Saturday, October 25, 2008

Rocky HorrIBLE show...

As an avid theatre go-er and ongoing thespian, I feel a certain obligation to support my fellow thespians and theatre lovers when they themselves are involved with a production.
Such was the case last night when I trekked up 23 to 775 N. High Street, commonly known as the Axis Nightclub.
Accompanying me was my loving mother, my sister, and her friend Chris.
To what show, you may ask, were we going to attend?
Center Stage Players annual production of the Rocky Horror Show.
Ju, Chris, and I have been RHPS lovers for quite some time and were dying to see it.
MOM...
Not so much.
She was going to hang out with us, which is cool.
The night started rough when we drove around for 25 minutes looking for the freaking building.
Turns out Axis isn't actually directing on High street.
You have to turn Left on Hubbard, THEN turn left into the first alley way, as I learned from my friend Ben.
Ben, by the way, was/is playing Riff Raff in this production, and was the main reason for my desire to go.
That and the fact that it's the Rocky Horror Show.
Anyways...
We walk in with 15-ish minutes to spare to find that they have standing room only available.
Ugh.
BUT, this only costs $10 and, as we were all anticipating paying $15 dollars, I pulled out a $20 and paid for mom and I.
We found ourselves a nice spot to stand in front of the bar, and settled in for the show.
I took advantage of our spot and got my first Washington Apple for the night and diets for mom and Junia.
Then the show began....
hah...
The beginning song definitely set the mood for the show.
The gal came out to sing "Science Fiction picture show" and her mic cut out most of the song.
OMG.
Terrible.
OH, and let's not forget to mention the million young gay males that felt soooooooo compelled to yell out drunken and obscene call outs throughout the show...
That was the least of the issues, though, for I expected it.
(It was rather amusing.)
Then, Brad and Janet came out.
T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E.
He was clearly gay.
(DISCLAIMER: NOT BASHING GAYS. JUST STATING FACTS)
When they kissed at the end of "Dammit Janet" I think he gagged a bit.
The transylvanians were interesting enough.
All in black outfits of various sizes and shapes... and one male.
HA.
It became painfully clear that someone, probably the director, decided put the show to a carnival like theme, as Ben popped out of this strange black box-like set piece during "Over at the Frankenstein Place" with a green clown wig, white face paint, and a strange black smile.
He sang it well, but I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too distracted by his get-up.
Magenta came out wearing an outfit that looked like that of a gothic ragdoll of sorts.
She was walking with a cane, which means they decided to go with the gal they casted instead of their back up.
OKAY...
Columbia was wearing a strange black tu-tu, white skin tight polo shirt, and strange.. clown-ish (?) make up.
UGH.
Both the women couldn't really sing to speak of.......
Go figure.
During the Time Warp sequence, Columbia did a strange "Ballet (?)" dance/jig thing...
You know, instead of the original tapping.
OKAY....
THEN, Frank-n- Furter came out.....
OMG.
First of all, he did NOT have Frank's swagger, the essence.
NO.
He was also obviously gay....
There was none of that transexual/bisexual ego I know and expect from Frank.
His costume was that of a sparkly... gay Ringleader.
Top hat.
Small red, sparkly overcoat.
White undershirt and what I presume was supposed to a corset type deal.
OH, and black boots.
As my conservative mother (Who, back in the day, did frequent RHPS shows, but has grown out of it and became the mom I love and adore) said, "He's not even wearing the high heels!!!"
The rest of the show was just as disappointing.
NO....
it got worse actually.
Rocky was an adorable young black guy who, for whatever reason, was directed to hump EVERYTHING.
Okay....
The came the separate bedroom scenes.
I was on my second Washington Apple and feeling loopy...
Just thought I'd plug that in there...
Now, mom said that she came to the show expecting to feel uncomfortable because all of the talk about... you know, sex.
We all expected it.
It's apart of the show.
HAH.
Well, the curtain opens up and there's a small bed.
And there's "Janet."
Gyrating and moaning and in an interesting position.
OMG.
The scene with Brad was just as bad.
Mom went out to the car.
THEN, the "Creature Of the Night" scene.
Let's just say Janet ended up back in the bed with Rocky and.....
The last position was him standing with his back to the audience, and her, in front of him....
AHEM.
The last lines of the song, "Creature of the night.... Creature of the night..."
She purposely muffled them.
Yeah.
Now, I'm definitely not the most conservative person in the world, but I was very turned off and... yeah, I'll admit it, offended.
I mean, in the original show, at least it was suggested...
It wasn't so tastelessly and blatantly displayed.
I felt sick, but I stayed to watch the performance and support Ben.
I tell you what, though, we high-tailed it out of there the moment the last line of "Superheroes" was hit.
I was done.
And disappointed.
I spent the beginning of the show stating over and over that I was going to try out for the show next year and that I could've done a much better job at acting and singing than the majority of the cast.
However, if this is how they stage the show every year, I guess I'll have to let the auditions sail by once more and hope someone else will do it in a way the rings truer to the original plot...
UGH.

Yeah.
Talk about disappointment.
The highlight of the night was actually getting back to Circleville and going over to Tyler's to watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Jersey Girl....
Yeah.

2 comments:

Danielle Filas said...

Ok, note to self. Never drink anything liquid when reading Tahrea's blog.

That whole experience reminds me of a more sexually deviant version of the Christopher Durang piece (was it Baby With the Bathwater?) describing the horrific production of Peter Pan. (The one where the crocodile was real and at the children; the one where nobody clapped hard enough and Tinkerbell died.)

At least you got a blog post out of it.

rtpgurl said...

Ha.
The things one must endure to get a good blog.....