‘Rocky Horror’ at Oasis is an orgasmic rush of lust
COME UP TO THE LAB: D’Arcy Drollinger (left) is Frank-N-Furter, Lisa Frankenstein (center) is Janet and Julio Chaves is Brad in the OASIS Arts/Ray of Light Theatre production of The Rocky Horror Show at Oasis. Photo by Nicole Fraser-Herron.
I wish there were such a thing as a time warp, one that could take us to a time when San Francisco could enthusiastically support a queer cabaret/music hall/dance palace/community haven where drag kings and queens and queer performance artists and DJs and dream-building impresarios could thrive creatively and financially.
Alas, such a time warp does not exist (yet), but for the last decade-plus, there has been a version of that place, the aptly named Oasis. Sadly, the club will close at the end of this year, so the current sold-out production of The Rocky Horror Show, while not the last show on the Oasis stage, does represent its final theatrical presentation. And oh, what a presentation it is.
I CAN MAKE YOU A MAN: D’Arcy Drollinger celebrates a decade of playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Photo by Nicole Fraser-Herron
Co-produced by OASIS Arts and Ray of Light Theatre, this Rocky Horror is at once an of-the-moment Halloween season spectacular and a valedictory lap for all the great and spicy and deliciously licentious entertainment that Oasis brought to San Francisco’s cultural scene.
As fun as director Jason Hoover’s production is – and it’s a bawdy blast – there’s something undeniably poignant about saying goodbye to Oasis with a show that revels in sexuality, theatricality and raging inclusivity and espouses the credo, “Don’t dream it, be it.”
It’s also a show that is very clear about every good party coming to an end at some point, but not before a stage full of wild and untamed things revel in one more explosion of glory in front of an adoring throng.
At the center of this Transylvanian tempest is the towering talent of D’Arcy Drollinger, the owner of Oasis (and San Francisco’s drag laureate), who is playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter for a tenth year. Drollinger is such a consummate performer that he can be fully in character as the Dr. Frankenstein-y Frank all the while winking at the audience. He can make jaw-dropping jism jokes one second and then haul out old-fashioned shtick that might make the ghost of Sid Caesar guffaw. He dazzles and dominates and sings the hell out of Richard O’Brien’s fabulous score.
The cast of The Rocky Horror Show at Oasis. Photo by Nicole Fraser-Herron.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Drollinger raises Rocky to a religious experience, complete with its martyred hero in fishnets and pearls.
Most people know Rocky Horror from the 1975 movie starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. That’s how the show became a cult favorite, complete with call-backs and props and decades of fans that nobody could have predicted when the movie’s premiere fizzled 50 years ago.
Director Hoover has put a distinctive stamp on this live version, which gives movie fans everything they want … plus. The vibe is rave meets burlesque meets BDSM convention by way of an off-Broadway midnight mass, all with a strip-club techno sheen. And the cast is so in your lap that you can’t help but feel like you’re part of the show – sweating and dancing and glittering and singing right along with them.
Drollinger’s co-stars are game and full of monster mash gusto, with especially delicious turns from Trixxie Carr as Magenta, Joe Greene as Riff Raff, Samuel del Rosario as Rocky and RP Welsh as the Narrator. Choreographer Leslie Waggoner makes marvelous use of her ensemble – Em Dwyer, SashaHolton, Trixie Aballa, Yifan Gong, Katy Deines and Jon Gary Harris – a wild, sultry and high-kicking bunch. And the projections and pre-filmed video pieces make the Oasis the kind of sandbox with a dazzling level of technical dexterity and professionalism. (Another reason to mourn the space’s imminent departure.)
Toward the show’s end, when Drollinger sits down at a sparkling piano that has somehow rolled into the crowded performance space, to sing the surprisingly heart-tugging “I’m Going Home,” I found myself thrilled to be part of such a glorious theatrical (and very San Francisco) experience and furious/depressed that we couldn’t establish Oasis one of the city’s long-lasting queer landmarks.
But the vibe of this Rocky Horror is anything but sad. I found comfort in the swimming pool finale – depicted in a video – which made me think about the fact that Oasis is in the space of a former bathhouse and we were likely on top of what used to be the swimming pool. Change is constant, but as the song says:
So let the party and the sounds rock on
We're gonna shake it 'till the life has gone
Rose tint my world
Keep me safe from my trouble and pain
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The OASIS Arts/Ray of Light Theatre production of The Rocky Horror Show continues through Nov. 1 at Oasis, 298 11th St., San Francisco. Running time: two hours+. The run is sold out but we were told there can be walk-ups available. sfoasis.com or rayoflighttheatre.com.
