Just in time for Halloween, Bridgeport’s Playhouse on the Green presents Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. This cult favorite will serve as a hot spot for adults who want to dress in their best bustiers, fishnets, feather boas, and platform shoes, as well as the rest of us who just want to see a fun show complete with audience participation. Just don’t throw anything at the actors.

First seen in London in 1973, The Rocky Horror Show is the ultimate classic rock ‘n’ roll musical. For those who may be unfamiliar with the show, the plot is thin – Brad and Janet, a nerdy couple on their way home from a wedding, have a breakdown on a rainy night and seek shelter in a castle, where they encounter strange inhabitants, including the transvestite Frank N. Furter and his creation, Rocky, as well as the servants, Riff-Raff, Magenta, and Columbia.

Over the course of the night, Brad and Janet are subjected to a series of erotic misadventures and kinkiness of a kind that the couple never imagined. Other inhabitants of this strange place are Eddie, a rock and roll greaser who ends up being chain-sawed to pieces by Frank N. Furter; a bunch of phantoms; and Dr. Scott, a scientist who reveals that the creatures are actually aliens. It’s all a bit of nonsense and that is the point – the show spoofs old science fiction B movies and is purposely completely campy.

The Playhouse production features local talent and the music of the band Greasewheazer. The band is awesome and can really rock. While some of the actors stood out, others at the performance I attended could not live up to the talent of the band and therefore some of the numbers fell flat. I thought that Rob Nichols, who played Riff Raff on the night I attended, just missed the mark on reaching the hard rock sound necessary to bring the song “Time Warp” to its ultimate intensity, and I thought that having Cheryl Papsidera play Eddie and Dr. Scott was an odd choice.

Article Author: CindyC

Cindy's interests include books, music, charitable work, musical theater, the arts, Hugh Laurie, and House. She is now a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle.

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