It's that time of year again, so break out the fishnets, add some more eye shadow, grab some high heels and get ready to take that jump to the left! "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is coming to Ward 1 Saturday and Sunday night.
Androids Fighting Productions has been working harder than ever to make sure the sophomore performance of "Rocky Horror" is every bit as outrageous as the first. "We've been rehearsing for over a month," co-director Dana Langguth, a senior in the School of Communication, said. "It's really coming together."
It's true. Although many of the major cast members, including Dr. Frank-n-furter (Josh Hattem, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs), Rocky (Elliot Friedman, a freshman in SPA) and Columbia (Kiersten Batzli, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences) are brand new to the show, they seem to fit comfortably into the corsets of their predecessors.
Batzali even had specific motives for joining the cast. "Coming from Minnesota, the land of hot dishes, I've always been a fan of Meatloaf. This is my chance to live my dream!" she said.
Not all the cast members are new. Brad Majors (Christopher Patriquin, a junior in the School of International Service and contributing writer for The Eagle) and Janet Weiss (Mary Crom, a senior in SIS) are back to work off some tension as two lovebirds that stumble across a transvestite alien's science experiment after their car breaks down. "No one is a bigger asshole than Chris," said Crom. "Fortunately, I don't like men with too many muscles."
Patriquin has moved from a mere "Rocky" virgin (veteran fans use the term to describe those who have never seen the movie performed live) to the president of Androids Fighting. "I'm having fun, but I guess I'll never have that career in politics if these pictures get out," Patriquin said. "Well, at least not in New Hampshire. Maybe in Jersey, though."
Many cast members began as virgins and joined up when they fell in love with the flick after seeing it last year, after a group of seniors founded the club as their last hurrah at AU.
"I sat in the audience and wanted to be up there dancing," said Tamara Brown, a sophomore in CAS, this year's Trixie choreographer and another Eagle contributing writer. "I've been thinking about these songs since last spring. I wanted to prove we [trixies] could be sexy without necessarily taking all our clothes off. Sure, there's still a lot of skin, but there's also a lot more focus on the dancing than before," she said.
Another "Rocky"-specific phenomenon is known as "call-backs." When "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was originally released in 1975 it was universally panned and quickly left theaters. The Waverly Theatre, however, was convinced to give it one more run as a "midnight movie" for April Fools Day. Audiences raved about it, regulars came to see it every week and as the theater continued to show it audiences started to boo the villains and cheer the heroes.
Since then, call-backs have evolved into a complicated set of various yells timed to respond to things on the screen. Each theater develops its own set of call-backs. Some are region specific and new ones are added to correspond to current events. They can get very inappropriate, but that's the part of the fun.
"I have call-backs that include stuff about the Pope, abortion, Columbine and Terri Schiavo," Ben Mazur, a senior in CAS who plays Eddie, said. "It's nice to get a laugh, but it's even better if you can make the audience feel guilty about laughing."
Langguth said the crowd participation adds to the popularity of the show. "You come the first time because you hear people will be half-naked. You come the second time because you realize you can get half-naked," she said.
Androids Fighting hopes that "Rocky"'s appeal, whatever it may be, will help them make the show an AU tradition. And even though they graduated last year, most of the club's founders are returning for this weekend's performances.
"I am intensely proud that my greatest legacy at AU involves guys in high heels and fishnets," Justin Schneider, the first president of Androids Fighting, said.
"I even put Rocky on my resume," Ross Nover, an alum and the original AU Frank-n-furter said. "Any job that won't hire me because I did Rocky, I probably wouldn't want to work anyway"
