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Stage West Community Playhouse had great success with the Rocky Horror Show a year ago so the cross-dressing musical is back, with a new cast and choreography.
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2002
SPRING HILL -- After a surprisingly successful run of the cult musical the Rocky Horror Show last summer, Stage West Community Playhouse has decided to do the "Time Warp" again.
Though it has several new cast members and greatly expanded choreography, director Jan Lavin said the show has remained largely as it was last year.
"That's the fun of this show," said Lavin, who also serves as president of Stage West. "There is just so much you can do with it."
A new actor in this year's cast is 19-year-old Billy Doran, who plays Dr. Frank N. Furter, a scientist in the existential throes of creating Rocky, his ultimate vision of male sexuality.
"Billy never picked up a pair of high heels until he was given this part," Lavin said. "We've had to transform him, teaching him all those feminine mannerisms that Frank N. Furter has. He's been a very good sport."
A graduate of Springstead High School, Doran said the part of the alien from the distant planet of Transsexual in the remote galaxy of Transylvania is a departure from his other roles, which have included Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol.
"Up until now, that was the most makeup I had ever worn," said Doran, who hits 7 feet once he dons a pair of 6-inch platform heels. "And that was dead makeup, not women's makeup."
Because of his striking appearance and boyish good looks, Lavin said Doran will be a big departure from last year's Sweet Transvestite, played by professional female impersonator Dane Etchings
"He's got some big shoes to fill, literally and figuratively," Lavin said with a laugh. "But both of these actors are terrific, and each brings something different to the role."
The Rocky Horror Show premiered on the London stage in 1973 and spawned the cult classic movie, the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, two years later. Last year, the stage show enjoyed a resurgence in popularity following the Broadway revival production.
"This show has survived the test of time," Lavin Said. "It truly deserves to be called a classic."
Rocky Horror is the musical story of a young couple who stumble upon a castle (the Frankenstein place) full of extraterrestrial cross-dressers and a mad scientist bent on creating the perfect man.
But the show's plot takes a distant back seat to its outlandish characters and catchy music. Because of the show's overt sexuality and marginal violence, Lavin said the show is for adult audiences.
A six-piece band, led by Hernando Symphony Orchestra conductor Wayne Raymond, will provide music for the romp.
Jenni Fondulas also joins the cast as Columbia, a Frank N. Furter groupie known for tap dancing and a squeaky voice. Though Rocky Horror marks her Stage West debut, the 18-year-old Fondulas has been in high school productions at Springstead, from which she graduated last year.
"This is going to be completely different from anything I've ever done," said Fondulas, who played Aunt Eller in a Springstead production of Oklahoma! "I'm going from an old woman to a tap dancing groupie. It's very weird."
Lavin hopes that audience members get into the spirit of the show and encourages them to come dressed in costumes, a tradition at Rocky Horror shows.
A summer special at Stage West, The Rocky Horror Show, will be July 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 and 28 at Stage West Community Playhouse, 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill. Shows are at midnight Fridays, 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $16. The theater's box office is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and one hour before each show. Call (352) 683-5113.