It's close to 10:30 on a December night when rehearsal begins for Etcetera's production of "The Rocky Horror Show." • The soundtrack is turned up, and the actors - out of costume but definitely in character - begin to sing. • And there's even a young woman sitting in the audience at director Christopher Johnson's request. • "What did your mom call you?" she yells out just before an actor says, "An accident." • "You're here on a special night," a character says. • "Wednesday!"
And so it goes through 85 minutes of the intermission-free show. Most responses aren't appropriate for a family paper. But then, this isn't your typical family play - nor is Etcetera your typical theater.
A late-night arm of Live Theatre Workshop, Etcetera puts on shows that are always one act, run for about 90 minutes, and are generally much more raw and risqué than most stage fare around town. Much of its audience hadn't even been born when "Rocky Horror" started.
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Johnson, 25, knows every inch of "Rocky Horror." He wants his cast to be prepared for an audience that talks back in a constant stream of familiar retorts.
If you've never seen "Rocky Horror," you're a virgin. But those who've been around the block a few times - the more experienced fans, like Johnson, have seen the movie more than a hundred times - will tell you that it's all about the sexual awakening of Brad and Janet, a young couple cut from conservative cloth.
It begins when the fresh-faced pair get a flat tire on a dark and stormy night.
Seeking help at a dreary castle ("Castles don't have phones!"), they are sucked into a bizarre scene dominated by the mad doings of Frank-N-Furter, who describes himself in song as "just a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania."
He's making himself a man, literally, and invites Brad and Janet up to the lab to see what's on the slab - his muscular creation, Rocky, freshly animated.
Seductions, insanity and some mighty catchy rock 'n' roll ensue.
"'Rocky' is the ultimate rock musical," said Johnson. "There's a reason that all rock shows are compared to it. It's devastatingly good."
Perhaps the most successful child of "Rocky Horror" is "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," a glam-rock musical that also centers on a fierce sexual outlaw with control issues.
Johnson played the title character, a homesick immigrant like Frank-N-Furter, in Etcetera's sold-out production of "Hedwig" last year.
The movie version of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" looked like it might become a midnight cult favorite, but nothing can touch the cult status of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," which still draws a crowd to the Loft Cinema once a month.
The "Rocky" story line is about the same on screen and on stage (the play doesn't have a banquet scene, but it does have a solo from Brad that wasn't in the picture show).
"This production needs to be as fresh and as bizarre as it was in the '70s," said Johnson, who says he put "his stink" on half the show.
"The other half is what we all love about 'Rocky Horror,' " he said. "The 'Time Warp' is the 'Time Warp.' You don't mess with 'Time Warp.' "
Among Johnson's changes - his Riff Raff is a woman, and Dr. Scott's physical impairments are much more severe.
Look for small tributes to the Loft shadow cast and others like it around the country - those are the folks who dress up as various characters and act out the movie as the film rolls.
"The midnight shadow cast is responsible for keeping 'Rocky' alive," said Johnson, grabbing a bite of red devil cake before rehearsal.
What Johnson thinks will blow folks away is seeing the play in the small, 95-seat Live Theatre Workshop.
"The seduction scenes are on stage, not behind scrims (as they are in the movie)," he said.
"The look is a cross between Cirque du Soleil and 'The Jetsons.' There will be so much going on. And 25 percent of the play is staged among the audience. People will get sweat on them."
If you go
•What: "The Rocky Horror Show," the 1973 musical by Richard O'Brien, presented by Etcetera, the late-night arm of Live Theatre Workshop. Directed by Christopher Johnson.
• Where: Live Theatre Workshop, 5317 E. Speedway.
• When: 10:30 Friday and Saturday nights through Jan. 31.
• Tickets: $10.
• Reservations: 327-4242.
• Running time: 85 minutes, with no intermission.
• Etcetera: Explicit language and rampant sexuality.
• Online: www.livetheatre workshop.org
'Rocky Horror' trivia
• "The Rocky Horror Show" premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London in 1973 - a space that's smaller than the 90-seat Live Theatre Workshop. It moved a few times to other London theaters, and eventually played for 2,960 performances, closing in 1980.
• Tim Curry was the original Frank-N-Furter, the self-described "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania."
• Curry was back in fishnet stockings for the 1975 movie version, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
• The musical's working title was "They Came From Denton," a reference to the straight-laced, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet.
• Richard O'Brien, who created "Rocky Horror," was Riff Raff in both the original production and the movie.
• Meat Loaf joined the cast of the play when it first opened in the U.S. at Los Angeles' Roxy Theatre in 1974. He later reprised his role in the movie.
• Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones wanted to play Frank-N-Furter in the movie.
• Rubber gloves - Snap them with Frank-n-Furter in the creation scene.
• Lighters or flashlights - Light up during the singing of "There's a Light."
Leave at home:
• Rice and toast.
• Water pistols.
