Review of Mountain Theatre Company’s Rocky Horror Show

Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: Whats News

Just in time for the Halloween Season of dress-up and shivery sensations, Mountain Theatre Company undrapes a revival of The Rocky Horror Show. 

This exuberant paean to the Hammer horrors and sci-fi schlock two-reelers of the ‘50s is also a full-throated rock-n-roll celebration of gender fluidity and sexual abandon. If that freights it with too much heavy lifting, let’s just say it’s simply heaps of riotous and ridiculous fun.

This deliciously campy, sexy, and infectious show directed by Matthew McGee and choreographed by Scott Daniel is simple and drenched in affection for those zany swing-for-the-fences monster movies – outlined at the start by a Greek chorus of alternate-universe Ushers (Hunter Emmett Burke, Liz Davis, Louis Hansen, and Morgan Milone) in “Science Fiction,” (you know, the Big Red Lips opener in The Rocky Horror Picture Show). See if you can recall all the references as they preview the thrills during a seductive stroll through the audience. 

The plot is directly out of a George Pal pitch meeting from 1954: During a thunderstorm, strait-laced Brad and Janet (John Mezzina Hannigan – brilliant as Bob Gaudio in MTC’s summer production of Jersey Boys – and Alyson Snyder, returning to the Highlands PAC stage after Brklyn: The Musical and, of course, as Elf #2 in Home for the Holidays) and are on their way to visit Dr. Everett Scott, Brad’s former science teacher, when their car gets a flat. The essential goofiness of Brad and Janet is celebrated through the exuberant deliveries of Hannigan and Snyder, and both have their showstopping moments – Hannigan with his astonishing vocal performance on “Super Heroes” and Snyder with her clever reprocessing of the standard B-movie damsel in distress with Judy Holliday timing and Snow White forthrightness – which makes her capitulation to Frank N’ Furter’s serpent’s seduction all the more hilarious (case in point – “Touch-a Touch Me.”

They decide to walk through the rain to the castle they spotted (natch!) where they hope to use the phone. During their soggy slog, they’re mirrored by audience members who don newspaper rain bonnets.  

When Brad and Janet reach the mysterious castle, well, that’s when things get weird, really weird. They’re welcomed by the deliriously creepy and unabashedly lecherous Riff Raff (Brandon Leporati, bringing the same manic energy and comic timing that he brandished in MTC’s Rock of Ages and Jersey Boys), the major domo of the place; and a pair of spooky sirens, the proudly punkish Magenta (Abby Menocal – oh, the range on this woman!)  and the soulful Colombia (Rachel Lou Redding, who was electrifying as Lorraine in MTC’s Jersey Boys and a flouncy sparkplug as Groupie in Rock of Ages – that’s right, her presence was so memorable that she simply stole her scenes in a part as anodyne as “Groupie”), whose raucous persona is somehow tinged with poignancy in this performance.

I employed the word “flouncy” to describe Ms. Redding, but let’s find a word that’s about 37 degrees above “flouncy” for the arrival of the Master of the House, the transvestite alien scientist whose gender isn’t simply fluid, it’s downright oleaginous – The estimable Dr. Frank N’ Furter (Connor Barr). Tricked out in fishnets, platform heels and leather corset, forget “flounce,” this “guy” is a force of nature. With a truly astonishing vocal range and a take-no-prisoner presence that would have shamed Bettie Davis, Barr is the embodiment of Diva at Her Most Unhinged, patented by Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. 

Every moment that Dr. Frank N’ Furter is on stage, the audience is galvanized by his manic energy, and when he exits, he leaves everyone shivering with antici……..pation. 

Unfortunately for our vanilla pudding couple, they’ve arrived at the castle on the very night when the Good Doctor completes his plan for the construction of the Ideal Man, the titular Rocky (Chris Carranza, sweet and charming and absolutely winning with his gleaming smile and gold body-builder’s shorts). 

Along the way, we’ll meet Eddie (Canter Irene O’May, somehow out-Meat-Loafing Meat Loaf, topped with the outrageous brassiness of Divine at her most unmoored) and Dr. Scott (O’May once more, this time resurrecting Dr. Strangelove crossed with a psychotic Rosalind Russell). Both performances are just as nutty and exuberant as you’d expect, and both would give Aunt Mabel the vapors. 

The set design by Tom Hansen is an updated homage to the shadowed castles and labs of those old Universal monster movies. An ingenious use of HD video screens allows the audience to witness the fall from grace of Brad and Janet at the hands (and mouth and assorted other body parts) of Frank N’ Furter in all its delirious squickiness.

Costume Designer Beck Jones, amps up the Outrageous to 11 with his eye-popping post-punk/glam rock wardrobe, balanced against the white-bread skivvies that Brad and Janet wear for much of the show. 

And credit must go to Daniel for the brisk Busbee-Berkley-on-Acid-Trip choreography that ascends and descends on multiple levels and weaves through the audience on more than one occasion. 

(A note to audience members, who are encouraged to participate with callouts and tossed knick-knacks – you’ll be tempted to jump from your seat and join in the gyrations, and when everyone is invited to “do the Time Warp,” it’s an invitation that’s impossible to resist.)

The Rocky Horror Show is presented at Highlands Performing Arts Center and runs through October 28. For reservations, visit mountaintheatre.com