We are just about 3 weeks away from the opening of "The Rocky Horror Show". I know it will be fun, I just hope it won't be raided! It's a hard call, you know. Heck, the movie came out 34 years ago, the year I graduated from high school. (I see you doing the math -- don't bother, I'm 52). When you think about people who might be offended by the show, you might think about people in their 50's, like me. That doesn't seem right, since we were there in the beginning, we helped make it the cult classic it is. Besides, the director is a retired third-grade teacher.
We've all grown up thinking of the "older" generation as the WWII, 1940's folks. Now you can do the math. If you were a teenager in 1945, let's say you were 18, you'd be 82 now. While we do get an elderly crowd for some of our shows, 82 is getting up there. So, let's say you were 18 in 1955. Now you're only 72, but you're a Rock 'n Roll 72. You were still a young adult in the 1960's, when the sexual revolution was changing the world. And, what if you were 18 in 1965, you're 62 now, almost old enough to retire, for Medicare, to be a great-grandparent. Don't tell me you don't remember the '60s and the '70s. We have seen the older generation and they is us!
As producer, I'm called on to do lots of different things for a show. Sometimes it's just to hang around and be sure a show is coming together. Sometimes it's to fill in when the director can't find a costumer or a prop person, or build a set, or find a sound tech. Basically, whatever needs to be done. Yesterday, I went to pick up a slide from a kid's swingset that I found on craigslist. Today it was a roll of chain link fence material.
The set design is pretty crazy. Originally they wanted to get scaffolding, like painters use. I had serious doubts about their ability to get it in the budget we have, and I was right. Last weekend we had to change the set design and start building platforms, legged up on plumbing pipe. We own a spiral staircase, but it was in "active storage" at another theatre (which means that it was installed and they forgot that it was borrowed). It is a little the worse for wear (and it seems like it would be difficult to damage a wrought-iron staircase), but I guess it adds to the atmosphere. I think it looks very cool with the staircase and our platforms. They are bigger than scaffolding is, so they'll be able to use them more, and they are sturdier.
Last weekend I had to go into Dallas to pick up some costumes that the costumer had picked out. If you know anything about this show, you know the costumes are crazy -- a corset for the male lead, revealing clothing for other characters. I told my son where I was buying them and he said "Oh, you mean the stripper store". Great. Thankfully it was the day of the first Cowboy's football game at the new stadium, so there weren't many people out. I slipped in, picked up the size 16 knee-high black patent boots and the silver space-girl suit and the corsets and high-tailed it out of there. Good thing I don't intend to run for public office, it would be the kind of thing they would drag up. Although, probably not the worst place I've been in (but that is another post -- hey, it was the '70s).
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