Whether you love it, hate it, just don't get it, are indifferent to it, or only have a vague awareness of it, one thing you can't say about The Rocky Horror Picture Show is that you've never heard of it.
In its more than three-decade existence, the film — adapted from a British rock musical — has grown from a beloved cult classic to a bona fide phenomenon firmly entrenched in American pop culture. RHPS has inspired all manner of spoofs (including a Flash-animated Bunnies Theatre short) and tributes (last year saw a whole episode of Glee devoted to it), and has been referenced in everything from The Simpsons to That 70's Show to Cold Case. RHPS even found its way onto Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock when developer/publisher Activision released "Time Warp," "Sweet Transvestite" and "Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul" as downloadable content for the game last October.
The music is a definite selling point. Catchy hooks, provocative lyrics, plenty of one-liners made for repeating with eyebrow raised, all encased amid dynamic and rather involved musical sequences. While it doesn't carry the same shock value as it did when it debuted in 1975, RHPS still manages to titillate and entertain, no matter the age, sex or orientation of its fans.
John Nowicki is a case in point. The 30-something Zappa-influenced drummer of Poetry n' Lotion is a diehard fan and comfortable enough in his masculinity that he dressed up in Dr. Frank-N-Furter drag during a Guavaween shift at New World several years ago. So it came as no surprise when Nowicki called up his bandmates and pitched the idea of playing the soundtrack in its entirety as a pre-Halloween show with some theatrical embellishments and full-on costumes. Getting the other three guys on board was easy. "I think it's really logical that PNL do this," Nowicki told me last Saturday at their final RHPS rehearsal. "We make the most sense." It didn't hurt that trumpeter Kenny Pullin and bassist Thomas Murray were also longtime fans of the film, and though guitarist Matt E. Lee hadn't seen RHPS since high school, he was more than willing to immerse himself in its music.
Despite the fact that the prog-jazz-metal fusion four-piece is mostly instrumental in nature, vocals weren't an issue; both Nowicki and Pullin can sing. In fact, Nowicki has some pretty impressive pipes, his vocals strong, deep and resonant. Good thing, too, since he assumes lead on the majority of songs while Pullin trades in his trumpet for drum duty — except when he sings the part of Rocky Horror.
The band has invited guests to fill in the rest of the vocals and flesh out the choruses. Among them are two Jobsite Theater members intimately familiar with the film — David Jenkins, who does his best Meatloaf impression as Eddie, and Christen Petitt, who adds her higher-pitch to the mix as Columbia and Janet; both are Jacksonville natives who used to go to Rocky Horror screenings together in their youth. Also tapped was CL Online Producer and Pullin's Magadog bandmate David Russell, who makes a cameo as Dr. Scott.
RHPS traces the complete and utter obliteration of an all-American couple's pristine naiveté via the ministrations of a cross-dressing doctor with a god complex and a crew of sinister followers, but the film is really about the themes it addresses with such outrageous candor — the culture of excess, obsession, abuse of power, jealousy, loyalty, cannibalism, and human sexuality, promiscuity and ambiguity. Nowicki credits this anti-establishment ethic as the reason PNL ultimately decided to tackle the project. "We really like it for how it thumbs its nose at the status quo — seemed like something the four of us could get behind." He went on to explain, "The film takes normal people, and desires, and challenges them, and undermines them, and co-ops them into this totally other thing. It shows that everybody is a freaking weirdo, even the so-called normal people. The more you embrace it, and acknowledge it, the better your life will be."
At their final rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, everyone involved seemed pretty excited. They've embraced the spirit of the film, laughing and joking around in the midst of attempting to get everything right, the overall mood fun and laid-back. "We're not going for re-creation, more like vulgar imitation," Murray commented at one point, prompting another round of laughs. Some songs were more worked out than others; "Time Warp" and "Sweet Transvestite" were near impeccable while the three-part "Floor Show" still needed to be tweaked, as did "I Can Make You a Man," which they were running through for the first time when I left.
The band presents the soundtrack in its entirety, from "Science Fiction/Double Feature" to "Floor Show," sans film, this Friday. Local folks who want in on the action are encouraged to dress up, grab props (toast, rubber gloves, water pistols, newspapers and the like), and come see what's on the slab. Expect loads of hijinks and surprises, inappropriate behavior and costumes, and, if all goes well, a motorscooter.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2011.