Cult classic revived in Yellowknife
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 12/01) - Never admit to a Rocky Horror fan that you've never seen Rocky Horror.
They -- and there are more of them than you can imagine -- will gaze at you with a mixture of pity and alarm.
"Early audiences didn't quite seem to know what to make of Riff Raff and Magenta and Frank N. Furter," says the director of the local Rocky Horror production Chris Foreman.
"But over the years it has become something of a rite of passage for teenagers to show up wearing transvestite garb and spout lines and toss confetti."
This made-for-the-stage rock musical extravaganza first flopped as a conventional movie in 1975. Starring Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Tim Curry, it then mysteriously engaged audiences worldwide in midnight showings, with moviegoers bringing along props such as toast and newspapers to create a highly unusual interactive event.
Since the cult classic's first stage performance in 1973, The Rocky Horror Show has been presented in over 30 countries, performed in 15 different languages and been seen by over 20 million Rocky virgins.
Now Yellowknifers get a whack at it.
The story begins when a straight-laced young couple, Janet and Brad, experience a little car trouble on a "dark and stormy night," and must seek out refuge at a near-by mansion.
"The cliches mount almost as quick as the laughs when they discover themselves in the middle of an unconventional convention from Transylvania, replete with a mad professor and a creature born in a lab. Toss in fatuous phantoms, libidinous servants, a pompous criminologist and numerous slam bam musical numbers, and you've got The Rocky Horror Show," says Foreman.
About the role that Sarandon immortalized on celluloid, local actress Cynthia Russell says she is the ingenue that loses her innocence.
"But unlike other small-town girls that sort of flagellate themselves, she revels in who she is. I think we can all relate to that," adds Russell.
Foreman notes that Rocky Horror is not a salacious show, but a spoof and a satire that sends up '50s B-movie cliches.
Rocky Horror features the talents of over 30 Yellowknifers starring, besides Russell as Janet, Tate Clarke as Brad and Neil Squires as Frank N. Furter. Also highlighted are Roy Williams, Talina Boon, Marianne Maltby, Brian Heppelle and Merlin Williams.
Tickets are available at Birchwood Gallery.
