars as the flamboyant Frank, Pierson plays Susan Sarandon’s Janet, Dan Finn is boyfriend Brad, Augustin Correro is the hunchback butler Riff Raff, Bryan Leach is the muscle-bound Rocky, Laura Stokes is the maid Magenta and Kristen Spatz is the tap dancing groupie Columbia. Other cast members include Billy Baugher, Kerry James, Brittany Hagar, Jamie Kollar, Mariah Smith and Joanna Stokes.
“A lot the them were very familiar with the movie,” Horst said. “The actor who will be playing Dr. Frank N. Furter actually has played him before. There are people who go to the movies and act out the roles, and he has done that.”
He predicts that it will be a great show.
“We have been putting in extra time,” he said. “We have done it in about six weeks, which is crazy for a musical.
“But it has been so much fun. Everyone I have worked with, the actors and the backstage crew, we have gotten really close.”
He invites the audience to get close and come dressed in costume, especially for the midnight showing on Friday. So if you have 15 friends or so who happened to dress up in “Rocky” garb for Halloween, dust off those costumes.
But, please, he added, leave the toast and water guns at home.
“I told the actors to expect a lot of callbacks,” he said. “People will be yelling lines back to the actors, and I encourage that, especially on the midnight performances. I have prepared the actors for that.
“It could be very dangerous. It will be hard enough for the men to be dancing around in high heels without worrying about tripping over toast.”
Details
“The Rocky Horror Show”
Play On! — A New Virginia Theatre
8 p.m. Thursday; runs through Aug. 1
Theatre at Ix
$17, $15 and $10; Thursdays are “pay what you will”
872-0184
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