[NEohioPAL]Berko review: ROCKY HORROR SHOW (CPT)

Sat Dec 9 11:51:42 PST 2006

I saw rocky on Friday night and I thought the whole thing worked. I think 
maybe you saw a bad show, case I could hear and understand everyone 
perfectly. I was kinda taken aback with some of the gender switches…..some 
of them worked, like the narrator. I thought Amy Bistok was really good.  As 
good as frank-n-furter and rocky were, I personally would have preferred 
males in those 2 roles. But Alison Garrigan and Amy Pawlukiewicz did a fine 
job. Now for me,. I am madly in love with the girl that played Janet. She 
was beautiful and a wonderful singer to boot. Almost to good for this play. 
Liz Conway, you now own my heart and soul. I also can’t forget Andrew 
Marikis as brad, he was just fantastic. The only downside for me was my 
favorite song being destroyed by Monique MacGregor as Eddie…..just plain 
awful.

It just seems to me that your not a fan of the whole rocky horror thing….now 
I have seen the film well over 100 times so I could follow this play with no 
problem. If you don’t; know the film at all, your going to be way lost in 
this play. You need to know the source material in order to really follow 
along with this production.

And for the record, I stayed for the whole show and the show was 80% 
filled…..and everyone seemed to love it. I hope to see it again before it’s 
done.

I recommend any rocky fan to check out this fun play!

Roger Priebe
Dracko Productions.

>From: Roy Berko <royberko at yahoo.com>
>To: NEOhioPerformingArts <neohiopal at lists.fredsternfeld.com>
>Subject: [NEohioPAL]Berko review:  ROCKY HORROR SHOW (CPT)
>Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 08:19:34 -0800 (PST)
>
>‘ROCKY HORROR’ very rocky at CPT
>
>Roy Berko
>
>(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Dance
>Critics Association)
>
>--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
>
>Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
>Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times
>
>In 1973, while on a trip to England, I saw the ‘ROCKY
>HORROR SHOW’ during its first week of production.  It
>was a wild and wonderful experience.  The creativity,
>vitality, and breaking down traditional theatre walls
>(literally and figuratively) are forever etched in my
>brain.
>
>Many are surprised to know that the Richard O’Brien
>script began as a play, not as a film.   O’Brien had a
>life-long passion for schlocky horror movies.  He also
>had a flare for writing.  While appearing in a
>production of ‘JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR’ in London, he
>produced a 3-chord rock musical entitled ‘THEY CAME
>FROM DENTON HIGH’ in a small space above the theatre
>where Superstar was playing.  Redubbed ‘THE ROCKY
>HORROR SHOW,’ the play is based on a combination of
>grade B Horror movies, Steve Reeve’s muscle flicks and
>fifties rock 'n' roll.  It starred Tim Curry, who had
>appeared with O’Brien in a production of ‘HAIR,’ as
>Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a kinky scientist who creates
>"Rocky Horror", his personal Adonis.
>
>The play, which opened as a six-week workshop project,
>got fantastic reviews and packed houses.   It was
>named Best Musical of 1973 in the London Evening
>Standard's annual poll of drama critics.
>
>But, all was not success.  A Broadway version of the
>play flopped, running only forty five performances.  A
>film, which had been made shortly before the New York
>opening, also bombed except in New York and LA.
>
>But all was not lost.  A marketing director came up
>with the idea of running it as a midnight movie.  The
>film was reformatted, became a cult hit complete with
>audience members showing up dressed like the film’s
>characters and making sound effects and yelling out
>lines and doing the film’s famous “Time Warp” dance as
>the movie rolled.  The rest, including a 2000 Broadway
>revival, is cult history.
>
>Cleveland Public Theatre has decided to take on this
>cult-rock musical.  Based on its past history of
>staging edgy shows such as ‘HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY
>ITCH,’ ‘VARLA JEAN,’ and ‘CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND
>JUDY,’ it would seem CPT would be the logical place
>for the staging.
>
>Unfortunately, their production is off the mark.
>Though it seems like a romp, this is not an easy
>script to stage.  The characters must be clearly
>etched and done with exaggerated realism.  There has
>to be a total over-the-top staging within a well
>thought-out concept.
>
>The production has lots of gimmicks, many of which are
>misguided (e.g., the gross yelling out by the band and
>others off stage which, I assume, were intended to be
>clever, but did little but distract from the on-stage
>action.)  The performances go from good to bad.  The
>poor sound system and the size of the venue makes for
>difficult hearing and echos that mute the lyrics and
>spoken dialogue.   But, mainly, the production lacks
>focus.
>
>Scott Plate is one of the area’s best actors and his
>previous directing forays were excellent.  In spite of
>his fine director’s comments in the program, he seemed
>overwhelmed with this script.  He made several
>questionable decisions, including deciding to gender
>bend the casting.  This technique often works.  For
>example, CPT’s ‘M4M’ did it with great success.  In
>this case, however, it didn’t work and seemed like a
>gimmick for gimmick’s sake.  Sometimes the gender
>references in songs made for confusion when applied to
>the “wrong” sex such as having Rocky, the supposedly
>perfectly formed male specimen played by a woman.  In
>other cases, the result was blatantly homoerotic which
>rather than enhancing the decadence of the already
>decadent piece, seemed forced.
>
>Andrew Marikis and Liz Conway were excellent as the
>naive, nerdy Brad and Janet.  They both sing well and
>could be understood, a quality not present with some
>of the other cast members.  Alison Garigan, who seems
>to have been born with an edge, didn’t reek with her
>usual sexuality.  If anything, she was too restrained.
>
>
>Carlos Antonio Cruz and James Ronald Jones II as
>Magenta and Riff Raff, were almost unintelligible.
>Very few of their lines or lyrics could be understood.
>  Amy Bistok’s Narrator lacked character.  She often
>sounded like she was reading blandly from a phone
>book.  Amy Pawlukiewicz didn’t have the necessary
>physical presence needed for the role of Rocky.  On
>the other hand, Elizabeth Wood was Shirley Temple
>adorable as Columbia.
>
>The highlight of the production was The Phantoms, Brad
>Wyner’s rock group.  I wish that these talented guys
>had just played a concert of the show’s score.  That
>would have been worth sitting through in the very
>cold, cavernous, near-empty theatre.
>
>CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  In my long history of theatre
>commentary, I have never walked out of a show that I
>have reviewed before it was over.    I left the CPT
>production of ‘THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW’ at intermission.
>  ‘Nuff said.
>
>‘THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW’ runs through December 23 at
>CPT’. For tickets call 216 631-2727.
>
>
>
>Roy Berko's theatre blog, which includes his reviews of plays and dance 
>programs from 2003 through 2006, can be found at 
>http://royberkinfo.blogspot.com
>       Information regarding his consulting and publications and older 
>theatre and dance reviews can be found at www.royberko.info.
>       Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an 
>on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, 
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>
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