France’s “Rocky Horror Show” is just a jump to the Left Bank, but spectators were left blank (today's MARQUEE)
Without audience participation, formidable cult classic fails to translate
Shalom, Broadway lovers!
In today’s FREE edition of MARQUEE: The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast: a review of the troubled production of The Rocky Horror Show currently playing in Paris; an announcement of a Broadway Maven-organized lyricists panel at July’s BroadwayCon; a preview of a Piano Talk about Hairspray; and a Last Blast about Pal Joey.
Premium subscribers also get a video quiz about Broadway anagrams; a review of the London production of the 1990s-music show Cruel Intentions; a Broadway Blast about Into the Woods; and the full Hairspray Piano Talk.
Quelle Horreur!
The somewhat Pasteurized production of The Rocky Horror Show currently running in Paris has an energetic if kooky cast, great costumes, and gotta-join-in choreography. But it misses a beat because spectators are key to this legendary participatory show, and French audiences just aren’t sure how to play along with such a bizarre British-American import.
Here's a quick overview if you're a "virgin" (the term in Rocky Horror lore for people who don't know the show): “Sweet transvestite” Frank N. Furter and his castle-ful of erotically charged sequined servants welcome square pair Brad and Janet when they seek shelter after their car breaks down in a rainstorm. Other plot points like a bioengineered muscly blond hunk, a dismembered delivery boy, and a possibly Nazi science teacher contribute to an over-the-top campy tale that has delighted countless audiences (especially LGBTQ+ ones) for generations.
Midnight screenings of the 1975 cult film adaptation have attracted millions, but the stage version is (usually) much more fun, since the cast can improvise reactions to the hilarious (if well-rehearsed) participatory lines. And indeed, on the half-dozen occasions when an audience member shouted something at the narrator, he reacted cleverly in French (the show itself is in the original English with supertitles).
But for the most part, the audience sat politely, taking in the delightfully eccentric songs and situations in this send-up of 1950s science-fiction films. Good for them, I guess, but Rocky doesn’t really rock without interactivity. There were a few spectators in costumes, but props were forbidden, so the Rocky Horror-ness of the musical was left to the few of us who knew the show’s classic callbacks, and I wasn’t bold enough to shout more than a few of them.
Despite having seen the movie adaptation countless times and the stage version thrice, this time the consent issues at the start of the second act left me queasy. Even if the sex is with an alien in a corset and fishnet stockings, the icky message of “no means yes” falls flat in a post-#MeToo world.
The first act of Rocky Horror has a propulsive energy unmatched by anything in the Broadway canon outside Fiddler on the Roof. Great song after great song (“Science Fiction/Double Feature” and “Hot Patootie” are my favorites) leave the audience breathless. The second act of this two-hour production keeps the spectacle while losing some of the tunefulness, but the earworm that followed me into the Champs-Élysées as I left the theater was the life-affirming late-show anthem “Don’t Dream it, Be It.”
ANNOUNCEMENT: Welcome wordsmiths! The Broadway Maven’s “The Art of the Lyric” panel for this summer’s BroadwayCon is now set, with six of Broadway’s most accomplished lyricists:
• Marc Shaiman, Tony-winning lyricist for 2003 Best Musical winner Hairspray
• Dick Scanlan, Tony-winning lyricist for 2002 Best Musical winner Thoroughly Modern Millie
• Robert L. Freedman, Tony-winning lyricist for 2014 Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
• Murray Horwitz, Tony-winning lyricist for 1978 Best Musical Ain’t MIsbehavin’
• Nell Benjamin, Tony-nominated lyricist for Mean Girls
• Laurence O’Keefe, Tony-nominated lyricist for Legally Blonde
It’s rare for such extraordinary talents to join together to explore their craft. The panel meets at the New York Hilton in Times Square on Sunday, July 28. Registration is already open!
PIANO TALK: In this week’s Piano Talk, music educator Mateo Chavez Lewis explains and discusses the importance of hooks and riffs in “Without Love” from Hairspray. He defends the tune against “stuffy” critiques of that style of music. Here’s the first 90 seconds of this informative and compelling lesson:
PAID STUDENT SEMINAR: The first three inaugural Maven Scholars have been announced: Ella Shaul, Ben Kaplan, and Sheva Schwartz. Several spots are still open for this program for students 16-26, which involves an eight-week course in music theory and history Sundays in April and May. Successful participants receive $500, four invitations to Broadway shows, and a certificate of achievement. More information and the application are available at http://broadwaymaven.com/student-seminar. If you have questions, hit reply to this newsletter.
Sunday’s CATS class ($9) is part of our Andrew Lloyd Webber series. ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not have to sign up or pay.
Excitement is building for the visits of Broadway’s most accomplished young composer-lyricists to the Broadway Maven in the next month. Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen) will be our guest March 25, and Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop) will join us April 1. Both classes are at Noon ET. ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up. FREE.
EXCITING NEW CLASS: For the first time, The Broadway Maven will present an advanced course on Broadway music theory and Broadway history. Taught by both Broadway Maven David Benkof and music educator Mateo Chavez Lewis, this class will delve deep into Broadway’s mechanics and its past. $69 Early Bird rate through March 22 (save $20).
ALL ACCESS PASS: The Broadway Maven will host at least 50 more classes between now and the end of the year, and you can attend them all without registering or paying individually by purchasing a 2024 ALL-ACCESS Pass. Passholders get automatic registration for all free and paid classes (just show up!), fee waived for all tuition-based classes; Premium subscription to MARQUEE: The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast (a $36 value); Full access to the Archive (a $100 value); and five exclusive Passholder experiences (bonus classes, guests, watch parties, etc.). $225 covers everything for 2024.
Note: links to register for ALL classes are always available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Sunday, March 17 Noon ET: CATS $9
• Tuesday, March 19 Noon ET: Sondheim Academy Act Two (lesser-known Sondheim) registration closed
• Sunday, March 24 Noon ET: Lesser-known Lloyd Webber $9
• Monday, March 25 Noon ET: Dear Evan Hansen with Tony winner Justin Paul. FREE
• Tuesday, March 26 Noon ET: Sondheim Academy Act Two (21st-century Sondheim) registration closed
• Sunday, March 31 Noon ET: Evita $9
• Monday, April 1 Noon ET: A Strange Loop with Pulitzer Prizewinner Michael R. Jackson. FREE
• Sunday, April 7 4 pm ET: History and Harmony: A Broadway MasterClass begins (eight weeks) $69 Early Bird rate by March 22 (save $20)
NOTE: As always, ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not have to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!
LAST BLAST: The title of the song “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” from Pal Joey contains three thematically related B-words in it, reflecting the uncomfortable reverie Vera feels as she ponders her troubled erotic relationship with her younger lover. Joey, the handsome scoundrel whose benefactor she becomes, certainly appreciates the financial, romantic, and sexual benefits of a relationship with Vera, but he’s also drawn to the virtuous chorus girl Linda. The fact there are three parallel adjectives in the song title is apt for a show about a love triangle. Furthermore, the deliberate use of alliteration in the title "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" may paradoxically suggest a level of ordered thought or reflection within Vera's otherwise chaotic emotional landscape, highlighting the complexity of her feelings towards Joey and her situation.
Broadway Maven David Benkof helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube channel, and MARQUEE: the Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.