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The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show Is Back
The biggest change will be that the narrator will rotate from week to week, beginning with the original, Dick Cavett. Following is the schedule for this rotating roster: Dick Cavett will play the first and last two weeks of the run. Jerry Springer (Nov. 27-Dec. 2), Sally Jesse Raphael (Dec. 11-16), Pen and Teller (Dec. 18-23), Dave Holmes (Nov. 20-25), Cindy Adams (Dec. 4-9) and Robin Leach (Nov. 6-11). The new performance schedule is Fri @8PM, Sat @5PM & 9:45PM, Sun @2PM & 7PM, with tickets from $49.50-$85 (212) 239-6200. 
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If I'd seen this show when I was 13, I would have been 40 the next day
---Dick Cavett, the show's original narrator |
Casting Dick Cavett, who's known as one of TV's more intellectual talk show hosts, as the narrator may be viewed as a misstep or a stroke of genius. True Rocky Horror cultists might find his live TV show patter annoying or distracting, if not both. On the other hand, it adds a certain timeliness, and Cavett's awkward charm is a high five for conservative audience members to sit back and get into the hyperkinetic silliness of it all. For the producers, Cavett also paves the way for keeping the show in the news with a changing cast of celebrity narrators.
Before I go any further, I should confess that I came to the Circle In the Square a "Rocky virgin", having seen neither the show's short-lived Broadway or long-lived London incarnation, or the movie (which, after an inauspicious beginning, achieved cult status). The audience in fishnet stockings and other costumes that promised to provide a show before the show never materialized (bear in mind, however, that I went on a Monday night so this may happen more on weekends when people aren't coming from work)
As for the show itself, it's loud and glitzy (think Planet Hollywood and the arcades along the new 42nd Street). It's also a lot of fun and Richard O'Brien's music is appealingly bouncy.
According to my companion, who saw the movie several times during his college days, and a major Rocky fan seated to my left, the current extravaganza remain true to the plot -- if you can call it that. For the uninitiated, here it is in a nutshell:
The car of a seemingly American as apple pie couple is stalled in a rainstorm. They are Brad Majors (Jarrod Emick comfortably filling Barry Bostwick's shoes) and Janet Weiss (a deliciously dizzy and sexy Alice Ripley who, unlike the original Alice -- Susan Sarandon -- is an established Broadway performer). Brad and Alice's search for a phone leads them to transvestite cum mad scientist, Frank-n-Furter (Tom Hewitt, a dazzlingly camp blonde villain to satisfy even the most diehard fans of the movie version's Tim Curry). They find themselves prisoners and eventual participants in a bizarre fantasia of sexual diversity and biological experiments.
Ashley cleverly introduces Alice and Brad as characters in a black and white movie. When they emerge from behind the scrim/screen, the movie-house flip-flops out of sight (we are also treated to several clever video screen scenes) and we enter Frank-N-Furter zany rocky horror universe.
As mentioned, I saw no audience members who tried to match the costumes, in this show designed with sexy flair by David C. Woolard. However, spurred by what seemed obvious "plants" at the rear of each seating section, the rainstorm and "Damn It, Janet" produced some genuine interactivity -- the audience covered its heads with Playbills and sent little points of lights flickering around the house with the pocket flashlights handed out to early arrivals by a roving member of the company. There was also lots of confetti tossed about.
Other Frank-N-Furter foes, friends and lovers contribute to the grizzly enjoyment --
- Raul Esparza is a darkly sinister Riff Raff.
- Sebastian LaCause excels as Frank-N-Furter's experiment in creation, a muscular, ambi-sexterous
- boy toy.
- The one and only Lea DeLaria here manages to be two one and only characters, the ill-fated Eddie the biker and his uncle, Dr. Scott.
- Everyone except DeLaria gets to dance, courtesy of Jerry Mitchell's snappy choreography.
What was shocking twenty-five years ago is still provocative enough for me to wonder a bit at Lea DeLaria's claim during a recent TV interview that families with kids were filling the house on weekends. For guidance as to whether to take even post grade and middle school kids to this show, I'd refer to Dick Cavett's quote (during the above mentioned interview and during the performance I attended). Bring your thirteen to seventeen year olds -- but only if you want them to take a giant leap to age forty.
Age appropriateness aside, this show's core audience is unlikely to blossom into a more serious theater constituency. But then again, even Dick Cavett is unlikely to have Roundabout or Lincoln Center subscribers line up to meet Janet and Brad and Frank 'N'Furter.
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THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
Book, music and lyrics by Richard O'Brien Directed by Christopher Ashley Cast: Tom Hewitt (Frank-n-Furter), Joan Jett (Usherette, Columbia), Dick Cavett (Narrator), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Usherette, Magenta), Lea DeLaria (Eddie/Dr Scott), Alice Ripley (Janet), Jarrod Emick (Brad), Raul Esparza (Riff Raff), Seastian LaCause (Rocky). See Box at top of this page for current cast Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell Set Design: David Rockwell Costume Design: David Woolard Lighting Design: Paul Gallo Sound Design: T. Richard Fitzgerald, Domonic Sack Orchestrations: Doug Katsaros Musical Director: Henry Aronson Running time: 2 hours, includes one intermission Circle in the Square, 1633 Bway, (at 50th St), 239-6200 Performances from 10/20/2000 -10/23/01; opened 11/15/200 Reopened 10/30/01-- through 1/06/02 Tue - Fri at 8pm; Sat at 5pm, 9:45pm; Sun at 2pm, 7pm Tickets $30-79.50 Current performance schedule and prices: Fri @8PM, Sat @5PM & 9:45PM, Sun @2PM & 7PM with tickets from $49.50-$85 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer based on 11/13 performance |
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