Feb. 27-March 22, 2025
Show Webpage
Production Photos
THE CAST
Frank N. Furter – Todd Schaefer
Brad Majors – Rafael DaCosta
Janet Weiss – Brittany Kohl
Riff-Raff – Bee Mecey
Magenta – Katie Orr
Columbia – Tori Shea Cole
Eddie/Dr. Scott – Christopher Strawhun
The Creature – Zachary Thompson
The Narrator – Chelsie Johnston
THE NEW LINE BAND
Conductor/Keyboard – Randon Lane
Keyboard 2 – Jason Eschhofen
Bass – John Gerdes
Guitar – Adam Rugo
Saxophone – Brandon Thompson
Drums – Clancy Newell
THE ARTISTIC STAFF
Directors – Scott Miller, Chris Moore
Assistant Director – Chelsie Johnston
Music Director – Randon Lane
Choreographer – Chelsie Johnston
Intimacy Coordinator – Jocelyn Padilla
Stage Manager – Tawaine Noah
Technical Director – Nathan Mecey
Sound Designer – Ryan Day
Costume Designer – Erin Goodenough
Lighting Designer – Jack Kalan
Scenic Designer – Dr. Rob Lippert
Props Master – Erin Goodenough
Box Office Manager – Erin Goodenough
Graphic Designer – Matt Reedy
Photographer – Jill Ritter Lindberg
REVIEWS
“New Line proves Rocky Horror still has what it takes. New Line Theatre’s current season highlights musicals previously performed in its illustrious, 35-year history, revisiting The Rocky Horror Show with a blend of seasoned veterans and newcomers in its first performance of the cult classic since 2002. Now, as then, founder Scott Miller finds both the humor and social commentary in Richard O’Brien’s enduring masterpiece. . . If you’ve never viewed the original stage version of that campy sensation, New Line’s straight-ahead salute to O’Brien’s long-lasting masterpiece is a fitting introduction.” – Mark Bretz, Ladue News
“New Line Theatre’s delightful production of The Rocky Horror Show is unusually fresh...” – Gerry Kowarsky, Two on the Aisle
“The enduring much-revered fan-favorite musical The Rocky Horror Show is being produced by New Line Theatre after the company first staged the daring cult smash hit 23 years ago. But it’s not a rewind. This time, a playful cast interprets the original live stage show, which varies slightly from the raucous cult classic 1975 movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and may provide a fresh perspective in this changing current climate (as in catch it now before Missouri legislators may outlaw it). . . These days, a rebel yell is good for the soul, as more conservative viewpoints sweep the land, wanting to control what you read and watch, and wishing life were a ‘50s sitcom dream. Anyone not wanting to conform to outdated social mores and go back, those who can take a joke, could get fired up at The Rocky Horror Show. Just saying.” – Lynn Venhaus, PopLifeSTL
“Especially if you’re into dark, campy, raunchy homages of old B-style sci-fi and horror, or if you’re curious to see what everyone has been talking about, this show is worth seeing at least once. At New Line, the production takes a ‘back to basics’ approach that is focused on capturing the independent, small-theatre vibe that the original stage show had back when it first opened. . . This is the second show in a season of repeat productions for New Line, and it entertains with energy and campy, creepy style.” – Michelle Kenyon, Snoop’s Theatre Thoughts
“The bad boy of musical theatre, New Line Theatre, focuses on the elements that matter in a thoroughly entertaining production of The Rocky Horror Show. The musical is a bawdy, upbeat, and essentially sex positive sci-fi thriller with moments of delightfully over-the-top theatricality, a commitment – but not obsession – to the original, and a touch of space-age mutiny that’s easy to embrace, lightly subversive fun. . . theatergoers who enjoy well-performed high-camp, bawdy romps, catchy songs, subterfuge, and a humorously memorable sci-fi romantic comedy plot shouldn’t miss New Line Theatre’s The Rocky Horror Show.” – Tina Farmer, Mound City Messenger
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
On his first day in office this year, President Trump signed an executive order stating the United States would only recognize two sexes – male and female. Within days, he took away all rights from trans people in the government and the military; he signed orders banning gender-affirming care, including medical, surgical and mental health services, for anyone under the age of nineteen; he blocked trans soldiers from serving in the military, because a man’s “assertion that he is a woman” is not “consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.” In his “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” Trump called for schools to be blocked from using federal funding for purposes relating to “gender ideology or discrim¬inatory equity ideology.” Teachers who are “unlawfully facilitat¬ing the social transition of a minor student” will face punishment.
Rocky Horror is a deceptively smart, insightful piece of social satire about a very weird, very interesting, very complicated time in America – and it holds lessons for us here today about how badly America always over-reacts to nearly everything that comes down the road, and how much happier we’d all be if we’d just stop doing that.
Since the early Seventies, when Rocky Horror is set (fifty years ago!), America has been fighting an epic battle between the conservatism and conformity of the Fifties, vs. the freedom and openness of the Sixties. We’ve never stopped fighting this dumb fight, and today in 2025, the forces of conservatism try yet again to pull us back to the Fifties, when everything was really great – for straight white married men.
Yes, Rocky Horror is lots more than sex, drugs, and rock and roll. We can revel in the anarchy and craziness of this incredibly entertaining rock and roll fable, but our real world is peeking out from between the sheets, and it’s begging us to pay attention.
