'Rocky Horror Show' returns
Scott Raynor
Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: The Edge
The lights turn off, the curtains rise, and the announcer tells the audience, "please refrain from throwing things on the stage or having sex in the aisles." A woman dressed in a puffy blue dress/stewardess outfit walks the aisles with a tray filled with condoms and an empty case of Budweiser beer.
This is ridiculous.
This is Rocky Horror.
"The Rocky Horror Show" is the overly stylistic play originally written by Richard O'Brien in the mid-1970s. And by overly stylistic, I mean dripping with absurd amounts of sex. If you are at all offended by grotesquely acted out sex scenes (or are a child), then this is absolutely not for you.
"The Rocky Horror Show" can never be said to be "good" in the traditional sense. It is intentionally over-the-top, its plot is self-consciously awful and absurd. It is more of phenomenon than a traditional story, the beginning of the "so bad it's good" genre of performances.
The music in "The Rocky Horror Show," however, is oddly attractive and catchy. People new to the show will be surprised to already be familiar with "The Time Warp." But not all songs are as catchy and, near the middle to end of the play, they get tiring.
The play starts out with Brad Majors proposing to Janet Weiss. They then set out to visit a former science teacher, Dr. Everett Scott, but drive into a storm where their front right tire goes flat. They stop to use the phone at a nearby castle and are confronted with scantily (and femininely) dressed, overly sexual people from the planet Transsexual Transylvania. We are then introduced to their leader, Frankenfurter, who created Rocky Horror, the "perfect" male.
Brad and Janet are invited to stay the night where Frank-n-Furter tricks them both into sleeping with him (they both realize halfway though but decide to continue). Janet sees Brad in bed with Frankenfurter and seduces Rocky Horror.
Dr. Everett Scott arrives in search of his nephew Eddie, who Frankenfurter had killed. The famous "orgy" scene takes place and Frankenfurter's underlings threaten to kill everyone if they are not transported back to Transsexual Transylvania, at which point Frankenfurter's disgruntled minions kill everyone except for themselves, Brad, Janet and Dr. Scott, who are now sexually awakened.
You will be forced (at times) to like "Rocky Horror," laugh when you find yourself hating the play, and have good reason to hate it.
But for most of the play, there is no middle ground. You will either love "The Rocky Horror Show" and leave the theatre singing and laughing, or you will despise it and write a scathing review.
This is ridiculous.
This is Rocky Horror.
"The Rocky Horror Show" is the overly stylistic play originally written by Richard O'Brien in the mid-1970s. And by overly stylistic, I mean dripping with absurd amounts of sex. If you are at all offended by grotesquely acted out sex scenes (or are a child), then this is absolutely not for you.
"The Rocky Horror Show" can never be said to be "good" in the traditional sense. It is intentionally over-the-top, its plot is self-consciously awful and absurd. It is more of phenomenon than a traditional story, the beginning of the "so bad it's good" genre of performances.
The music in "The Rocky Horror Show," however, is oddly attractive and catchy. People new to the show will be surprised to already be familiar with "The Time Warp." But not all songs are as catchy and, near the middle to end of the play, they get tiring.
The play starts out with Brad Majors proposing to Janet Weiss. They then set out to visit a former science teacher, Dr. Everett Scott, but drive into a storm where their front right tire goes flat. They stop to use the phone at a nearby castle and are confronted with scantily (and femininely) dressed, overly sexual people from the planet Transsexual Transylvania. We are then introduced to their leader, Frankenfurter, who created Rocky Horror, the "perfect" male.
Brad and Janet are invited to stay the night where Frank-n-Furter tricks them both into sleeping with him (they both realize halfway though but decide to continue). Janet sees Brad in bed with Frankenfurter and seduces Rocky Horror.
Dr. Everett Scott arrives in search of his nephew Eddie, who Frankenfurter had killed. The famous "orgy" scene takes place and Frankenfurter's underlings threaten to kill everyone if they are not transported back to Transsexual Transylvania, at which point Frankenfurter's disgruntled minions kill everyone except for themselves, Brad, Janet and Dr. Scott, who are now sexually awakened.
You will be forced (at times) to like "Rocky Horror," laugh when you find yourself hating the play, and have good reason to hate it.
But for most of the play, there is no middle ground. You will either love "The Rocky Horror Show" and leave the theatre singing and laughing, or you will despise it and write a scathing review.
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