Rocky Horror Picture Show, an undoubtedly iconic cult classic from the 1970s, was performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center on October 6 to celebrate the movie’s 49th anniversary.
The show was performed by a shadow cast, a group of actors who devote their time and energy to perform Rocky Horror out of their love for the show. According to shadow cast leader and the actress who plays Magenta in the show, Amanda Levine, the actors have become a “family,” bonded by their love for Rocky Horror.
“My favorite part of it is being able to bounce off my cast members, and knowing that if I didn’t get my spot right, I’d have someone kind of push me where I needed to be,” Levine said.
The shadow actors do not get paid. They participate for the opportunity to meet the original actors and actresses from Rocky Horror and “for the love of being in front of 1,500 to 2,000 people.” According to her, the energy from the crowd is “payment enough.”
In order for the show to be funded without the actors paying out of pocket, they make gift bags. They were sold at the venue for $10 each and have things like glow sticks, stickers and props from the movie that people can use to act out scenes along with the cast.
Patricia Quinn, who played Magenta (Frank-N-Furter’s servant and Riff Raff’s sister/lover who wears a black dress and white apron) in the original film, met the cast and spoke to the audience before the show. Levine plays Magenta full time and had an unforgettable time meeting Quinn. “It was really nice to kind of meet the person that you portray on stage.”
According to Quinn, she joined the cast before even reading the script because she fell in love with the musical’s first song, “Science Fiction/Double Feature.”. In her discussion with the audience, Quinn shared anecdotes from her time traveling and performing the show. She revealed cast reactions to the songs as they were being written and the story of how Raynor Bourton, the original Rocky, got glitter caught in his foreskin.
Later, Quinn recounted the times when the show was being made into a movie. From the beginning, the director did not want her to be the Usherette.So, she refused to be a part of the movie. This was until she saw the costumes she would be wearing and changed her mind.
Now in the introduction of the movie, there is only the image of her red lips on a black screen mouthing the song to Richard O’Brien’s voice. For this, they did not use any special effects, merely painting her face black and lips red and clamping her hair so she’d stay perfectly still and in the frame.
After the interview with Quinn, the show began. The movie played on the screen, while the shadow actors mimicked the scenes on stage. It was a “fabulous experience,” one student said. The “theatrical part was seamlessly intertwined with the movie” and “the actors captured what was happening on screen well.”
As the showing progressed, the crowd shouted in unison every time certain characters appeared on screen. In addition to this, many waved their flashlights and glowsticks, acted out the scenes, and danced along while confetti and bubbles came falling down.
“The energy of the fans was really cool,” Sophia Pauwells, another UM student said. “Everyone knew every word and song..”
Levine shared her love for this show. as it is a “very electric environment where you have that many people watching you do something as silly as the “Time Warp,”” and everyone loves it”.
Chiara Cannis, a UM student who performed as Rocky Horror himself in last year’s production in the Cosford Cinema said she enjoyed the fact that this Rocky was played by a woman as well. “The scene where Rocky comes alive could have been more dramatic because it is a really long drawn out scene that could lose the audience’s interest.”
Cannis also said her favorite scene was Eddie’s song. “The actor who played Eddie did such a good job, he was really funny and brought a lot of energy on stage that was different compared to other actors,” Cannis said.
Other students commented on how they liked the bubbles that were floating down and how the characters Rocky, Columbia, Janet, and Brad had two actors each due to the immense costume changes.
With the high energies from both the audience and the cast, the show was a huge success and an experience every college student should participate in at least once.