Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Shimmers at TUTS

When THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW debuted in the summer of 1973 in an upstairs space of The Royal Court Theatre in London, it was a daring, crazy, original stage musical. But now forty-three years later a cottage industry has grown around it like a gorgeous flowering weed nobody can stop. It is a midnight movie staple that still packs the River Oaks Theatre twice a month, and it has been a Broadway offering as well as a prime time musical this year on the Fox television network. Does this thing shock anybody anymore, and is the content still relevant or daring in the slightest? THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW gets produced by at least one company every year in Houston around this time. (PITCH ME THIS PRODUCTIONS' circus version from last year is still fresh in my mind.) Yet this ROCKY HORROR does have tons to offer, and results in shivers of ... well... antici.... PATION!

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If you don't know anything about the story you've managed incredible cultural ignorance of an iconic cult musical. Brad and Janet are high school sweethearts who have just gotten engaged after attending the wedding of two friends. They head off into the country, but their car breaks down during a heavy storm. The two find their way to a creepy castle to ask for a phone to get help. They end up interrupting a strange party where a mad scientist who happens to be a transvestite is unveiling his Frankenstein monster / sex toy to his followers. He's made a man with blonde hair and a tan! Before you can sing "Let's Do the Time Warp" Dr. Frank N. Furter has seduced the wholesome couple and unleashed their wild sides with unexpected consequences. Sexual liberation is celebrated, but all is not perfectly fine. Murder, mayhem, dance numbers, cross dressing, and underwear are all exposed.

Young rising director Mitchell Greco knows his camp and his cult. Heck! He directed XANADU and SHEAR MADNESS for Stages Repertory Theatre, and this is his first time to get to invade the Hobby Center stage. He has more room than ever, and he takes advantage of it. This is a sprawling gorgeously appointed set credited to Ryan McGettigan that recreates a crumbling theater around the actors. Colleen Grady's grungy glam costumes fit right in giving us ripped leggings, gold lame, and plenty of tulle. Oh yes and white underwear when needed. Stephen Jones gorgeously arranges the rock band to take on the dense 50s style tunes with aplomb but never bombast. This is a slick slice of B-grade sci fi!

The cast is phenomenal from lead to ensemble. Phantoms emerge pre-show dressed as movie theater ushers, and they stay until the final curtain writhing around in various states of frenzy and undress. Ragan Richardson, Michael Anthony Sylvester, Ashley Lee, Brittany Halen, and Andrew Carson all handle Kristen Warren's athletic routines and manage to make them look simple and sexy throughout. I am pretty sure contractually you can not do a TUTS show in their smaller space without Susan Koozin, and here she makes the most of her role as the oh so serious Narrator in Wonder Woman boots. Mason Butler makes a fine Rocky with a "hot groin and bicep" to go with his golden underwear and handsome singing voice. Adam Gibbs and Erin Wasmund turn in appropriately solid rock and roll versions of Riff Raff and Magenta / the Usherette. Ryan Patrick Smith does double duty as Eddie and Dr. Scott, and he handles both exceptionally well. He is a strong singer and his legs look great in neon hosiery.

There are parts that absolutely make or break ROCKY HORROR, and luckily this version has struck gold on its painfully happy romantic leads. Brad and Janet played by Scott Harrison and Connor Lyon are on point from the start as the perfect American couple, sweet as apple pie and cozy as quilts in sweater vests and petticoats. We believe their palpable fear as they are stripped to underclothes and seduced. Then they both make clumsy but realized turns in the climactic floorshow to newly minted libertines and it works. They are strong singers and actors who fully embody the perfect whitebread couple suddenly tainted by an erotic nightmare. The show hinges on their transformations, and both actors handle the material deftly.

The final piece of the puzzle or the elusive spark is Frank N. Furter, a thankless role that conjures up everlasting images of Tim Curry in a shimmering corset. You have to find somebody who can pay homage to satisfy the faithful yet do their own thing well enough to make the audience imagine a new type of temptation. Pierre Alexandre gives the obligatory nod to both Tim Curry and Laverne Cox, and then throws curve balls towards the audience to win them over from the first and last sweet transvestite they saw. His accent is mildly Southern Gothic with a hint of British sophisticate to indicate perhaps Frank is too well traveled to have a recognizable dialect. He looks to be eight feet tall in heels, and has a carved physique that suggests the mad doctor spends time in the lab AND the gym. He is by far the strongest singer and the most remarkable presence on the stage for the entire show. He dazzles, he preens, and he nails it.

What the cast and director are doing here is offering a solid, slick, and oh so faithful rendition of ROCKY HORROR. Director Mitchell Greco relies on the strength of the fortysomething year-old material, and lets his vision grow gorgeous images and sumptuous arrangements. He's treating this with tons of respect, but it's still fun and frothy. Audiences should eat this one up! The cast is inspired, and there's not a lackluster performance to be found. The only thing I longed for is reinvention, but I will settle for solid realization that freakiness never goes out of style.

Correction: November 11, 2016
An earlier version of this article misidentified THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW as a TUTS Underground production. Theatre Under The Stars originally announced THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW as part of the TUTS Underground season, but has since transformed the theater series and enfolded the musical into the larger season.

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THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, presented by TUTS, in the Hobby Center through November 20th. Tickets can be purchased through their website at tuts.com.

Patrons should pay close attention to start times as some shows start early while others are late night presentations.

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