“Let’s do the Time Warp agaaaaain!” I had the pleasure of attending opening night for the Toto Too production of The Rocky Horror Show, based on the famous cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. The timely, Halloween inspired release is a perfect way to celebrate the spooky season. Although not entirely a “horror” show, it’s known for its ties to Halloween activities and remains a tradition for many.
It has been a while since I’ve had a theatrical review, but this theatre season promises to be a good one around Ottawa, and has started off strong. The Rocky Horror Show is playing at the Gladstone Theatre, which is one of my favourite venues in the city. The theatre always has exceptionally friendly staff, a great variety of well-priced drinks and a genuine old-time theatre atmosphere. The theatre itself boasts excellent technical qualities with the sound and lights, a good sized, and versatile stage, and old-fashioned seating for about 350 people. The only downfall, as I’ve mentioned before is the lack of parking, and the lobby is pretty small for mingling before the show and during intermission.
This show was a first for me in that I had never witnessed such a die-hard following in an audience before. Banter, jeers, and call-outs were encouraged and frequent. Driven by the film, there were specific shout-outs throughout the movie when certain characters were named. Heckling and perfectly timed sexual innuendo comments were spouted by audience members throughout the show. It was hilarious and built the perfect atmosphere. Many audience members were dressed in costumes, some just as elaborate as the characters themselves. To add to the already suggestive theme of the production, frankfurter sausages were being served in the lobby to celebrate the lead character, Frank-N-Furter. (This may have just been an opening night feature though – I’m not sure)
The Show
I will confess, I have never watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show film. I recall an attempt when I was younger (probably too young at the time) and I just didn’t get it. I understand why now, even the end of the story still confuses me, but I think that’s part of the draw. The story is about a young couple, Brad Majors “asshole” and Janet Weiss “slut” played by Taylor McSheffrey and Katie Irvine respectively, whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. In search of a phone to call for help, they stumble upon a castle where, after entering, their night takes a very unexpected and unusual turn.
Once inside the castle, they are introduced to the sexually enigmatic, Frank-N-Furter, played by Jarrett Stoll. Frank-N-Furter with the aid of his servant cult members have developed a perfect man play toy. Hilarity ensues as the characters interact with each other and the seemingly prim and proper Brad “asshole” and Janet “slut” find themselves immersed in a sexually driven environment surrounded by scantily clad individuals celebrating the creation of “Rocky,” the perfect man. Rocky, played by Hayden Chesser develops his own agenda while prancing around the stage in nearly no clothes.
Standout Performances
As with my previous reviews, I like to offer a little shout out to performers, or aspects of the performance that seemed to go above and beyond to make the show a success. My first standout performance is Ian McLeod, who played Riff Raff. Even though this character was written with a limp and was therefore limited in typical choreographed movement, McLeod always demonstrated a noticeable stage presence and portrayed his role perfectly. His facial expressions and subtle movements were excellent! Towards the end of the show, his character changed (no spoilers) and he pulled off a seamless transition showing how versatile his performing abilities truly are! it was completely unexpected and perfectly orchestrated. Excellent performance!!
Next up is the character of Columbia, played by Vivian Burns. I first noticed Burns when she had a short tap routine at the beginning of the show, but her character developed so well, and she wowed me with her entire performance. There was one scene that was hilarious when she gets “sprayed (?)” and effectively drugged to a point where she loses her mind – SO FUNNY!! Other than that, there really isn’t one specific thing to point out, just an overall ownership of the role that really added to the entire show.
My third standout is the costume design team lead by Hannah Gorham-Smith. The costumes were absolutely perfect! The whole team did an amazing job finding the perfect balance between sexy/skimpy costumes, but not quite pornographic. That must have been an enormous challenge given the theme of this show.
Other deserving shout outs include the incredible performance by Jarrett Stoll as Frank-N-Furter. As the lead character, he was the glue that held the performance together, and played the role perfectly. Lastly, the performance by Jacob Atkinson as the Narrator really made this show for me. He was hilarious, and didn’t miss a beat when responding to the heckling from the crowd yelling “boooring” and “hurry up” during his monologues.
There are so many others who were instrumental in creating such an incredible performance. The stage set up was one of the most elaborate stages I’ve seen at the Gladstone. The band, located in plain view on the highest level of the tiered stage was excellent. The sound and light design was excellent. And lastly a huge shout out and kudos to the director, Stafania Wheelhouse, for putting this all together!
In general, the show is about an hour and a half (plus intermission) of continuous sexually charged content but doesn’t quite cross the line of inappropriate/too explicit behaviour. To make this possible, I noticed that this show has a role that I’ve never seen in community theatre; Lisa Dunn was the production’s “intimacy coordinator”. I’m not exactly sure what the requirements are to get that role, or what the specific duties entail, but whatever it is, she has done it exceptionally well. Given the mature theme, I was very surprised to see children in the audience who are certain to have some interesting questions for their parents after this show.
It truly was an entertaining night. The time flew by and as per usual, Toto Too has given us an incredible show! I absolutely love this theatre company. I last saw Sponge Bob the Musical by Toto Too and it remains my favourite community theatre production yet. I’m not sure how many tickets are still available for The Rocky Horror Show, but if there are any, “it’s just a jump to the left” to get them fast as it will certainly sell out!! Shows run from October 23 – November 1st at the Gladstone Theatre.
