Reviewed by James Karas
If you are a devotee of the cult
musical The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien you need not read this
review. Get your tickets immediately for the Avon Theatre where it will be
performed in repertory until October 31, 2018. If you are not, you may wish to
share my wonder at a show that has attracted, if the audience at the Avon
Theatre is indicative, a following of aficionados whose enthusiasm for it has no bounds.
As you get near the Avon Theatre,
you will see men and women dressed in leather, black stockings, lots of
feathers, black attire, loads of makeup, high heels and an assortment of
similar apparel. That describes a substantial portion of the audience. As for
the stage, the actors wear similar but substantially more exotic costumes.
Photography by Cylla von Tiedemann.
The theatre is full of haze and
the idea that this is no ordinary theatrical performance is apparent everywhere
from the sidewalk to the auditorium. When the show begins there is a flash of
lights aimed at the audience which is followed by an instantaneous outburst of
vigorous applause and yelling. An Usherette (Erica Peck) selling popcorn
appears on the stage and her sheer appearance and subsequent singing, screaming
and screeching are accompanied by such passionate applause and noise from the
audience as to leave you breathless.
And that is just the beginning. The
enthusiasm of the audience and their participation in the show may compare with
the reaction of teenagers to a rock music idol where they scream with orgiastic
passion ceaselessly for no apparent or detectable reason.
The Rocky Horror Show has
been around since 1973 and it is a takeoff on the Frankenstein story, with
loud, very loud music, sci-fi characters and somewhere between the screams and
the outlandish acting, a plot. The plot? Well, Janet (Jennifer Rider-Shaw) and
Brad (Sayer Roberts) are engaged to be married but they lose their way while
returning from a wedding. They get a flat tire and end up in a castle in
Transylvania while looking for a telephone to seek help.
We meet the Narrator (Steve Ross)
who is greeted with noises of derision from the audience on sight. We quickly discern
that the cult disciples know every word, every note, every move and every
gesture of the musical and react accordingly. We will meet a chorus of
phantoms, Riff Raff (Robert Markus) and Frank ‘N’ Furter, (Dan Chameroy). By
now you know you are in some inter-galactic universe at least on the stage and
pretty soon you wonder if that applies to the Avon Theatre as well. Frank introduces
himself by singing “Sweet Transvestite” from Transsexual Transylvania. Transvestite
and transsexual only begin to describe the sexual content of the show.
The Rocky Horror Show is
highly interactive. A good number of members of the audience (I could not tell
if they are real members of the audience or plants) yell out comments and
generally participate in the show. Some of the comments seemed planted. When
someone on stage asks who is Eddy? Someone in the audience yells out “A Trump
supporter.” On the question of where did he get something, the answer comes
“from Ikea.” Before Brad starts singing “Once in a While” someone screams “How
often do you jerk off?”
Trevor Patt plays the scientist Dr. Everett Scott and the
cast adds up to a large number of players on stage.
The decibel level on and off the
stage was unbelievable. As the show’s end approached, the audience burst into
yet another round of applause and I don’t mean with hands held at chest level.
The hands are thrown up in the air and they yell, they scream, they stand up,
they start dancing on the spot and in the aisles doing The Time Warp Dance.
The show is directed and choreographed by Donna Feore with
sets by Michael Gianfrancesco and costumes by Diana Osborne.
The Rocky Horror Show is
more of an orgiastic and ritualistic experience than theatre, musical or
otherwise. If you have never seen it, you may wish to experience it. Those who
have experienced it, are not reading this review.
__________________
The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien opened on June 2 and
will run in repertory until October 31, 2018 at the Avon Theatre, 99 Downie St,
Stratford, ON N5A 1X2. www.stratfordfestival.ca
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