Lyric’s country fried ‘Rocky Horror’ a wild and untamed thing

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Lyric Theatre’s southern-fried, Texas-fied take on the cultiest of cult classic stage musicals, “The Rocky Horror Show,” is bound to be a boot-scootin’ blast for some, even while it may be a head-scratcher for purists and newbies.

Every three years, Lyric does the “Time Warp” again, presenting a new staging of “Rocky Horror” that often marries the time-honored story and beloved songs with wild new costuming and set design.

But this time around, they’ve decided to stick to their guns and retread the same Texas-set, cowboy-costumed, countrified version that was a hit for them back in 2022, and in classic Lyric fashion, they’ve cranked up the camp, the style, and the sheer talent of everyone involved.

For anyone new to Richard O’Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Show” (or to its canonized 1975 film adaptation “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”,) the story concerns a wholesome all-American couple that find themselves the unintended guests of an Ubermensch-making mad scientist alien driven by a wholly hedonistic pansexual appetite.

But of course, in a production like this one, where the audience is encouraged to yell expletives and throw things and the cast is all dressed up in the live theatre equivalent of custom character skins in a video game, the story obviously doesn’t matter much.

What does matter is that the performers are game for a wild, raucous time and that they can nail the iconic songs.

And boy, can they.

As usual, Lyric has assembled a cast of blisteringly talented singers and performers, not to mention the live band that barrels ably through the classic soundtrack, albeit with a decidedly country, fiddle-filled twist that tweaks and occasionally noticeably speeds up the show’s immortal musical numbers.

Also bringing more than a little Texas twang are standouts Sierra Sikes and Logan Wright, who elevate their roles of the normally pedestrian Janet and Brad to some of the show’s best-realized with remarkable vocal chops and some harmoniously well-matched voices.

Likewise, Lyric newcomer Garrison Mack not only displays a powerful and projectable vocal prowess, but also an ability to inject some of the evening’s most earnest acting as the mostly scared and confused newborn muscle man, Rocky.

But of course there’s no one more commanding, more dominating, or more impeccably well-dressed in “Rocky Horror” than Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and returning star Lee Walter pulls it off effortlessly.

From the moment she first appears to the foot-stomping beat of “Sweet Transvestite,” Walter commands the stage and the show with exactly the same level of off-kilter, turn-on-a-dime, all-eyes-on-me energy with which Dr. Frank commands the household, and she devours the audience with ease.

And as for the audience, well, if you’ve ever seen a production of “Rocky Horror” – on stage or on screen – then you know they’re as much a part of the experience as the performers.

It’s no different here, as these Lyric shows openly encourage all the decades-long crowd interaction favorites, from demeaning insults hurled at each and every mention of some characters’ names to actual items hurled at specific lyrics. The lobby of Lyric’s Plaza Theatre even offers a box of props and interactivity materials for sale.

It can all be a bit head-spinning for new initiates to the show – famously referred to as “virgins” – who will not only be largely lost as to what and why veteran audience members are yelling, but also presumably lost to the plot and story as well.

That’s because this is a “Rocky Horror” by superfans, for superfans, offering the perennial favorite with a new coat of country paint for those diehards that have seen and sung it a thousand times and now want something a little different for their thousand-and-first.

That new paint is gorgeous, though, with the wardrobe and costuming absolutely reveling in the country cowboy aesthetic, a testament to the acclaimed work of longtime Lyric costumer Jeffrey Meek, who has been credited with pitching the idea for “Rocky Horror” to go country.

But that hyper-country, Texan setting admittedly does little to enhance the story or its themes (even while the idealized machismo of cowboy culture feels like easy pickin’s for camp comedy,) and in fact is likely to make the show’s B-movie sci-fi intentions and influences nearly impossible for newcomers to grasp.

Similarly, the sheer pace and palpable, giddy excitement propelling the cast, the band, the direction, and the audience all through the show also serve to compress all the compelling strangeness, tragic longing, explorations of identity and meaning, and even the whole plot itself down into pure comedy.

On the Lyric stage, the whole show is a wild and untamed thing, full of rapid-fire comedic electricity that almost never shifts tones or energies. Even the brief moments that you think are going to be played straight (so to speak) practically all have the wind taken out of them immediately with more comedy or faster pacing.

Lyric’s “Rocky Horror” is a whirlwind of fandom and familiarity with its sights set on pure fun and style unconcerned with frivolous afterthoughts like plot or coherence, as if one of the film’s legendary “shadow casts” was given a pro-level stage and costumes with which to reenact the movie from memory.

So if you’re a “Rocky” lifer, a diehard, or even a recent convert with a good handle on the show and on the expectations of the audience, then Lyric’s “Rocky Horror Texas Show” is a gleefully ridiculous reimagining that spices things up with a new visual take.

But if you’re still a “virgin” to “Rocky Horror,” you should probably start with the movie.

“The Rocky Horror Show,” with book, lyrics, and music by Richard O’Brien, runs now through November 1^st at Lyric Theatre in the Plaza.

For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit lyrictheatreokc.com.

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