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Theater Review: 'Rocky Horror' Delivers Eye Candy

By KATHY L. GREENBERG

Tribune correspondent

Published: October 9, 2008

TAMPA - Like fishnet stockings and kinky boots, "The Rocky Horror Show" has yet to go out of style. It can't, not with the legion of fans that flock to see Richard O'Brien's cult classic year after year. Camp works, and so does the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's production of the cult classic.

Rick Criswell and Karla Hartley co-directed this decadent bit of eye candy. Criswell, good sport that he is, dons a wig and a large but flattering cocktail dress to play the narrator. Batting his heavy lashes, he introduces our heroes, big-bosomed Janet (Heather Krueger) and dorky Brad (Michael Indeglio).

The newly engaged couple leave a friend's wedding to visit their former science teacher, Dr. Everett Scott (Hartley). On the way, they get a flat tire and Brad suggests using the phone at the ominous castle nearby. They are greeted by Riff-Raff (Dean Maroulakos), a hunchbacked servant who scurries to find his master. Moments later Dr. Frank-N-Furter makes his appearance.

Jesse Luttrell portrays the "sweet transvestite," who builds beefcakes from scratch in his laboratory and swings freely between seductions of Brad and Janet. Luttrell is fantastic. Tall and languid, with a phenomenal singing voice, he rocks those heels and corsets like he was born in them. His mannerisms - suggestive pouts and saucy sneers - rival Tim Curry's performance in the 1975 film adaptation, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

As Brad and Janet meet the cast of funky characters, they learn they have fallen into a nest of aliens from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. A lot of sexual dalliances and running amok occur before Dr. Scott shows up to stop the shenanigans.

Hartley rolls onto the stage in a wheelchair, slicked down hair and a Hitler mustache that tickled her funny German accent. She, too, is wonderful as the good doctor and, earlier, his nephew Eddie, the "hot patootie" biker dude that Frank murdered with a butcher knife.

Hartley's best work, though, is as set and video designer, the likes of which are as creative as the story itself. Joseph P. Oshry's dramatic lighting and Criswell's outrageous costumes complete this delightfully macabre musical bacchanal.