RiverPark to celebrate Halloween with 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'

Oct. 28—It's time to do the time warp again as the RiverPark Center prepares to put on its third iteration of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for a one-night only engagement at 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, inside Cannon Hall.

The roots of the show date back to 1973, when the Richard O'Brien musical "The Rocky Horror Show" made its debut at the Royal Court Theatre in London before being made into a feature film under "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in 1975, eventually being preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" in 2005.

Grae Greer, director of marketing for the RiverPark Center, serves as the director and plays the role of Janet for this year's production, and is looking forward to putting on the annual event once again and presenting something people are asking for.

" 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' has had a cult following since it came into fruition since the early 70s, and it used to be super big in this community but has kind of died off," she said. "But when you look at social media, everybody's wanting 'Rocky' to be back within the community. I just think it's a really fun event."

The show will be performed by RiverPark's Shadow Cast Crew and will incorporate the 1975 film behind the cast along with interaction with the audience, which Greer said is a "big part of RiverPark Center (by) providing those experiences for everyone."

"It's not just an experience for our audience, but our actors in the community as well," she said.

Greer said that while they will not perform the full movie, the big hits and "smaller iconic moments" will be highlighted.

When RiverPark started putting on the show in 2020, the cast consisted of 14 people with a majority of the cast having previous stage experience.

For this year, the cast has grown to 38 — with half of the cast having never even been to the RiverPark Center before, according to Greer, with the actors portraying the character Brad and the title character Rocky have "never been on stage before."

"It's a really neat experience to include new people who may have wanted to try to get on stage, but didn't want to memorize lines, didn't feel comfortable with that yet," she said. "...It's really cool to see them kind of thrive in these positions."

Greer also said the actor playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter will be coming from Colorado to perform.

Greer, who has been a part of the previous "Rocky" productions at RiverPark as either acting or behind-the-scenes, said taking on the dual role of being on stage and directing the show has "been helpful in a lot of ways."

"This is the first time where I've had essentially no other help," she said. "In the past, we've had choreographers, and assistant choreographers and assistant directors; and we're only pulling this together in only five rehearsals," she said. "It's been a quicker process."

The show's blocking will resemble what can be seen in the film, Greer said, based on feedback they received last year's production.

"We're going more movie accurate," she said. "Most of our genders are all the same, but we're not necessarily going to look like the people ... but we're still bringing that same energy and that character development."

Each attendee will also receive a goodie bag that will have different props that the audience can use throughout the show to participate, while singing along to the performance is also encouraged.

"...It's a full, interactive experience ...," Greer said. "You're getting a show, a movie and an experience ....'Rocky Horror' brings people together in a way that I have not seen with a lot of interactive films."

Attendees are invited to dress up for the occasion as well.

Tickets are still available at riverparkcenter.org.