Photo Flash: Bathurst Street Theatre's ROCKY HORROR SHOW

Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show takes a jump to the left and a step to the right into Toronto's historic Bathurst Street Theatre on July 26 for a five-day run that includes a special midnight show on July 29.It's been 22 years since Dr Frank N. Furter last threw a party on the Bathurst Street Theatre stage. The doctor is due to strut his way back into the historic theatre this July in a production of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show. The production features the Randolph Academy College Program's Class of 2011 under the direction of Thomas Morgan Jones (The Winter's Tale-Stratford Festival), with musical direction by Jeannie Wyse (The Sound of Music-Mirvish) and choreography by Kerry Gage (Triple Sensation, Camelot-Stratford Festival).

The Randolph Academy production is the first live performance of Rocky Horror on the Bathurst stage since 1989, when a Dora-nominated production directed by Ron Ulrich and featuring Gail Hakala took the stage. The theatre itself is no stranger to cult musicals, having featured productions of Evil Dead the Musical, Bat Boy, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch. The Annex neighborhood itself is often associated with the Rocky Horror phenom; steps away, the Bloor Cinema has a long-standing tradition of showing a shadowcast version of the film itself.

"There is a youthful passion and electricity in this play," says director Jones, "and the opportunity to explore and discover those elements with a cast of students on the verge of bursting into the world of professional theatre is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

He continues to say, "We will certainly be embracing all of the iconic elements of Rocky that make the show so powerful, while at the same time interpreting the production for a large cast. I think what will make this Rocky unique is the combination of the incredible artistic voices -- from performers, to designers, to creative team -- and the sheer magnitude of the cast size. It is an incredible and exciting show, and we aim to blow the roof off of the Bathurst Street Theatre while also embracing the complexity of the characters and the tragedies at the centre of the story."

Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Richard O'Brien
July 26 - 28, 30 at 8 p.m.; July 29 at 11:59 p.m.
Randolph Centre for the Arts-Bathurst Street Theatre
736 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Tickets: $22 - 416.872.1111 or www.ticketmaster.ca

Founded in 1992 by George C. Randolph Jr., the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts is a not-for-profit educational institution providing world-class performing arts training to young artists. Distinguished faculty and entertainment industry professionals shape Triple ThreatTM skills of dance, acting, and vocal in an accredited college program, youth show choir program, and children's recreational program. Faculty and alumni have appeared on Stratford, Shaw, Mirvish, Dancap, Broadway (New York) and West End (London) stages, as well as Hollywood (Los Angeles).

Photo Credit: Raph Nogal