Late Night Spectacle: Muir Musical Dazzles with a Cult Classic

It was eleven at night on Saturday. I had an essay due Monday night that I hadn’t worked on at all. But instead of burning the late night oil, I was standing in line at The Loft, in a skirt and a leather jacket. Why? To witness a spectacle. I was there to see Muir Musical’s production of the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Muir Musical company was created in the early nineties as a way to encourage theater involvement by students who weren’t theater majors. Last year’s productions Chorus Line and American Idiot were said to be dazzling spectacles, so I was jittery with anticipation and coffee.

A midnight showing of Rocky Horror should be a fantastic treat; audiences boo and cheer and take part in chants back and forth with the cast. In some productions, but not this one, throwing things is not just permitted but rather encouraged. The bustling line was made up of a cast of costumed and fictional characters in corsets and leather, all babbling in anticipation.

Rocky tradition has firstcomers (Rocky Horror “Virgins”) enter the stage and get flogged by the ensemble cast, a ritual that I took part in laughingly. Once that was over, the ensemble began the opening number, and the spectacle of the show had begun.

The show’s two protagonists, Brad Majors (played by Michael Lakind) and Janet Weiss (played by Nio Russell) make a compellingly dynamic pair, with hilarious onstage chemistry, bolstered by an astounding vocal performance by Russell, the show’s breakout star.

Once Rocky gets rolling, there’s really nothing you can do about it. The plot takes strange twists and turns into science fiction, leaving you with only one choice: to accept it with open arms. Enter Frank N’ Furter (Stephen Loftestnes), the transsexual, hedonistic, secret alien mad scientist (a mouthful, I know). Loftestnes and his retinue of lovers and ex-lovers, played by Jessica Ragsac, Nikki Yar, Chase Seals, and Geneva Barker, introduce a level of chaotic insanity to the domesticity of Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, turning the show into a hilarious phantasmagoria of sexual and queer comedy.

When the eponymous Rocky (Connor Rankin) appears from his incubating chamber, designed for the desires of Frank N’ Furter, it is impossible not to burst out laughing. Costume designer Lauren Agans-Dominguez, did a wonderful job with Frank N’ Furter and his retinue, crafting strange and delightfully colorful costume pieces, as well as an impressively tall choice of platform heels for the Narrator (Ben McLaren), dressed Rankin in a revealing and comically muscly outfit made up of straps and little else. Rankin’s wide-eyed and innocent performance as Rocky plays perfectly off of the debauchery of the other characters as he runs around the stage and the audience.

The whole of Rocky, however, couldn’t work without the whirlwind of more supporting characters from the ensemble cast of Phantoms (Gabrielle Chen, Olivia Rouss, Audrey Freund, Alyssa Bousquet), to the menagerie of Frank N’ Furter’s servants and exploits. In particular, the weird and inexplicable role of Columbia (Jessica Ragsac) who almost steals the show in Act II with a few outstanding dance performances which left the audience bursting at the seams.

Directors Danniel Ureña and Roselle-Angeline Castro saw the cult classic as a queer inspiration. Falling in love with the show upon seeing it for the first time, they said in their director’s statement “It has reclaimed what queer identities represent in our cis-gendered society,” and that it “is the ‘light’ that illuminates our existence in the world.” As both a call to action for queer rights and an illuminating portrayal of queer beauty, the duo’s production made for the perfect finale to their four year career as members of the student-run company.

In short, Muir Musical’s Rocky Horror Picture Show was an astounding success. The production was original in its choreography and compellingly acted with a charismatic cast, but it was unfortunate that it was placed in such a small venue. For someone who struggles to stay up past midnight, I had no trouble keeping my eyes open for such a grand and entertaining production.

Feature image was taken by Molly Lasher and provided courtesy of Muir Musical Company

Tate McFadden is an Arts and Culture Editor, Opinion Editor and News Writer for The Triton.