By Khalida Sarwari
Proving that real life is indeed scarier than nightmares, the Famous Monsters of Filmland were faced with one of the deadliest wildfires in California history as they were preparing for their Halloween event in San Jose later this month.
The catastrophe led the company to cancel its three-day Cosmic Con, leaving producers of “The Rocky Horror Show” scrambling to find a new location for their production. They not only found a new venue but also decided to donate proceeds from one of their shows to fire relief efforts.
Cancellation of the Famous Monsters’ program, originally scheduled to take place at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, was announced Oct. 14 by the company’s senior manager, Philip Kim, who explained in a press release that the fire had caused him and his family as well as half of his staff, who live and work in Sonoma County, to evacuate. The cast and crew of “Rocky Horror” jumped at the opportunity to help in some way.
“Having one of our shows benefit Sonoma and Napa just made a lot of sense,” said Matty Gregg, the show’s founder and producer. “Our co-producers for this year’s Halloween Bash, Famous Monsters of Filmland, had to cancel because their headquarters is up in Petaluma. They were forced to cancel an entire weekend of fun, so we decided to do our part and keep the fun going as much as possible.”
To that end, the “Rocky Horror” show on Saturday, Oct. 28 at The Stage in downtown San Jose will benefit the Napa Valley Community Foundation and Sonoma County Community Foundation. It’ll be free, but guests will be asked to donate whatever they can toward the nonprofits’ disaster relief funds.
“It’s the least we can do for our neighbors to the North,” Gregg said.
And similar to last year, a portion of the proceeds at the end of the show’s run will be donated to St. Baldrick’s Foundation and its mission to wipe out childhood cancer. In fact, altruism has been at the core of “Rocky Horror” from the beginning. Last year, Gregg’s production company, Roshi Entertainment, raised more than $100,000 for St. Baldrick’s. Gregg has said he’d like to continue to use “Rocky Horror” as a platform to raise money for the organization.
Although he directed last year’s inaugural production, Gregg handed over the reins of this year’s iteration of “The Rocky Horror Show” musical to Zanna Weigant. Weigant, who played Janet in the first show, reprises her role this year, but both she and Gregg promise a much different show, albeit just as live and interactive as the first show.
“The show this year is bigger, louder, better,” Gregg said. “The choreography and staging have been revamped, the set is larger, the speakers deafening.”
Fans of “Rocky Horror” will recognize the show’s format; once again there will be audience participation, elaborate costumes and virtual sets (designed by Gregg himself) in a style reminiscent of “Broadway meets Silicon Valley,” Weigant said. Based on the cult classic film and preceding musical, “Rocky Horror” centers on a young couple and their run-in with Dr. Frank N. Furter, an apparent mad scientist.
In her directorial debut leading a 16-member cast, Weigant’s approach was to add an intellectual element to the production.
“It’s such a silly, silly show, but I also kind of tried to bring an element of compassion to every character that were seemingly caricatures,” she said, “just trying to go so much deeper than I think the musical was ever supposed to go. I’m trying to play psychologist with these characters that were clearly written by someone on drugs.”
Stephanie Baumann is another returning cast member with a dual role; she not only reprises her characters from last year, but also will be doing make-up for some of the cast members. Baumann, who’s originally from Newark and works as a professional makeup artist and hairstylist in Fremont, takes turns playing the Usherette, Eddie and Dr. Scott, the latter as females with a gender-bending twist. She said she’ll be going with a Tim Burton theme to create her looks.
“Every character is going to be influenced by a Tim Burton character this year, makeup-wise,” she said. “When Zanna was announced as the director, her vision was to take it into kind of a Tim Burton feel, and I fell in love with that idea since I’m a huge ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ fan.”
“The Rocky Horror Show” plays Oct. 26 at 8 p.m., Oct. 27-28 at 8 and 11:30 p.m., Oct. 31 at 9 p.m., Nov. 2-3 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 4 at 8 and 11:30 p.m. at The Stage, 490 S. First St., San Jose. The midnight shows and Halloween performance will feature costume contests, and the Halloween performance will also have a benefit head-shaving event with St. Baldrick’s. Those who have already purchased tickets for any of the performances on Oct. 27 and 28 at the Convention Center have the option of attending performances at San Jose Stage Company or requesting a refund. Tickets are $35-$50 at rockyhorrortickets.com and at the door.
Link: ‘Rocky Horror’ returns, adds benefit show for fire relief efforts
