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  Home Page » A&E » Lets Do The Time Warp Again

Let's do The Time Warp again

Rocky Horror Show to play at Strater

by Ted Holteen
Arts & Entertainment Editor

Sophie Parrott hopes “The Rocky Horror Show” will become an annual Halloween tradition on the Henry Strater Theatre stage. She’s off to a good start – after this week, she’ll be 2-for-2.

“It’s simple, pure, outrageous, stupid fun where anything goes,” said Parrott, the manager at the theater. She’s bringing the stage version of the cult film classic back after four sold-out shows last year.

The stage version isn’t much different than the film, story-wise. In fact, the show began as a British stage production in 1973 before it was made into a movie two years later.

The show we get is an all-local affair, not a touring company, and while it is a bit much to ask for anyone to duplicate Tim Curry’s turn as Dr. Frank N. Furter, Chad Riddles does the role proud himself and brings the spirit and energy required to carry the show along.

Several other cast members, including Alyse Marie Neubert (Janet), Natalie Benally (Columbia), Rodney Golberg (Riff-Raff) and narrator Geoff Johnson, were part of last year’s Durango debut, and that experience is invaluable doing a show as recognizable as “Rocky.” Audience members have high expectations, after all.

And as much as the convoluted story, “Rocky Horror” is about the audience, be it on stage or on screen. Parrott and her cohorts, director Jenny Fitts-Reynolds and musical director Helen Gregory, have taken some creative license with the original script and even some of the unwritten traditions of the spectacle. Performers will pop up unexpectedly in the audience’s “safe zone,” which for Parrot is an invaluable way to keep theatergoers involved.

“I like making people turn and look around them – I hate it when they just sit there and stare at the stage,” she said.

In an only-in-Durango kind of way, the local show also features pole dancing by Eve Pressler and Patti Carlile.

Parrott also is following the trend of theater owners and managers nationwide who have chosen to curtail, but not eliminate, some of the viewing traditions that have wreaked havoc on movie theaters and auditoriums over the years. Staffers will hand out goodie bags with safe alternatives to the water pistols and messy noisemakers that have become synonymous with Rocky screenings, and more recently, stage productions. Bubbles will replace the water shower during the storm scene, and glow sticks will replace flashlights during “Over at the Frankenstein Place.”

There’s no suitable replacement for the “Great Scott” toilet papering or the final confetti shower, and the goodie bags will include both items. That’s one concession Parrott wasn’t willing to make, even though it means extra work for her and the crew.

“It takes about a week to clean up, and we’re still finding confetti from last year,” she said.

ted@durangoherald.com