Some friends and I dressed up and went to see the show. We weren't the only ones, but there weren't many of us: A Frank and Riff from a shadow cast in Vancouver, a couple dressed as Brad and Janet in their underwear and lab coats, and then we three: Me as Frank, my friends as Phantoms.
Before the show started, I asked the usher if it were OK for the audience to call out and he was quite enthusiastic about it. So the show starts with a pair of lips projected on the scrim to tell us to turn off our cell phones, don't record the show, check for the exits in case of an emergency, and the show starts.
"Michael Rennie was ill The Day the Earth Stood Still, but he told us where we stand."
And I say in a voice loud enough for only those sitting next to me to hear, "On our feet!" I wanted to gauge just what the audience was up to. Well, there was a strong contingent down in the stalls calling out.
Good.
"And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear" ("It was gold!")
"Claude Rains was The Invisible Man" ("I can see right through you!")
I'm now bold and using my trained voice to project through the theatre. Now, you must remember: I'm a Rocky veteran and learned the audience part in Albuquerque, NM. I've seen the movie all over the world and the rowdiest crowd ever was at the Guild. I've seen it in New York and shouted down Sal Piro himself, having the audience wonder who the hell that crazy person in the back was who wouldn't shut up.
So suffice to say that I was making the audience pay attention to me. They were laughing and I was toning it down a bit. It has been a long time since I was in my Rocky prime and many of the lines have gone away, but I still have enough to prove I'm no virgin and they're not the typical lines most people know.
The cast did break a couple times. The first was not by me. When Frank is playing with Rocky's body during "Charles Atlas," he runs his finger down Rocky's abs toward the crotch. The timing was such that I didn't quite snag the cue when he finally got past it, but another audience member was on the ball to shout it out: "Missed it! Missed it! Now ya gotta kiss it!" Frank paused and nearly guffawed.
The second was when Frank was about to start the Floor Show. "What tastes good on cornflakes?" And Frank stopped dead in his tracks, knowing what his line was and how it was the answer to my question. You can see the thought bubble in his mind as he realizes what he is about to say. Too long of a pause to be dramatic effect.
I got him.
"Come! Our guests will be growing restless!"
But they did get me back. Twice. The first time was during the Mouseketeer Roll Call:
"Dr. Scott! Janet! Rocky! Piss off!" And the gasp at the creation turning on his creator. "Actually, I was referring to that guy," pointing up in the balcony in my direction.
The audience applauds, me along with them.
But the scene continues:
"I suppose you intend to do with us what you did with Eddie!"
"Eddie!"
"Shh!"
"Eddie - I've seen him. He looks terrible."
And Frank pulls Brad aside, turns to the audience, and says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Brad's been trying to get a laugh out of that line since we've opened."
So I immediately pipe up: "Oh, sure! Now you want me to respond!"
The audience erupts in laughter.
But the second time was the killer. Frank appears in a silver sequin gown to sing the intro to "Don't Dream It":
"Whatever happened to Fay Wray?" ("She went ape-shit!")
"That delicate, satin-draped frame?" ("It was polyester!")
"As it clung to her thigh," ("What? The ape shit?")
"How I started to cry." ("You'd cry, too, if you were being fucked by a 40-foot ape with a 10-foot banana!")
And Frank just turns to me and calls out, "You know, I wish you'd find a 10-foot banana because you certainly sound like you need attenion. What? Don't they have big dicks in Vancouver?"
And the audience erupts in applause, me right there with them. Now..."Vancouver"? I had no idea what he was talking about. Why are we making fun of Canadians? I don't think I have a Canadian accent...I've never lived there, though I did have a vacation in Toronto and Montreal when I was 4. The closest I ever got to living nearby was when I was living in Dayton, but I don't sound like a Canadian. Ah, but if you'll recall, there were some members of the Vancouver shadow cast there. Apparently, they had been told of such and he thought I was part of them.
So the show ends, they get a standing ovation, and we wait out front to jaw with some other folks who saw the show and the cast slowly trickles out. The Narrator comes by, I admit that I was "that guy," and he gives it a good laugh. We get a picture of him strangling me.
