Seeing it a second time gave me a chance to appreciate the Phantom chorus, finding ways to make even clearing trash and mopping the floor, sexy. They heat up the stage and charge up the energy in every performance, including 8pm AND midnight Fridays and Saturdays. (Erin Biel, Diego Collazo-Coca, Caila Conklin, Dinah DeWald, Taylor Haslett, Karrington Kelsey and Simon Rebeck.)
And the hub of the wheel, Narrator, Matt Ottinger, is also doing the every-show marathon version — different every time, since he’s in the middle of the proverbial “fourth wall” between the stage and the audience — and the audience is, well… unpredictable. (Sitting near the center front this time, we experienced the full effect of the squirt guns. Refreshing.)
It’s sex, aliens and rock ’n’ roll — with more great voices: Robert Mueller as the spooky Riff Raff, Kayla Henry as Usherette and sideline cat-caller Trixie, and Travis Williams exploding in song as the illl-fated Eddiee. Keara Hayes was a menacing, growling Magenta, and Tricia Rogers was the lolly-popping fangirl Columbia. Luka Pawsek and Ron Meyer were “supersized” versions of the previous Frank n Furter and Rocky, who fit similar quantities of allure, charm and decadence into more compact delivery systems. Brad (Michael Palmer) and Janet (Elena Billard) were again adorably naive charmers, and Dr. Scott (Alan Greenberg) looked appropriately inappropriate in his fishnets.
I wish I could say the plot all made sense the second time, but sense hardly seems a relevant standard to apply to this show. Perhaps directors Shannon Bowen and Erin Hoffman have it figured out. Their note explains: “… beneath its surface silliness, the show tells a tale about initiation into a dangerous world, about surviving lost innocence, about deviance and acceptance, about creation, forgiveness, death and regeneration."
Again kudos to Choreographer Amanda Tollstam who also served as intimacy coordinator and Nicole Martin and her jammin’ band: Lauren Spadafora, Yoshi Fukagawa, Charles Slocum, and Ty Schalter,
There still may be a few tickets at http://RiverwalkTheatre.com— or call 517-482-5700 for reservations. Only four more shows, 8 & midnight Fri/Sat.