Rocky Horror was great for ad-libs, but the Penn&Teller thing with the audience member--the audience member was Rocky swing John Jeffrey Martin. The best part about that evening was when I saw him in the audience and said, "You're not going on tonight?" And he just kinda stammered, "Well, ah, no, I'm not a Phantom tonight..." because he couldn't give away what was coming. He was really yelling some weird things, like he'd wait for a call line and then repeat it, but changing words so the sentence lost all meaning.
The Dick Cavett "Bitch slap you to the curb"? I almost peed myself. Until I heard him say it the next 15 times I saw him. His bits were great--the first time! Lol.
Anyway, my favorite RH ad-libs:
1. Terrence Mann is trying to successfully get through his first show, and Kristen Lee Kelly does the longest Columbia rant after she gets zapped. "I'm gonna get some cheese in a can, that stuff's great! Cccckkkhhhhh!!" All the while, Terrence Mann is literally biting his lip and looking at everything BUT her in an attempt to keep his composure. It's the only time I've ever seen the man come close to breaking character!
2. Sebastian Bach is in the audience before its initial closing (and before he joined the cast). Kristen Lee Kelly, as Columbia (once again, after she's zapped): "I'm gonna go upstairs, take out my Skid Row calendar, get some scented candles, and pet the kitty, if you know what I mean!"
3. It's the first Sunday in September 2001. Alice Ripley (Janet) gets zapped and shouts, "My feet! There's something wrong with my feet!" Somebody in the audience shouts, "No white shoes after Labor Day!" to which Lea DeLaria (Dr. Scott) replied, "Labor Day is not til tomorrow. I can't believe they won the war."
4. Terrence Mann is delivering the pre-Rocky monologue ("It was strange how it happened... All the pieces seem to fit in to place...") and there's a drunk (I hope) high up in the crowd shouting after every other word that comes out of Mann's mouth, totally unintelligible things that no one can understand, and certainly aren't funny. Finally, the guy made some comment about Mann (or Frank N. Furter) being gay, and Mann turned and said something like: "That's how I discovere the secret--Eat Me!--that elusive ingredient, that..."
5. Jason Wooten is Dr. Scott, Liz Larsen is Columbia, etc, so it's after the reopening. Wooten delivers, "I knew he had gotten in with a bad crowd, but it was worse than I'd imagined--" to which the audience dutifully called out, "Actors!" Imagine the collective audience surprise when EVERYBODY on stage slowly turned and flipped the bird, then calmly resumed the show.
"It's not for sissies, contrary to popular belief." - Tommy Tune, on musical theatre.
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