Did anyone see the 2000-02 revival of "The Rocky Horror Show"

[quizking101]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:20pm

I am a HUGE fan of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and I listened to the soundtrack of the 2000 Broadway revival and loved it...

I was only 6 when this was on Broadway (so this wasn't the best fare for me)...but I am curious, was it as good or as interactive as the movie??

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 9:00pm

I did a search and I came up with this.

[j.garcia]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 10:34pm

Updated On: 1/11/10 at 10:34 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:19am

Sebastian La Cause played Rocky, as photographed here by Joe Oppedisano.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:29am

Yes, several people saw it.

I Loved it, great cast set, and costume design.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 1:20am

I thought the interactivity undercut the whole thing. The production didn't seem to figure out how to incorporate the interruptions; the actors just withstood them, like nerds pretending they're in on being insulted, so the production seemed battered rather than buoyed by the audience. Dick Cavett seemed to despise the audience for interjecting and treated them with covert hostility.
The production though was beautiful and most of the cast was wonderful - particularly Esparza and Emick. Hewitt was game but not a star where one was needed. Ripley was a bit too intense. Joan Jett and Daphne Ruben-Vega were great ideas that didn't seem to work. And Rockwell's set rocked.
A wonderful near-miss like Taboo.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 9:44am

I'm pretty sure Cavett's "covert hostility" is all part of the act, as are the pauses for the interactions- most, if not all, "interactive" narrators use exactly the same gimmick of being impatient and slightly disgusted with their audience, and gradually increasing the put-downs and bon mots thrown back at them.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 11:07am

The thing is, to a large degree, the things being shouted by the "audience" were being shouted by the house staff. I remember a really funny line after "And what further dignities would Brad and Janet be made to suffer?" the faux-audience members shouted "Watching The Dick Cavett Show!" and he flipped the audience off. But he had already told us as he warmed up the show at the beginning he said the audience would get to see him flip the bird. It was their way of telling the audience that nothing was real about life in Frank's castle.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:15pm

The usual lines about the "further indignities" vary from place to place. The Rocky I do yearly frequently gets either "Anal sex with an elephant!" or "High School Musical marathon!"

[once a month]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 2:49pm

I had a great time at Rocky and saw the original cast twice. Loved how Brad and Janet walked out of the film onto the set. Alice ended her Touch Me number topless and the entire theatre was decorated as if designed by Cirque du Soleil...which it was! The ablibs were the same at most every performance, at least they were both times I saw it as well as on the few nonexisting b.l.'s floating around. The only aspect leaving me cold was Dick Cavett.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 3:09pm

I saw it three times and loved it. Twice with most of the original cast and once with the Rocky Returns cast (Terrence Mann and Sebastian Bach as Frank and Riff Raff, respectively). I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a lot of fun and the audience interaction was different every time I went. I remember when Terrence Mann played Frank 'n Furter and he was in bed with Brad, someone shouted "That's illegal in New Jersey!" to which Terrence Mann replied, "Well we're not in f*ckin' New Jersey, are we?!" It got a standing ovation. I also recall seeing it once with Ana Gasteyer as Columbia and she went on a 5 minute rant about hamster cages which very well may have been the funniest thing I have ever heard.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 1/14/10 at 3:05pm

I saw it twice, early on with the original cast, then later. Of the original cast, I thought Hewitt was magnificent as Frank, and Joan Jett was just awful. Later, after Cavett left, they rotated guest narrators. (I saw some MTV guy, forgot his name.) Bach was actually pretty good.

It was all sort of fun, but as others have said, the audience participation was sort of lifeless and predictable. The set design was interesting....since it was at Circle in the Square, it was on a 3/4 thrust mostly, with audience all around. There were a couple of jaw-dropping stage effects in the first 20 minutes.

I've frankly seen regional productions that had more edge and charm. (Best was Wooley Mammoth theatre in DC ca. 1990. Wow. ) But it wasn't bad. I dunno...there just seemed to be something missing that I can't put my finger on.