It’s a science fiction— whoa-ooh-ooh double feature— well… maybe just a singular two-act musical feature? It must be spooky season because Stand Up For… Theatre has got The Rocky Horror Show bouncing all over its stages! Directed by Ed Higgins with Musical Direction by William Zellhofer & Andy Kay Wojciehowski, and Choreography by Lilou Altman, this bawdy cult classic has all the iconic, recognizable numbers and some of your favorite Halloween characters to make your evening wild.
The backdrop of the DoodleHatch stage is the brainchild of Director Ed Higgins. With Set Construction provided by Patrick Rudai and all of the elaborate gothic castle panels painted by Higgins and his paint patrol— Justin Nepomuceno, Stephanie Smith, Latrell Mathewson, Amy Rudai— you can’t help but admire these massive, illustrated background scenery pieces. They even flip over to reveal garishly bright pink wall paneling for the scenes in the laboratory, which adds a little extra something to that line when Rocky says “I think of this room like a womb.” Properties Construction Team Johaness McNulty and Joe Rondinelli add some ‘out-of-this-world’ flare to the productions props, like the Sonic Transducer, amongst others.
The costume collaborative is truly out of this world. One might even call it extraterrestrial. Design Advisor Lee Anderson, along with Costumers Cathy Pritchard and Grant Myers, Costume Construction Team Sophia Gupman & Kristin Cooley, fabricate a bizarre and unique series of outfits that are somehow just perfect for this production. The rainbow-parachute-flare-cape that Frank N Furter enters wearing is an astonishing scream— it’s like Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat came to RuPaul’s Drag Race and it looks stunning. The same can be said for the outlandishly fabulous silver-purple-metallic-cape-cloak-thing featured on Frank in latter half of Act II. There are so many shades of wild and wondrous, particularly on The Phantom Corp during “The Time Warp” and of course all those matching red corsets for “Floor Show” are just smashing. And keep an eye on all the footwear— between the various matching-shades for “Floor Show” and Frank’s gem-a-la-la master heels— it’ll make you shiver with antici—
PATION.
There are some sound-balance issues, but playing in a space like DoodleHatch makes that a perpetual challenge for the entire production team. Leading the orchestra, William Zellhofer manages to keep the live pit (Tenor Sax- Dave Booth, Guitar- Dave Kistler, Bass- Kevin Jones, Drums- Winfield Clasing) moving at tempo and in time with the singing performers on stage. Vocal Director Andy Kay Wojciehowski encourages strong sounds from the ensemble during number like “Time Warp” and “Over at the Frankenstein Place” while Choreographer Lilou Altman ensures that everyone in the audience gets to enjoy a simple, textbook “Time Warp.” There’s also some hand-jive action happening with the Phantom Corp during “Eddie’s Teddy” which is cute touch.
Director Ed Higgins keeps things flowing smoothly and ensures that the company’s missions— inclusion and advancement of the LGBTQ+ community— is tucked readily into the workings of the production. You get LGBTQ flags in Phantom Core outfits, you even get rainbow-bow-lines coming down the back of Trixie’s old-fashioned stockings. Higgins attempts to stage the iconic “who’s in bed” scenes with Brad, Janet, and Frank, on the actual billion-foot bed that is one of the focal features of the DoodleHatch space. (It’s probably not a billion-feet, but it is a pretty huge bed, set right next to the audience seating area, complete with curtains and canopies.) The shadow-lighting play is off and what’s happening doesn’t quite read, though the intention of what Higgins was going for was a pretty brilliant idea, even if the execution wasn’t all it should have been. Lighting Designer Andrew Vida puts a lot of reds into play (especially during “Floor Show”) and provides pretty adequate and accurately styled illumination throughout the production.
The Phantom Corp (Alecha Angel, Christopher Pence, Latrell Mathewson, Mauryce Brumfield, Cellina Taormino, Mea Holloway) provide solid and strongly blended vocal backup for numbers like “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” and “Eddie’s Teddy.” You get to watch them existing beneath one of the stage walls like floating heads— a pretty cool effect. Standout performance is coming from Mauryce Brumfield, who is simping so hard over Frank that you can’t help but feel for the poor Phantom. (It’s such a brilliantly crafted character choice that you don’t even notice its dual purpose of ‘safety first’ when it comes to traversing the levels of the stage.) Brumfield also gets utilized during the setup pre “Floor Show” making an entire production of sashaying across the stage placing mannequins just so and the whole bit is hilarious. Latrell Mathewson deserves a shoutout as well, and not just because he goes and demolishes those mannequins in mere seconds (compared to the many minutes Brumfield spends setting them up) but because he sashays with confidence whenever he’s strutting around the stage.
Tossed aside in a chair, seated conveniently in front of a faux fireplace, Alex Clasing serves as the show’s Narrator. Giving us those little phrased tidbits that are oh-so-important for true Rocky Horror fans (as this is where a great many of the well-known, cultish callbacks come from), Clasing lends herself to the aloof nature of the character and delivers a surprisingly beautiful soprano sound when singing. It seems a shame that the Narrator character doesn’t have more of a singing role. Cellina Taormino, as Trixie the usherette who opens the production, showcases that brass, bold sound, unafraid to announce her presence as she saunters across the stage, wearing the most sparkly outfit in the production: it’s an usherette jumpsuit made entirely of fine red sequins. Her pipes do justice to “Science Fiction/Double Feature” at the beginning of the show and its reprise at the conclusion of the evening.
Brad! Janet! Rocky! Dr. Scott!? Or is it Dr. Von Scott? Six of one, half a dozen the other, you’ve got Mike Zellhofer hamming up the role with the outrageous German accent, which carries into the baritone-bass singing of “Eddie’s Teddy.” And Zellhofer isn’t afraid to show off his gams in fishnets for “Floor Show” either. Speaking of Eddie’s Teddy… Gage Wright tackles the Meatloaf-made role with vim and vigor. Crashing up onto the stage with a very classy ‘bike’ for “Hot Patootie— Bless My Soul”, Wright brings all the excitement for that one fleeting moment in the spotlight, before his party gets cooled way down and he falls to pieces inside an actual refrigerator!
Of course the whole thing gets underway in that milquetoast proposal number, “Dammit Janet”, featuring the show’s hapless— protagonists seems like such a foreign word for Rocky Horror, but we’re going with it— Brad Majors (Jake Schwartz) and Janet Weis (Tia Silver.) The number itself is gushy and gooey but sets the campy tone for the evening. Schwartz, in his boyish innocence, quite quickly sheds the ‘nerd aesthetic’ and delves right into the groove of whatever it is that’s actually happening in Frank’s castle. (Catch him dancing and bopping along to the “Time Warp” and really engaging with some cheeky little improved one-liners here and there; it finally gives the character of Brad a hint of a spine!) His singing voice is quite solid as well, doing fully supported sustains during “Once In A While” (even if that crappy number is crappy; it’s not Schwartz’ fault Richard O’Brien didn’t do a better job with Brad’s song.) And catch his hot-high-falsetto sound during “Floor Show” it’s a real pip! Silver, as the not-so-wise Janet Weis, plays the role as expected and her vocals are easy on the ears for “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me.”
Running circles all over the stage, around it, through the house, behind it, and pretty much everywhere but the parking lot, Rocky (DJ Wojciehowski) is certainly keeping active. Even though Wojciehowski only has the one true vocal solo in “The Sword of Damocles”, you get a great sampling of his powerful, impressive voice in that number. Played with that delightfully overt naivete of someone who literally just came to life but is also a fully functioning (in the physical sense) adult, Wojciehowski fits the bill for Rocky perfectly. His delayed-reaction gasps are hilariously to die for.
It’s never quite clear if Columbia is ‘of the household’ or one of his creations (there’s a line about her loving Frank like she might have been one of his creations, and yet she seems of her own autonomy, completely unlike Eddie and Rocky.) Either way, Marianne Sohn affects that nasally grating squeaky voice that we’ve all come to expect from Columbia and it reverberates through her verse in “Time Warp” and “Floor Show.” Her rainbow hair is the perfect touch for the quirky character. Riff Raff (Nikolai Skwarczek) and Magenta (Kristin Cooley) provide some serious driving action to progress the show along. Skwarczek has mastered the creepy notion of sounding just like Richard O’Brien in his cadence and patois, and he’s loaded with some psychotic edginess when the pair come to bust up the Floor Show near the end of the performance. Cooley is the triple threat of the pair, singing— well, belting her face off— dancing, and a whole hell of a lot of charisma. You get to hear Cooley’s powerhouse belts during “Time Warp” and when she shows up with Riff to ‘end the party’ as it were, post “Floor Show.” Carrying herself with a world of panache and pluck, Cooley is definitely out of this world, making everyone’s favorite color Magenta.
Filling the shoes of Tim Curry is absolutely impossible. So Bryan Brown doesn’t even try and successfully does his own fabulous thing, making Frank N Furter his own amazing beast. The level of confidence with which Brown struts through the audience, swishing that rainbow-parachute-cape with ease during his grandiose entrance to “Sweet Transvestite” you would just assume the show was all about him and everyone else was just there to make him look good. And then you take a look at his shoes and your jaw just drops because he moves so fluidly in them; it’s breathtaking. Sauce, sass, and a whole bunch of fierce is what Brown is bringing to the table, particularly when rocking out during “Sweet Transvestite.” You even get that beautiful tone to slow down and smooth its way through “I’m Going Home”, which is a striking contrast next to the nasty and biting “Planet Schmanet.” Bryan Brown lays down a phenomenal performance as Frank N Furter and makes the evening extremely memorable.
In just seven days— this show will be clo-ooh-ooh-ooh-osed. So don’t wait around to get your tickets; The Rocky Horror Show is a seasonal classic and definitely worth investigating this Halloween season with Stand Up For Theatre.
Running Time: Approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes with one intermission
The Rocky Horror Show plays through October 29, 2022 with Stand Up For…Theatre at DoodleHatch— 8775 Cloudleap Court in Columbia, MD. Tickets are available for purchase at the door or in advance online.
