Hello to all of you unconventional conventions out there. Welcome to Rocky Talkie the show where we talk about anything and everything related to Rocky Horror. I'm Aaron and I am John. Nicky John. How are you guys doing this week? What have you been up to? Aside from sweating my absolute ass off? I am fantastic because when I record this, I'm not allowed to have my air conditioner on. Or else producer Meg will slap me across the knuckles with a ruler. Hey, you said that was our thing. I'm doing really well. Aside from that, this week, I had my one year Twitch anniversary. So it's been, it has been exactly a calendar year since I started streaming on Twitch. So we had a little celebration for it. And aside from that, I'm just sitting here counting down the days until the end. Are you just perpetually in birthday mode? It was previously your birthday now, it's your Twitch streams birthday. It's just all about you. It's all about me and now it's, we're coming up to the gays birthday because it's pride month now, like so many birthdays to go around and then Adam's birthday is coming up, uh, birthdays everywhere. Well, happy birthday to all you idiots out there. Speaking of idiots, Nicky. What have you been up to? Well, isn't that a nice thing to say? God, I'm good. I went to the beach this week for the first time since, like, pre-covid because I was very scared of the beaches, uh, last summer and it was really exciting. It was really nice. I was the only one out of all of my friends that didn't get a sunburn because I'm really crazy about sunscreen. Um Actually Jacob. Did you get a sunburn? Ok. So me and Jacob were the only two that didn't get a sunburn. Josh is like absolutely destroyed, but I'm really happy. I love, I love the ocean. I love to swim and F and S hired a couple of new people and I became friends with one of them. So I'm really excited about that. Everything is just looking great. Awesome. That's super fun. Erin. Oh, I am in packing mode. We are, we are dealing with the, with the house. So all of my delightful possessions have been going into boxes except for all the rocky stuff. So now if you thought there was like nothing but rocky stuff out in our house before it is literally nothing but rocky stuff out in our house, now it's gonna get packed last because obviously those are the most important things. Uh but it's been going good. That's uh that's mostly been what we've been up to over here. That reminds me that I really need to start, like, slowly getting everything in the boxes because we're moving, hopefully by the end of the month, if not, by the end of the month, we're moving the first day of August. And I don't know if any of you who are listening have ever met my partner Savannah, but they have an obscene amount of things that I know that they're not going to pack themselves. That sounds about right. Yeah. Gotta get all those hats in a box. Every single hat must come with us. Everything must come. Nothing will be left behind. No child, no hat, no hat. And we have this like really shitty old couch that we're like, we're just gonna throw it out because nobody wants it. It's torn to pieces because of the cats and the dog. But Savanna's like, I want to re upholster it. So now we have to take that too. Oh man, you want another broken couch. We've got a, a broken couch. Oh, I love me. A good broken couch. And with that, let's get started with our first segment, uh global news. All right. So first up in global news guys, we've got a brand new stage show announcement finally after months and months of us all waiting so patiently for this announcement with bated breath. We have finally received word that the role of Magenta in the 2021 UK tour will be played by none other than Susie Mick Adams. I love Suzie. M, I don't know who that is. Oh, shit. That's right. I totally forgot that they hadn't cast a Magenta yet. They kind of left it to the last minute. Huh? Yeah, seriously. The tour kicks off the flower theater in Southampton on July 16th. So, that's just over a month. Hey, I mean, if they were gonna take forever, at least they chose wisely. Uh Susie looks like a great choice for this role. She went to school for musical theater and even won a prestigious G S A cup for musical theater during her undergraduate. After being awarded her B A, Susie went on to perform as a Phantom in the 2019 European tour of the Rocky Horror Show where she was also an understudy for Janet Magenta and Columbia. So it sounds like she knows this role. Oh, that's a pretty diverse range. She's also been cast in school of rock kinky boots, legally blond. And my fairly just to throw a few big names at you as well as close to a dozen other productions. But this will be Susie's first time cast as a main Rocky Horror performer. And we could not be more excited for her, Susie. We look forward to watching your performances all over youtube and cheering you on as you bring your own unique talent to this already first rate cast and hey, speaking of first rate cast this week, Rocky Horror Show fans were presented with a very interesting offer from Callum Evans. That's the actor who will be playing Rocky in the 2021 UK tour. Right? We talked about him a few episodes ago when we were talking about the, who's who of the 2021 cast. He's the athlete who plays second in the British acrobatic Gymnastics championships. Kind of sounds perfect for our Rocky. Right. Absolutely. Just this past week, Callum made the following post to the Rocky Horror on tour and beyond Facebook group. So as all of, you know, the official UK tour of the Rocky Horror Show will be returning. It's getting close. Hashtag I just wanted to ask if any of you would be interested in doing a Rocky horror workshop when we're on tour. This includes an hour session with an up tempo, fun, warm up, a full breakdown and easy taught session routine to the time warp and a little Q and A to finish up if you'd be interested, could you comment below with an idea of how many people would like to come with you and state where you are from touring venue? So I have an idea of numbers and who would be interested when we come to visit your town, tell your family, tell your friends and share this to whoever you might think would be interested. You can find the touring venues online at w W W dot Rocky Hark dot co dot UK slash tour dates. So book your tickets while you're there. Let me know and remember. Don't dream it be it. Oh, this sounds like such a great time. Imagine learning how to time work with like a real live Rocky. I mean, this does sound like a really fun time. Uh But John A, you are a real life. Rocky and, and b uh Rocky doesn't time warp. Listen, it's the principle of the thing. OK. Plus when the fuck else am I going to get to time warp with an actor that hot. Um Every time we perform. Yeah, but he's a sexy gymnast, Nicky. If I had a dollar for every sexy gymnast in the Rocky horror community, I would be sending Teslas into space on the reg. I just like him and his leopard Speedo. OK? Sue me as I'm sure you can all imagine this post which we will link for you on our show notes has been completely inundated with interested ticket holders at pretty much all the different tour locations. And Callum has already updated the post to let us know that he's organized the event to run in Manchester Plymouth, Blackpool, Glasgow Len Duno in Cardiff and is working on putting it together in Birmingham, Bradford and Norwich too gov I mean, this is so sweet of him. I know it's hella promotional but as we all know Rocky, more than any other show thrives on audience participation. A workout dance session with the man himself. Seems like, I don't know the ultimate extension of that. It's no wonder the fans over there are going nuts. You know what, this reminds me of a little bit like when the hard core members of our community put on those morning workout sessions at cons. Yeah, seriously. I, I, I'm lucky if I'm awake to see two PM at a con, I'll be real like those things are always at nine AM. That's like right as I'm falling asleep from the night before. Oh, wow, that's so intense. But I bet there are excellent warm ups for people who are going to spend the whole day shadow casting different shows. Like if you're going to be performing in Repo Dr Horrible and Buffy all in the same afternoon, it's probably really helpful to not go into it cold. Plus this workshop is with a super hot gymnast. You are going to love conventions. Yeah. Well, if you're one of our listeners from across the pond or you're taking a trip to see the stage show and want to make it to one of these dance sessions, we've linked all the info for you in our show notes and please write to us and tell us how it went. Berry News. Berry News. Everybody, please start up the talk about the Berry News so I can make my entrance later in the bed and talk about Barry is it time for the berry piece? You know what? I, I think we might skip it this week. We just might need to cut down the episode length a little bit. Yeah, I totally get it. I'm pretty tired as it is. No guys. Come on. All right, you want your berry piece? Uh Then let's not step on the script. Let us do our job and you can have your berry piece. OK? Fucking actors. Listen, you guys, you know what I really love about Barry Bostwick, his wrinkly penis. It's the weird plethora of movies TV, shows youtube clips. It's everything he is in. He's a really prolific actor, which has led to his appearance in some very interesting titles. So it's not the wrinkly penis. So among his massive resume is a weird movie from 2012 F D R American badass. It's an over the top true story. It's not actually true. I know it's an over the top true story about how F D R was our greatest monster hunting president. I actually love the poster for that. It's Barry as F D R with machine guns fitted on his wheelchair and another gun in Barry's hands. It gives off cult classic vibes notably in the movie, Barry Kills a Werewolf, which led to the widely popular horror podcast with out your head interviewing Barry for their six weeks of werewolf set of episodes. I hate that. I'm about to say this. Um But I think Jacob can take it from here, John, Nicky Aaron. Great to be back, guys. Fuck everyone who didn't believe in me, Meg. So we have fun Barry News this week. As Aaron mentioned, Barry was interviewed by Neil Jones from the Without your head podcast as part of their six weeks of Werewolf. This show started back in 2006 guys. It's almost 15 years old. Each week they interview horror and horror adjacent members of the movie industry. All right, I'm here for this, this past Tuesday. Barry got his turn and did a Skype interview with Nasty Neil A K A Neil Jones. But before they could get to the real interview, Barry, of course, had to dominate the scene. So in the 1st 15 seconds of the interview, Barry's phone rings and the conversation isn't the same after that, Barry intentionally interrupted that interviewer with that phone call just to show that little bitch who the fuck was in charge. Like imagine Barry taking out his meaty schlong and slapping it on the desk. That's basically what this interrupting phone call was like. Now a lot of you are probably just thinking, oh, but Jacob, he just got a phone call and probably didn't mean to interrupt Neil. And to that, I say you're a dumb idiot. And here's why once the phone starts ringing, Barry lifts it up to his computer screen, like an old man holding his phone up as if to prove to us he is getting a phone call. Anyway, the number on the phone if you pause and infer what the numbers you can't make out are is 3822838456382. The area code, that's the toll free number for Montenegro. Who the fuck is calling Barry from the toll free number for Montenegro. Who knows anyone from Montenegro? Most people think Montenegro is a government conspiracy. I concur with most people, Daddy Barry arranged for a mystery call from mystery Montenegro to interrupt his mystery interview early so he could dominate the space and mysteriously metaphorically wipe his balls across that man's face. Otherwise, the interview was really chill. Neil was very engaging and despite not coming from Rocky horror culture and obviously being more entrenched in horror, he asked a lot of questions about Rocky Horror as well as shadow cast in general. One of my favorite bits of information from the conversation is when Neil asks if Ben, he often gets asked for advice on how to play Brad by shadow casters and it surprised me, but he said he doesn't get asked. He mentioned sometimes shadow casters are nervous about having to perform in front of him, but performers and casts have their own blocking and performance going on. So no one really looks to him for guidance while on the same tangent about being asked for advice. Barry talks about this one time. A shadow cast asks him to perform Ralph and how rough it was to do. He went on to commend shadow casters in general saying that's a special talent to be able to visualize behind your back. What's really going on? Barry has always been really nice to shadow casters and fans of Rocky in general. And his comment here was no deviation from that track record. Such a nice thing to say from a very nice man. That's sweet. If given the opportunity, I'd suck his cock. Oh, there it is. I was waiting for it. There you go guys. Now on talking about F D R American Badass. He likened the movie to Rocky Horr in that both are weirdly absurd movies that require the actors to play the piece straight and not directly confront the absurd nature of everything going on. Bostwick also talked about why he took F D R, how he likes the fast paced nature of indie shootings and how performing under really absurd scenarios with a group of people where no one's getting paid too heavily reduces the stress around performing. Now to go over the rest of the interview, the the sort of less impactful conversational points. We'll play a game, two truths and a lie. I'll mention two of the other things, Neil and Barry went over and I'll make up a third. You the audience can then email us to tell us what you thought. The fake topic of conversation was we have Barry's underwear, selling them at cons and how much Barry enjoys the sensation of people enjoying his underwear. We have a, a cool ad for Pepsi Twist diet that Barry did alongside Halle Berry and Haley Eisenberg. And last, but not least they did cover Barry's crippling addiction to Tide Hookers. Now, remember folks? Only one of these isn't real. So, pick carefully and let us know what you think. Remember if you're right, you die. What can we guess? Well, I hope I'm wrong so I can die. No, if you're right, you die. Oh If I'm Yeah. Oh God, I can't wait to be right. So I can die. But uh it's definitely um a cool ad for Pepsi Twist Diet that Barry did alongside Halle Berry and Hallie Eisenberg. Yeah, there's absolutely no way Barry has met Halle Berry. So I'm gonna go with the Pepsi Twist ad as well. You know, guys, I think I'm gonna go out on a limb here and I think it's the, I think it's the tie hookers. No, no, no. That one's definitely true. That didn't even like cross my mind. Well, everyone be sure to send in your answers and bit your breath along with these three to find out which lie was correct. And just to wrap up, this interview was a great time. Neil was super courteous and fun and of course, so was Barry. This piece was a delight to see and I urge you all to check out the without a head podcast, especially if you're into horror. Thank you, Jacob. That was very off putting as always. Thank you guys. Have a good one, Jesus Christ. What a poof. All right. Uh What are we talking about next? Nicky Adam Lambert's new tour? That's right. Adam Lambert, who played Eddie in the 2016 Rocky Horror remake has just secured a series of Las Vegas concerts. Lambert who has been serving as queen's front man since 2012 has a five show residency at the Venetian theater in Las Vegas. This October his performance dates are October 22nd, 23rd, 27th, 29th and 30th all at eight PM. Tickets went on sale to the public this past Friday, June 4th at prices ranging from 39 95 to 299 95 depending on how much you want Adam to spit on you. Tickets are available at ticketmaster dot com. Any box office at the Venetian Resort or by calling the Venetian. So Lambert first garnered fame from his performance on season eight of American Idol. Uh Despite the fact that he didn't win, he went on to earn a Grammy nomination with his mega hit. What do you want from me? After that? He became the first openly gay artist to have an album reach the number one spot in Canada and the US. He's also been on Glee X Factor Australia and has dipped his foot into acting, voicing character Emperor Maximus in the animated live action hybrid movie play Mobile, the movie before Lambert's Midi residency. He'll be touring his new album Velvet Across Europe starting in Manchester UK on August 30th for the Manchester Pride Festival before playing London's Wembley Arena and then making his way across Europe concluding in Helsinki on September 12th afterwards, who knows Lambert is a talented, ambitious artist and we're looking forward to anything that he does next, especially if it involves Rocky Horror in any way. If any of our Vegas listeners have a chance to check out his new concert, write to us and tell us about it. We'd love to see all your pictures and hear about what an awesome time you had. And with that, I think we ought to move on to our next segment. Community news come community news. First up in community news. We have the inside scoop on the hottest piece of Rocky Horror merch itching to hit the market. Oh my God. Do you mean the Peter Henwood Cheerios? What? No, the, the limited edition Patricia Quinn Champagne Flutes. No, I'm talking about the new Pride Enamel Pin and Pendant series. Oh, that hot piece of Rocky Horror Merch. I just got an email about that, you know, so did I and you know what? I could not have been more pumped. Fred Moro teamed up with Harley Bean to create the ultimate pride merch of the summer and it's open for backing on Kickstarter. Right now. The Kickstarter consists of two main designs, a hard enamel pin and a pendant necklace featuring Beans Doodle's original artwork. So it is a rainbow four show character with a rainbow outline and rainbow eyeshadow. And then on the left and right, it says Happy pride in like a double feature Rocky Horry font. As of today, Tuesday, the Kickstarter has already reached 348 of its $350 goal, which is only 1/10 of a frank jacket with just 13 days left in the campaign. I'm sure there's no question that this will get the backing it needs and end up on all of our bags, tailcoats, dancers, belts and more this summer. Could you imagine if it didn't? It, it was $2. Just didn't make it. Sorry, can't do it, sorry. It's too much. Uh So for those of you who don't know Fred and his work, this is his sixth successful Kickstarter. Well, as soon as somebody ponies up the last $2 and his content though is seriously out of this world. He created the repo enamel pins that we covered a few months ago and he always goes the extra mile to just amaze the community with more and more awesome content. Literally, I can name at least 10 people on F N S that have at least one of his enamel pins somewhere on their person at every show and we at Rocky talkie highly recommend checking out this Kickstarter. This new set is a must have for any Rocky Horror Pride event if you're interested in backing it. The deadline is June 22nd and you can find the link in our show notes. Hey guys. And speaking of things that we highly recommend checking out Arkansas's R H P S shadow cast just announced that they're holding auditions for anyone interested in joining their guest. Yes, the cast is returning to their stage this October and are looking to fill some roles and also secure understudies for their upcoming shows. The Arkansas Rocky Horror Picture Show Shadow Cast has been performing out of Fort Smith, Arkansas since 2018. They'll be holding auditions on Sunday, July 11th from 6 to 9 PM. Nice at the nearby Doubletree by Hilton Fort Smith City Center. If you or someone you know, is interested in learning more, we will of course link the audition page for you in our show notes. And if you have any questions about audition requirements, feel free to email the cast directly at A R R H P S shadow cast at gmail dot com. I have to say this cast looks cool as hell. I checked out some of the show footage they posted and oh my God, the first video I watched showed a Columbia doing full time warp including the tap dance in six inch high heels and they didn't miss a beat. Yikes. That is both impressive and absolutely terrifying. You're telling me I was in awe. It did get me thinking though. I feel like everyone has a story of that one bad ass cast member doing something absolutely ridiculous just because they can. What's the craziest thing you guys have seen a performer do live like in Rocky or just in general? Like, oh, I was going to say there was this one time I went to the slipper room and I won a contest and the guy showed me his dick. Cool story, bro. Yeah, right on. Right on. So there's this dude on our cast who plays Eddie and he uses a scooter in the theater and I just think it's the meanest thing. Um No, there's a very nice person on our cast named Matt A V. Um And he plays Rocky. He looks fucking gorgeous. Uh He's like very, very muscular. He was playing Rocky one night. Um And it was right after Hot Patuti. So Rocky was like locked behind the elevator, whatever. And Frank and Furter opens the door and as Frank and Furter opens the door, Madavo steps out and he like yells randomly into the theater. God damn it, daddy. I love you. But you got a lot to learn about a rock and roll and the audience and I'm pretty sure the whole cast fucking died laughing. And it is so far, one of the most memorable things I have seen on our cast, you know, now that you bring up Matt Jacob, uh Matt is probably one of the most daredevil death defying people on N Y C or at least the most at this present moment. So he regularly plays Rocky for those of you who do not know and when he does touch it with his Janet, uh if the Janet are cool, he will literally fling them into the air during like the sex scenes, like they will go airborne and he has caught them every time. It's impressive. So I have a great answer for this. And it's, it's not something I've seen someone specifically do. It's something I see all of you idiots out there doing when Rocky is done with creation, right? And when he's, when he, when he's done with the sword of Damocles, what does every Rocky do they jump over the fucking front of the tank? Do you have any idea how upsetting that is to watch? Almost every single Rocky nearly bust their ass trying to get over the fuck. Just walk around, walk around, man. If you're not an acrobat, walk around. No, that's so funny to me because when I guested with you guys as Rocky the first time I remember, I think it was John and maybe Savannah and maybe like one other person literally like sat with me for like 15 minutes while I repeatedly jumped off of your tank because I just couldn't get myself to do it because we don't fucking do that at F N S. Our tank isn't like tall like that. We go under, we don't go over. So I was like, I will literally fall and they were like holding the tank down and they were like, you're gonna be fine. I think it, Harley was there. But I did it, I nailed it and I hurt my ankle real bad. You're talking about the jump out of the tank, like doing sort of damn. Right. Yeah, that's a terrifying jump. It's a stupid jump. Stop doing it. But I don't know that the person who will literally die before he does something that isn't really accurate. True. I also go to Rocky. I don't think I could go under your tank though because you had that stool that I was standing on and I don't know about you, but I don't know if I could fit through that teeny tiny window. That thing is a death trap. Yeah. Although I, I gotta say probably my, and this isn't specifically Rocky. One of my favorite things to see at conventions is during shock treatment when the, whoever is playing Oscar drill right from Oscar drill. The bits if he can do the backflip, show me that back flip, you know. Yeah. The craziest thing that I've seen done at F N S and I mean, that's a flex but, you know, this is about Josh because of fucking course it is. I have two about Josh, first of all, when he would play Eddie, they used to throw the saxophone from the floor up on the stage and he would just catch it. And now that's just like a regular F N S thing. But I remember one time he did the saxophone solo, fucked around with Columbia for a minute. And then we have like a floor and a raised stage and it is not a short stage. It is a tall stage and Josh just fucking jumped off the stage like no brace. Nothing. Literally just boom. One second. He was on the stage the next he was on the floor and I was like, oh, he died. Rest in peace. He was fine. He just kept and I was like, what the hell? And then the second time we had a sold out show at Rutgers, Josh was playing Eddie. I was playing Janet and he did all of and I still, I watched the video to this day because the crowd absolutely loved him. He did such crazy shit. But uh during the part where Eddie is supposed to run around the uh crowd, he just crowds through the whole crowd instead. And I love that. Yeah, he was given high fives. They were throwing beach balls. It was so much fun. Oh my God. He is the sexiest daddy in the whole wide world. Well, this just goes to show that there is virtually nothing a shadow caster won't do to make an impression other than show up on time. Of course. Oh, well, anyway, huge shout out to the Arkansas cast and best of luck with your auditions and your triumphant return to the stage. Hoola Arkansas hoopla. All right. You knuckleheads. I want to get a little philosophical today. So, Rocky is obviously unique in a lot of different ways on this show. We have compared Rocky to community theater or burlesque or whatever else. And I think most people in the community have a really solid picture of what Rocky is. But I want to talk about the why, why does Rocky work so well in the first place? Why does audience participation and shadow casting lend themselves so well to Rocky? Is it because it was the first of its kind? Is it because the community is one of the most inclusive out there? Is it because the movie was based on a play? Because I can think of a lot of other communities that take some of those boxes but aren't nearly as prolific or culturally relevant as Rocky? Who boy, big brain time up here in Rocky talky, I think you hit it right off the bat. It's all of those things together that make Rocky what it is, it was iconic for the era when it came out as continued to resonate with audiences and the source material lends itself very well to doing the kind of stupid shit that we do because Rocky Horror, the stage show is at its core a nostalgic look at the past. That is it by its present day telling? All right, I'll buy it. I I like this angle. So you're talking about the kind of nostalgia from like stand by me for the fifties or American graffiti in the sixties or dazed and confused for that seventies vibe, Kiefer Sutherland, right? But instead of being like a straight nostalgia trip, Rocky's story is reflected directly by the period when it was produced, you have the seventies slamming into the fifties, think more like Jesus Christ superstar or Hamilton superstar with all its anachronistic references to modern, well, seventies, modern events or Li Manuel Miranda's almost film like pacing, storytelling and flow. It has a whole different layer to the nostalgia, but Rocky certainly isn't a nostalgia movie for the fifties and it isn't a period story told through a modern lens either I think that that's central to why Rocky works, right? It has both elements of nostalgia, but it is really grounded in modern culture, but devil's advocate. It isn't that either. Rocky is anything but modern. Now we talk about this one, the time the 50th is almost coming up. Sure it was very iconic for the eras of glam and punk. True, but I think it isn't so much rooted in a specific time period. I think it's rooted in a specific attitude or like a specific world view, right? So Sapiro in many of his interviews has likened the journey of a rocky horror audience member directly to that of Brad and Janet. He says that the first time we see the movie, we are like all of these naive, pure characters and we all come out the other end as Dr Franken Furter, right? That's an experience. It's an experience of self discovery of not fitting in of being an outcast. And it's a journey maturing into an adult who may not have a total grip on reality. But like at least we've seen some shit and that's what resonates today because it's a journey that literally every person in every generation goes through. I got to say this big brain thing is really working out. I don't know if I feel smarter, but we have certainly said words. Yes, we have, but we also still haven't answered my question. I don't want to have to change the title of the segment to Nikki gets an answer to a question just so you guys stay on topic. Yeah, but the snacks don't have the same ring to it, you know, but you're right, we've fallen into the same trap that we just talked about. We're trying to figure out why Rocky works for shadow casting in the community that has built up around it. But we ended up talking about why Rocky works as a story and as a piece of art and sure for any of us to get our rocks off on stage, we need an audience and that audience is what keeps it relevant for us to do what we do as shadow casters. But that doesn't mean that just because it resonates well and is nostalgic. It was a natural fit to turn into this like weird multimedia four D cinematic experience because let's be real. We all love reefer madness and shock treatment and Doctor Horrible and Rio. No. Uh I fucking hate Rebo and Buffy and the room and God knows what else, but they don't all work. Not the way Rocky does. Even the ones that were originally stage shows like Reefer Madness. It's an awesome shadow casted show, but it isn't the same kind of energy as Rocky. It isn't as natural. The room was 100% natural but the room works. I, I've never seen a show work so well like Rocky shadow cast until I saw the room live. Well, you hear that complaint a lot in the community, right? And it's always about a different show depending on who you're talking to. Like you might have just seen something like, well, the room and you turn to your friends and you go well, that was fun to watch, but I just don't really feel compelled to shadow cast it like I do Rocky see that is valid. That is valid because it works. There's just, there's like a small enough cast for it to work really well. Very little costume changing. Very like it works just as well. But the energy has to be manufactured. Rocky already has that energy and reasons vary from person to person and the show varies from person to person, but it's the same sentiment. This one just doesn't spark joy to say that Rocky does. So, what is that intangible essence that we can all agree. That makes Rocky work. What is the like? Aha. That click moment. Yes. Congratulations John. That is the topic for today. I'm glad we're all paying attention. That's the question, right. What's that intangible thing? I'll show you an intangible thing. Please don't. All right. So I have a kooky like grand unifying theory for why Rocky specifically is the only story in the world that could have become what it is today. I mean, it's a bit tenuous, but if you don't mind going on a little bit of a trip, I said big brain. Come on, spill it. Ok. So I've kind of been working this idea over my head for several years, but I want to take you on a trip for what sparked how to articulate it. I'm sure some of our listeners have drawn these conclusions before I did. I know we would love to hear everyone out there weigh in on what it is that they think makes Rocky tick. You should visit our website rocky talking podcast dot com. If you think that your big brain is bigger than our big brain. Ew, shameless. So, anyway, a few weeks ago we talked about Mark Jabar's site. That's Oz Rocky horror dot com where he has a ton of information about all the early iterations of the stage show. He goes from the original release all the way through the late eighties. And according to Mark, that's basically the end of the Pure Rocky horror show, the original show that has never been seen on stage since 1988. I know he has explained that position several times and he's not the only one that holds that view. It has a lot to do with the things that were changed after the movie came out. And Richard o'brien relaunched Rocky under his name. I heard that had something to do with Richard trying to get the rights back or something like that. Yeah, that's basically the story I've always heard it was a way to uncouple himself from Lou Adler and Michael White. They produced the film and they held the rights for the original stage show. So Richard rewrote the script in order to regain control over the property to accomplish the update. Richard punched up the dialogue, shuffled the order of Time Warp and Sweet Tea. So it matched the movie and added the Transylvanian and fans Time Warp became a big group dance number instead of a really off kilter bop from the few inhabitants of the creepy Mansion. He also favored the film creation speech and removed a lot of content from make you a man originally being much more clear in how it tied to the Charles Atlas ads from the first half of the 20th century. The end result was a glitz up show that really turned rocky into the Proscenium Busting AAA musical that tours all over the world today. Suffice it to say there are a significant number of differences and you can pretty well see that the argument can be made that the original and the new version are, are very different shows. Ok. But what does this have to do with some grand unifying theory for why Rocky works? Uh That's because of the other aspect that significantly changed when the show was rewritten. That's the setting and the framing device. I'll show you a framing device. What do you mean, Brad and Janet go to Frank's castle and everything happens in the castle other than the addition of dinner for the movie, what's different from the stage show? See that is exactly the point. So recall the framing for the original stage show, Brian Thompson's brilliant design places the show in a derelict movie theater for international versions of the original stage show, Cruz had to recreate the appearance of a falling apart movie theater in whatever venue they were in, that was the staging and it provided the entire framing for the show. Mark explains how this very crucial element was lost in the film adaptation and the subsequently rewritten stage show. If you ask a fan of Rocky Horror, what the story is about? They'll usually start with. Well, there's this young couple called Brad and Janet and this answer is the result of decades of being removed from its source material. The story is about a cinema under demolition where an usher is still hanging around. She greets the audience with a song about her love of 50 sci-fi movies before playing out her fantasy using the cinema and herself as the maid. Once she's told her tale, she returns to being an usherette only with telltale signs that what she has just shown you did happen in a wizard of Oz way take the show out of a cinema play down the usherette, remove the rubble, change the song order and dialogue and you get a story about a young couple and that setting, the movie theater was very critical for context to the material that was being presented. The show was set in a cinema mid destruction. An apology was projected on the screen for the inconveniences caused by the demolition. The room was layered with scaffolding and covered in canvas. This was really resonant at the time and for the story, it makes perfect sense. Rocky is ascended to the kinds of films that showed in picture palaces and ornate theaters that dotted the landscape of American suburbia all throughout the thirties, forties and fifties, they were glamourous and exciting. But the sixties saw the rise of the multiplex theater with the Hollywood Antitrust case of 1948 you saw movie theaters finally able to experiment and develop outside the heavy gaze of the studio system, the Hollywood antitrust case of 1948. All right, it's time for John to ask a question. So before 1948 the big major film studios owned their own theaters and held exclusive rights on which theaters would show their movies. This meant that they could force theaters to carry every film released by a studio or only show films made by their company and not their competitors. There was even a term for it block booking that basically meant a theater had to agree to sign up to screen several of the studio's films without any approval. So if you wanted the one big summer Blockbuster, you also had to show the five other low budget and low quality films. The studio also produced this was how the entire industry worked throughout the golden age of Hollywood. Studios produced films on their own lots with their own talent, all on long term contracts and controlled exhibition through vertical integration. Basically strong arming distributors in movie theaters are just outright owning the theaters themselves. So the Supreme Court ruled that unconstitutional. But how is that any different from Disney Plus and Paramount Plus and HBO Max? And exactly. Oh, got it. So right. You had this big golden age of the movies that transformed in the fifties and sixties, the rise of the drive in movie theater. And as Nicky mentioned before the Multiplex, which by the way, did you know the first Multiplex ever was created in Missouri by a little company that's been in the news a lot lately. A MC Diamond Hands to the Moon. So along with the modernization came good old fashioned capitalism, theaters realized that they can make a lot more with the multiplex design, showing more movies simultaneously and carving up their giant movie palaces into smaller theaters. And a lot of theaters just died off during that period simultaneously. You had a huge rise in television and my Cock cinema had been the only way to see visual experiences for so long. And now you only had to plop down in your living room and turn the dial every week in small towns all over the world, you saw the destruction of old movie palaces that couldn't keep up with the competition. And that is the setting for Rocky or at least the original Rocky Horror show. It was meant to capture that feeling right of a dying cinema. And the stories that the usherette fondly remembers became this grotesque debare nightmare. That is Rocky horror. Oh man guys, big brain moment. And that is why Rocky works so damn well to be shadow casted because by shadow casting the film, by being so disgustingly meta, we somehow recapture that initial aspect of the story, that piece that was integral to the original telling and was lost in both the movie adaptation and the modern stage show. We are in that movie theater, we are putting on a crazy homage to film as told through traditional theater. You could argue through shadow casting. Rocky is closer to the soul of the story than modern big budget touring stage shows ever could be. Wow, Nicky, that is pretty big brained. So, Erin, what's your grand unifying theory? It, it's that it, you, you stole mine. It's it, it's literally that what, what you just said it, it's that nice try but no free big brain piggyback rides here. I guess I won. I answered my own question. Snacks. Well, I guess that's our show. As always, we want to thank Jacob for joining us on air and for all his hard work on the script. This week, we'd also like to give a big round of applause to Nicky for writing her first couple of segments this week. As a seasoned script writer, I can personally attest to the fact that you did an amazing job. If you've got a question, you'd like us to answer on air for Nicky asked the question or some community news that you'd like us to talk about or maybe even a cool story to showcase your magnum dong to the entire community. We'd love to include it in our show just go to our website rocky talky podcast dot com and fill out our contact form to share with us. We all really love getting to hear about the cool shit you guys have been working on. We're totally obsessed with all the Rocky horror projects that have been floating around out there and we really enjoy getting to share your work with the whole community. Plus if your cast is working on something fun, like a virtual show or maybe even a real life show, send that in too and we'll help spread the word. If you're enjoying Rocky Talkie, please help us out by rating, reviewing and subscribing to the show. It makes the podcast more accessible to new listeners, which really helps us grow the show. And if you want even more Rocky Talky content, check us out on Facebook, youtube, Instagram and tiktok, all at Rocky Talkie Podcast. We'll talk to you all next week. Bye bye bye. Oh my God. I'm so fucking, I put the air conditioning on, I'm blown away. You did not call this number I O you could only like read four of the numbers. I, I have no idea actually good. We don't have to bleep it. Then Adam Lambert's new tours to Adam Lambert's new tour. Adam Lambert's new tour, Adam Lambert's new tour. Adam Adam Lambert's new tour, Lad Amber's to nor what do you want for me? What do you want for me for you to finish this? Podcast. Goddamn. This is my jam as of today. Tuesday is today Tuesday. Oh my God. Anyway, a Kansas America is not Arkansas explains. Anyway. All right, you knucklehead. Why do I say knuckleheads? Who says knuckleheads? You do? I like that. I go on this long educated rant and then I'm like stocks, bless you, bless you. All right. Beautiful. I'm stopping this. I didn't stop it yet. I had to turn the ac on.