Thursday, October 25, 2018
What would Halloween be without “The Rocky Horror Show”?
Staging the always bizarre rock musical – still more cult classic than mainstream – this season is the Millennial Theatre Company. The show opens Wednesday (Halloween night) at 7 p.m. at Ford Family Recital Hall in downtown Youngstown. Additional shows will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, and 7 p.m. and midnight Friday.
Tickets are $15 (plus applicable fees) for adults and $13 for senior citizens and students. To purchase, go to youngstownsymphony.com or call 330-744-0264. Tickets are also available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office.
“Rocky” is being directed by Millennial founder Joe Asente, with music direction by Savannah Florkowski.
You know the story. After getting stranded by a flat tire during a storm, sweethearts Brad and Janet enter the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-n-Furter. Amid a houseful of unusual characters, the young couple lose their innocence and meet the good doctor’s latest creation.
Prop bags for audience participation will be sold before each performance for $10. No outside props will be permitted. Costume contests will begin a half hour before showtime each night.
There are plenty of other Halloween offerings at area theaters this weekend, ranging from adult-oriented musical spoofs to gothic thrillers.
Here’s a sampling:
“Little Shop of Horrors” by Top Hat Productions.
“Living Dead: the Musical” by Rust Belt Theater Company
“Gaslight” by Kent-Trumbull Theater
“Ravenscroft” by Black Sheep Players
“The Addams Family” by Youngstown State University Theater
“The Toxic Avenger” by Salem Community Theater
“Twilight Zone” by Hopewell Theater
For times, dates and ticket information, see the events listing on page C3 and online at vindy.com.
DEE SNIDER’S COMPLIMENT REQUIRED AN EXPLANATION
Rocktopia makes its triumphant return to Youngstown Friday, and with Dee Snider as one of the featured singers.
Snider was an ebullient interview subject for my story about the show in today’s paper. He definitely brings the rock ’n’ roll spirit to Rocktopia, and his down and dirty attitude seems to have infected the vocal cast of Broadway and opera singers.
He told a quick story that illustrates what I mean.
During a performance of Rocktopia on Broadway earlier this year, he passed singer Chloe Lowery as she walked off stage, thrusted a finger at her and shouted a two-word vulgarity that ends in “you.”
Her face dropped but Snider just walked on stage and sang his number.
After the show, Lowery came to his dressing room to ask why he was mad at her.
He explained that he wasn’t.
“I told her that was my highest praise, the greatest compliment,” said Snider. Lowery had sung so well, he explained, that she was a hard act to follow – which made Snider’s life more difficult.
“By the end of the run, they were all doing it,” said Snider. “Opera singers shouting ‘(expletive) you’ at each other backstage.”
Guy D’Astolfo covers entertainment for The Vindicator. Follow him on Twitter at @VindyVibe.