The Rocky Horror Show
Nov. 16th, 2005 07:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidNo, not the movie (see the lack of "Picture"). A week and a half ago (I'm so behind...) I went to the Loeb Ex production of The Rocky Horror Show (Richard O'Brien), which I've seen numerous times in its movie incarnation, and once on stage (in London, years and years ago).
This was unsurprisingly not up to the standard of professional London theater. But for an undergraduate production, it was pretty good. The all-guy band was onstage the whole time, dressed to fit into a cross-dressing show (the lead guitarist wearing a letter jacket, a tulle skirt, and butterfly wings; someone else wearing a cowboy hat and leather undergarments; and so on), and the music was good, though not always balanced well with the vocalists, unfortunately. The mikes weren't always turned on in time, or sometimes they didn't work, or something. And some of them were annoyingly obvious, too (Brad looked like he had a huge bandage on, for instance). I already knew the music (including "Sword of Damocles", which isn't in the movie, but is on the record), but it was hard for those who didn't. (And a side note: I've been intermittently earwormed by Rocky music since then, too.)
There were a lot of differences compared to the movie in the show, but the biggest one was the lack of official audience participation. There were a couple of people who dressed up, and some who sang along quietly, but there were no props, and no shouted lines (though I might not have heard them anyway during the music pieces).
Other differences that stood out: Riff Raff not being nearly as creepy; Frank having the attitude and the outfit, but the inability to strut well in high platform boots (the boots themselves were quite impressive); Rocky being given a couple of smart-ass responses, rather than being wholly dumb; No-neck having a great, warm, deep, voice-over sort of voice, but with a neck; neither Magenta nor Columbia being outfitted as I would've expected (they had fairly similar costumes); the extras being called "Phantoms" rather than "Transylvanians" as I would have expected (and no party hats or dark glasses). Oh, and the driving in the rain was done in a teeny toy car, while the walk to the castle included being wheeled behind a huge rubber ducky, with water being spritzed over the ineffective newspapers.
I enjoyed it. I might want to go to the movie again, too.
This was unsurprisingly not up to the standard of professional London theater. But for an undergraduate production, it was pretty good. The all-guy band was onstage the whole time, dressed to fit into a cross-dressing show (the lead guitarist wearing a letter jacket, a tulle skirt, and butterfly wings; someone else wearing a cowboy hat and leather undergarments; and so on), and the music was good, though not always balanced well with the vocalists, unfortunately. The mikes weren't always turned on in time, or sometimes they didn't work, or something. And some of them were annoyingly obvious, too (Brad looked like he had a huge bandage on, for instance). I already knew the music (including "Sword of Damocles", which isn't in the movie, but is on the record), but it was hard for those who didn't. (And a side note: I've been intermittently earwormed by Rocky music since then, too.)
There were a lot of differences compared to the movie in the show, but the biggest one was the lack of official audience participation. There were a couple of people who dressed up, and some who sang along quietly, but there were no props, and no shouted lines (though I might not have heard them anyway during the music pieces).
Other differences that stood out: Riff Raff not being nearly as creepy; Frank having the attitude and the outfit, but the inability to strut well in high platform boots (the boots themselves were quite impressive); Rocky being given a couple of smart-ass responses, rather than being wholly dumb; No-neck having a great, warm, deep, voice-over sort of voice, but with a neck; neither Magenta nor Columbia being outfitted as I would've expected (they had fairly similar costumes); the extras being called "Phantoms" rather than "Transylvanians" as I would have expected (and no party hats or dark glasses). Oh, and the driving in the rain was done in a teeny toy car, while the walk to the castle included being wheeled behind a huge rubber ducky, with water being spritzed over the ineffective newspapers.
I enjoyed it. I might want to go to the movie again, too.
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"Sword of Damocles"
Date: 2005-11-16 04:33 pm (UTC)I'd love to see the show.
(I found your journal via Gothtique)
Re: "Sword of Damocles"
Date: 2005-11-16 04:54 pm (UTC)*blush*
(My out-of-dateness is showing.)
Alas, for it was a two-week run only, and I saw it on the last night. If you're local to Cambridge, it's worth checking out what's playing at the Loeb Ex put on by the HRDC (Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club) (the current picture at the link is from the show, btw), since the vast majority of plays there are free if you get to the box office early enough (four ticket maximum).
And hi :-)