SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — It’s hard for Wesley Brown to count how many times he’s slipped into the corset and black fishnets to take on one of his favorite roles: Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
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Originally brought to life by Tim Curry as the “sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania” in the 1975 cult-classic film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Brown has become one with the marathon role. He appears in practically every scene when his comedy and theater group Pineapple-Shaped Lamps hosts shadow casts of the film.
“There is a 3-minute water break for me somewhere around Janet’s ‘Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me,’” Brown said. “But that’s it. Otherwise, I’m in every scene.”
Once again this Friday, he will be adorned in the getup, white pearls and red lipstick included. PSL is hosting its third shadow cast of “Rocky” in a week, only this time it will be in the 500-seat historic Thalian Hall.
“I’m so excited to be able to do it at Thalian Hall for the first time,” Brown said. “And for people who haven’t seen our shadow cast ever, to experience it in a space that’s kind of perfect for it — an historic theater. I think it definitely sets the tone of what you’re going to experience long before we hit play.”
For those unaware, a shadow cast includes the troupe — which has a Rolodex of two dozen members who write, act and help produce Pineapple-Shaped Lamps’ shows — acting out the film in front of the projector, which cast shadows of their actions literally on the big screen as the film rolls. Around 10 people will take up roles made popular by Susan Sarandon (Janet), Barry Bostwick (Brad), Meatloaf (Eddie), Patricia Quinn (Magenta), Richard O’Brien (Riff Raff), and Nell Campbell (Columbia).
Brown said PSL has done hundreds of “Rocky Horror” shows for almost 15 years now. After their UNCW debut in 2010, the group began doing monthly shadow casts of the film at the former Browncoat Theater and Pub. Then they took their show on the road, from Florida SuperCon in Miami to GalaxyCon in Raleigh. About a decade ago, they even performed with actors from the original film.
“It’s so surreal to think about,” Brown said, “that back in 2010 when we started, if someone told me: ‘You’ll probably be friends with Barry Bostwick in 10 years,’ I would have said: ‘No.’”
The fact is “Rocky Horror” is at the foundation of Pineapple Shaped Lamps’ name, which comes from one of many audience callbacks. When Frank-n-Furter is ascending in an elevator at the beginning of the film, the camera pans to a bunch of lamps, which Brown said looks like pineapples. “Pineapple-shaped lamps” took off among the cult during shows.
“We later found out in the HD restoration of the film that they are not pineapple-shaped lamps,” Brown said. “They were little flame lamps, which is the funniest part about it all.”
For “Rocky Horror” virgins out there — who will go through a ritual marking, as mandated at every shadow cast — callbacks basically mean the audience yells back a litany of comments throughout the evening. A “Rocky Horror” shadow cast is only as good as its participation.
Often dressing up as characters and bringing props, the audience, for instance, will scream “slut” everytime Janet appears on screen — or when Brad shows up, they exclaim “a**hole.”
Essentially, no two shadow casts are the same.
But what remains steadfast is the audience always steers the fun. Brown said some of his most memorable moments, after doing hundreds of shows, came when Frank-n-Furter jumps into the pool toward the end of the movie. At one shadow cast, Brown fell into the audience from the stage, with full-on trust that they would help him crowd-surf.
And they did.
“I don’t know if I will be able to swing that at Thalian,” he said with a laugh.
Another memorable moment presented itself again at the end of the movie when Frank-n-Furter heads back to his home planet, Transsexual in Transylvania galaxy. The film shows Curry walking, singing “I’m Going Home.” As Brown walked up an aisle through the crowd, they, too, stood up for his send-off.
“It still gives me chills,” he said. “I can’t explain it; it was a great moment.”
But every time he takes on the character, it’s as fun as the last. Brown loves Frank-n-Furter for many reasons, outside of the fact it’s just “always fun to play the villain.”
“To me Frank is much more than that,” Brown said. “He is a likeable and very tragic character as well. People love to watch him, even though he does some terrible, unforgivable things. It’s either that or the fact that I have no shame and am willing to be mostly naked on stage for two hours.”
Inhibition is celebrated at every turn of the show — and from the audience. This can be seen during the “underwear run,” which has audience members stripping down behind the stage before embarking on a romp to celebrate Frank-N-Furter’s “perfect man.” Rocky’s rise to life includes him wearing gold underpants only.
“It will be more like a saunter around Thalian Hall,” Brown quipped, adding there are prop bags for sale and PSL merch, which includes pasties.
Brown’s first “Rocky Horror” experience came at age 15 at the Rialto in Raleigh, North Carolina. He had seen the R-rated film in theaters (there’s one F-bomb and half a nipple shown) and called it “ahead of its time.” “Rocky Horror” celebrates inclusivity, bending genders and playing with nontraditional ideas of sexuality, particularly its fluidity. And this was 40-plus years before these social mores were at the center of political controversy and still considered taboo.
The movie, first a stage musical “The Rocky Horror Show,” is a parody of multiple horror and science-fiction films from the 1930s to 1970s. It centers on two innocent, newly engaged lovebirds, Brad and Janet, who end up on the side of the road in a storm due to a flat tire. They come upon a castle where a party is taking place, hosted by a mad scientist, Frank-n-Furter, debuting his latest innovation: the perfect, muscular man named Rocky. Unbeknownst to Brad and Janet, Frank-n-Furter and his crew have a debaucherous and hedonistic evening planned.
“‘Rocky Horror’ has always given people a place to be, when they needed a community,” Brown said, adding it’s representative of free expression. “You show up, yell what you want, dress how you want, do whatever you want. No one’s gonna judge you here — that’s what’s probably carried it so far.”
In conjuring a friendship with Bostwick, who played Brad, Brown said he learned the cast was simply focused on turning the play into a fun film that parrots old-school horror tropes.
“Barry told me countless times, ‘We didn’t think we were gonna inspire a whole culture,’” Brown recalled.
The movie fell flat on ratings, but midnight showings in 1976 New York started drawing crowds who interacted with it, which catapulted “Rocky Horror” into a different sphere. People began showing up in droves lip-synching to the songs, dressed in character.
In 2024, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” still remains in limited release and is the longest-running theatrical release in film history.
Brown said PSL’s version brings the fun, even choosing “Rocky’s little helper” from the audience to become an integral part of the show.
“Audiences dance in the aisles to ‘Time Warp,’” Brown said. “People who come to this should expect the possibility of me sitting in their lap, if they are within a certain section. We do a lot of crossing in the aisles.”
Tickets are $20, available here. The cast includes Molly Albright, Devin DiMattia, Beau Mumford, Anna Driscoll, Beth Corvino, Jordan Vogt, and Brett J. Young.
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