College travels through 'Time Warp' with cult classic

The 'Horror' of it all

He's not much of a man by the light of day.

But by night, he's one hell of a lover.

He's just a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.

All which brings us to today's story.

I would like - if I may - to take you on a strange journey in which Brad Majors

and his fiancee Janet Weiss - normal kids - embarked on a night out that they were to remember (cue thunder) for a very -- long -- time.

For on May 2-4 and May 9-11 Brad and Janet "will find themselves in a house that says sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," said Gatlin Hardy, the 6-foot-8-inch (6-11 in high heels) actor who plays Dr. Frank N. Furter, that multisexual, diabolical, avant garde mad scientist whose lust knows no bounds - on several levels.

Flathead Valley Community College will produce this longtime rite of passage for almost everyone from 18 to 60 - "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Those ruby red singing lips. The Time Warp. Fishnet stockings galore. More pelvis than Elvis.

Show times at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays. $15 a head. FVCC's black-box theater. Mature audiences - hire a babysitter.

Surely, you can remember doing the Time Warp, drinking in those moments when you first saw the 1975 cult movie that brought audience participation to the theater.

And participate you shall.

Bags with props - playing cards, newspapers, tiny water pistols, etc. - will be sold to theater-goers at some price that the producers have not yet figured out.

Instructions will be included on when to do what.

. . .

"Rocky Horror": Just a garter-filled floor show - or something much, much more profound?

To cast and director, it's a tale of desire and hubris taken to the level of a Greek tragedy with Frank N. Furter as the anti-hero.

"It's the difference between love and lust," said part-time choreographer and full-time chorus member Emily Dowler, 19. "All the others are in love, and [Frank N. Furter] is lusting after everyone."

"Frank doesn't fall in love. He's free love with no boundaries - and he's killed," said Linnea Springer, 31, who is Magenta and the big singing lips.

To 20-year-old Hardy, Frank is " someone who loves himself so much that he doesn't care about anyone else. He's a bitch. His motto is: 'Don't hate me because I'm beautiful; hate me because your boyfriend finds me beautiful.'"

. . .

"Rocky Horror": Sacred classic - or ripe for some kinky experimentation?

Director Tassi Duffner, ain't playin' it straight.

"It's not gonna be rock 'n roll gothic," she said.

Duffner, an FVCC guest artistic director, was a theater student designer a few years ago on a University of Montana production of "Rocky Horror" - a set that included her future husband and the FVCC show's musical director, Ken, who has degrees in theater and music.

Duffner watched the Missoula production unfold traditionally, and wondered: What if?

So she plotted.

And waited

And schemed to make a play glisten and gleam, with a massage and a little bit of steam.

Now, the new vision:

The songs remain the same.

But the classic stage and costumes - oh, so '70s.

The stage now: Totally black and white. "Op art" designs for those who remember the '60s. Groovy.

The costumes now: Haute couture. 'Cuz leather and lace are so pass/. Visualize both men and women performers as bordello ballerinas on LSD - with a sprinkle of nerd-punk.

But not Frank N. Furter.

You don't mess with the doc's flamboyant style that helped "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" be chosen in 2005 by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as culturally significant.

That means: High heels. Fishnets. Garter. Panties. Corset. Man cleavage. Makeup to die for.

. . .

Springer's face itched.

It struggled to stay still in the video frame.

Her mind grappled with the lyrics of "Science Fiction Double Feature," while mugging with just her lips, tongue and teeth. Her brain frequently went blank.

Then her soul reached out to Tim Curry, the original cinematic Frank N. Furter.

She loves his lips.

They're so elastic. So nimble. So sexy.

"I just love the way he rolls 'em around. … I was always jealous of his lipstick," Springer said.

Springer was recording the red iconic lips that sing "Rocky Horror's" introduction.

Green, scratchy make-up covered her lower face, with bright red and glitter covering her lips. A smudge of lipstick smeared on her teeth.

"It's like Christmas exploded on my face," she said.

The green makeup blended with a green backdrop cloth as a video camera recorded her singing. Think of those green screens that TV weatherpeople point to - blank in the studio, with cloud formations showing up on a television screen.

Springer will sing "Science Fiction Double Feature" live in front of the chorus and audience, with Duffner hoping the soloist and background singers will be in sync with the lips projected on black screen on the stage.

Take after take, Springer's lips bit, snarled, teased, flirted and undulated.

Once during almost every take, her studded tongue leaped out and down.

A bit of forbidden challenge. A bit of a psycho clown.

. . .

Another "Rocky Horror" subtext is that a wild and untamed thing exists in each of us.

That's the id trying to overcome the super-ego for you Freudians.

Or as Magenta sings in "The Time Warp":

"It's so dreamy. Oh, fantasy free me.

So you can't see me. No, not at all.

In another dimension, with voyeuristic intention.

Well secluded, I'll see all."

That means the FVCC production's young Montanans have to reach inside themselves to yank out their dark decadent sides.

"It's challenging to embody that. [Magenta] is such a sexy thing. I'm this big goofball who likes to fall down to make everyone laugh," Springer said.

Listen to Duffner and lead choreographer Jesse Culp as they critique the dancers after run-throughs of "The Time Warp" and "Hot Patootie."

"Think scary. Think phantoms. Think sexy."

"If someone touches you, enjoy it. That's the underlying theme of the show."

"I'm getting a lot of 'Chorus Line' smiles. … Smiling happy is good. But there's gotta be some sexuality in there."

Duffner concluded: "The murder - oh, it's gonna be a lot gorier than that, darling."

Hardy, as Frank, grinned: "Yeah!"

. . .

So come up to the lab.

And see what's on the slab.

I see you shiver in antici

………………………….pation.

But maybe the play is not really to blame.

So they'll remove the cause.

(heh, heh, heh)

But not the symptom!

With apologies to Richard O'Brien