Even four months before the curtain is raised, Vanity Project Productions’ April staging of The Rocky Horror Show at the Gladstone Theatre is nearly sold out, prompting the addition of two more performances.
The show will run from April 1 to 4 and will mark the final Vanity production at The Gladstone, as company founder Tim Oberholzer is moving to Vancouver in the spring.
Teri Loretto-Valentik is a founding member of Plosive Productions, the company that oversees the season at the Gladstone.
“We have had sold out shows,” she says. “It varies. Some shows are easy to sell-out and some shows are really hard to sell.” Part of her group’s role at the theatre is to ensure that programming from the many different companies that use the space appeals to local audiences.
As an active member of Ottawa’s theatre community, she also taught Oberholzer during his time in Algonquin College’s theatre arts program and says he will be deeply missed. “He’s a very special creative force. A creative force of nature.”
Oberholzer says he’ll miss Ottawa patrons’ love of theatre. “For such a small community, there’s a lot of support for it. Which is fantastic.”
He attributes some of his company’s success to the city’s lively theatre community. “It’s not just about the show, it’s about a sense that patrons want to participate and be a part of a vibrant theatre scene in Ottawa.”
Oberholzer argues that while traditional advertising has become less effective in recent years, social media enables producers to “invite someone to come and experience something.”
In addition to Vanity Project, Oberholzer is a manager for the Gladstone’s box office. He will also play one of the lead roles in Rocky Horror, Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
As Loretto-Valentik puts it, “we can find three people to do what he does very well, but not one.”
The Rocky Horror Show follows the story of a newly engaged couple that are forced into the home of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite mad scientist, by a storm. Written by Richard O’Brien, it premiered in London in 1973.
The musical was adapted into a film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in 1975. It gained a massive cult following that is still very alive today.
In Ottawa, The Mayfair Theatre screens it monthly.