A sweet, naughty musical: Buzzard Play Productions presents Rocky Horror

Oct 26, 2013

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a rollicking commentary on sexuality, wrapped in a parody of cheesy science-fiction movies that, due to a fervent cult following, has been performed countless times over the years.

Buzzards Play Productions took on the show, and had the audience literally dancing in the aisles.

Audience participation is a big part of the production, and the audience is given flashlights, squirt bottles (to make it rain), and toilet paper to toss in the air.

Director Corinne Cameron describes herself as a conservative Christian, but she's not uncomfortable with the risqué costumes, themes, and songs.

"The original writer of the play, he wrote it as a spoof of science-fiction movies," she said.

Noting that the play premiered in the early 1970s, she says at that time it was slightly more palatable for an audience to listen to a man named Dr. Frank-N-Furter  in patent leather pumps and a garter sing about being a "sweet transvestite" if that character is from another planet.

Times have changed, but Rocky Horror has remained gloriously strange.

Cameron didn't even know she'd be directing until she got there.

"They called me and said 'do you want to help with Rocky Horror?'" She recalled. "I didn't know 'help' meant direct."

Her husband, Robert Minshall, plays Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

"It's a very challenging part to play. [Frank-N-Furter] has a little bit of complexity to him. He is amoral, but that's just the way he is," said Minshall. "It's not like he's so much of an exhibitionist. It's just his thing."

Other challenges included learning to not only walk, but dance, in 5½ inch platform heels. Minshall is well over six feet tall without the heels, and with them he's nearly seven feet tall.

"The heels took a little getting used to, but now I don't even notice they're on," he says.

Minshall also had to be comfortable being nearly naked on stage and, judging by the way he strutted around, he was unfazed.

Cameron emphasized the importance of the music in the show, noting that while everybody remembers, and during the show gets down to, the "Time Warp," there's plenty of other catchy music.

Cameron says that, for all the eccentric fun of the show, it was the music that drew her to it: "The music is beautiful, there's some beautiful ballads."

Samantha McMahon plays Magenta, and opens the show with the song "Science Fiction Double Feature."

"I've always wanted to play Magenta," she says. "Part of it is that she had a deep raspy voice like I did [as a kid]. She was kind of fun and mysterious."

The entire cast looks like they're having a great time performing, and they get the audience dancing and cheering with their sheer enthusiasm.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show will run through November 2, with a number of midnight showings. Click here for a full list of show times. Never seen the show? Click here for the Virgin's Survival Guide to Rocky Horror!