THE LONG AND ROCKY ROAD
by Matthew M. Yenkala
*note: All photos and other memorabilia displayed below have been donated by ROCKY veterans through the years. More can be found HERE, and we have much more that has yet to see the light of day. But we are always looking for more! So if you have anything at all you are willing to contribute to this "History" project, please contact us!
INTRODUCTION
What follows is a brief rundown of all the theatres that have shown Rocky in the Phoenix area since its debut in 1975. It is the result of long labor and research for which the author is extremely grateful to all those persons who have provided resources, information and inspiration.
It has been my aim to be as thorough as possible but there will inevitably be errors in detail and chronology, for which I accept responsibility (though in many cases these are due to conflicting memories of the aforementioned persons!). Please note that it is a work in progress, and a major revision (not to mention photos) are planned for the very near future. Those with more information to add are welcome to do so--I am always looking for stories, histories, names of cast & audience members, pictures, video, handbills, flyers or other memorabilia pertaining to any past Arizona Rocky Horror production. If you have any of this, you are ENCOURAGED to contact the author/historian at azrocky@gmail.com so that the this document may be expanded, revised and corrected. Many thanks!
BEFORE IT ALL BEGAN....
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW stage play was a huge hit in England in 1973; it crossed the water to America in 1974, and its success at the Roxy in Hollywood convinced 20th Century Fox to spend a million dollars on a film version. The Rocky Horror Picture Show had its European premiere in August 1975 in England; its American premiere was 26th September 1975 at the UA Theatre, Westwood, California. In the coming month it was released in only a handful of markets, and at all but a few of these (namely those in Southern California) it bombed, disappearing after a few short weeks. But this was in general release….not at midnight. There was no audience participation, no “cult”; it was just…another movie.
UA CHRISTOWN (I). Fall 1975
This was the first local venue to screen the film. According to New Times writer Robert X. Planet: “As a fan of the play, I had been eager to catch the movie when it opened in Phoenix…To my utter amazement, four friends and I--three of whom had seen the Roxy stage version--were nearly alone in the deserted Chris-Town cinema. I counted six other patrons scattered around the room as the lights dimmed….My friends and I chuckled, then howled [at the movie]. We looked around. The others glared silently, a few shaking their heads in confusion. Two weeks later, the film closed.”
In the days before cable TV and home video were commonplace, movies ran in theatres a LOT longer than they do now—sometimes literally for years. So if a studio was patient, it could make back its investment in a film that didn’t do well initially. In the spring of 1976, a young 20th Century Fox executive named Tim Deegan hit upon a brilliant idea: instead of waiting for Rocky to find an audience, he wanted Rocky’s AUDIENCE to find it. He decided to begin playing Rocky Horror as a midnight movie in some hand-picked markets—starting with the Waverly in Greenwich Village, New York. Long story short: the fans *did* find it. Big Time. Within six months of its opening on April Fool’s Weekend, 1976, everything that we now identify with the Rocky Horror experience—talking back to the screen, coming in costume, using props, having a host to M.C. the show, and the “community” of Rocky—were firmly in place. Within a year there were 100 screens in the US showing the movie; within 2 years, 200. But the amazing thing is, in those pre-internet-cell-phone-pager-fax-machine-days—the rituals of audience participation either spread very quickly and/or arose simultaneously in multiple locations. Whichever, it was not long before the Light of the Night broke over the Valley of the Sun…
SOMBRERO PLAYHOUSE, 7th St & Highland, Phoenix, 1977-1981
Founded in the 40s by actress Anne Harris (who died in Phoenix in 2003), the Sombrero began life as an actual playhouse for stage productions; it fell out of her hands and was converted into a hybrid cinema/playhouse sometime in the 1950s or 60s. By the mid-70s it had something of a seedy reputation and concentrated on cult, foreign, independent and art-house fare. Its stage/screen layout was uniquely suited to Rocky. This was the first “participation” theatre in the Valley, and it began showing Rocky in June of 1977. New Times writer Dewey Webb spoke to the Sombrero owner Morrey Levine on the occasion of the movie’s one-year anniversary at the theatre:
“Some weeks prior to “Rocky Horror’s” debut….Levine had booked the film for a two-day run as part of his regular programming. “I sat down and watched it. I couldn’t understand it. But the young gals who work here were delighted with it. I thought maybe I was on to something so I asked one of them what it was about the movie that turned her on. She said ‘It shows things I’ve fantasized about. I’ve dreamed about those lips [the huge disembodied mouth that opens the film].’”…. Levine decided to book the film and run it on successive Friday nights as the midnight attraction he’d been thinking of inaugurating.
“With no idea that “Rocky Horror” was packing them in at similar midnight shows in a number of other American cities, Levine threw open his doors to “poor-to-moderate” attendance. Word-of-mouth spread like mono and business built to the point he was sold out every night. After turning away prospective ticket buyers every Friday, he took a calculated risk and started running the picture show on Saturday nights as well. For several weeks the additional screening had a diluting affect on Friday night business but soon the theater was SRO both nights. Demand for tickets is now so heavy that it’s been necessary to institute advance ticket sales five hours prior to that evening’s performance. And it’s a performance in every sense of the word….”
The cast acronym was “W.A.R.P.”, for “We Are Rocky People”. Various groups and Individuals of Importance came and went at this theatre, setting the precedent for the Rocky social scene in general: amorphous, nebulous and open. It throve for four years before the owner got an offer he couldn’t refuse…and sold the property to a developer. The Sombrero closed its doors in the summer of 1981. An office building stands there now.
THE VALLEY ART (I), Tempe 1978-1982
The single-screen-plus-stage Valley Art Theatre in Tempe was another natural location for Rocky Horror. Built in the 1940s by “Red” Harkins (who according to legend conceived his son Dan in the projection room), the Valley Art in the 1970s was run by the nation arts chain Landmark Cinemas. Considered a “rival” group to that at the Sombrero, the crowd was largely made up of college students and there was little “show” to speak of. It ran, and closed, with little fanfare.
UA CHRISTOWN (II), 1982-86
The majority of the Sombrero crowd (and apparently the Sombrero’s print as well) migrated over to the Christown Mall, where the show ran for several years. According to reports, what they lacked in professionalism, they made up in enthusiasm
HARKINS CAMELVIEW (1983-1988?)
The remaining Sombrero vets filtered to Camelview. This show had a friendly rivalry with…
UNIVERSITY DOLLAR (1984-1987 & 1988-1991)
Arguably ROCKY’s most memorable and successful home in the Valley in the 1980s, owned and run by Krista Griffin, this was the forerunner of the 90s Valley Art show. This was the home of such legendary performers as SCOTT TICKLER and VALINA CUTLER. The theatre had over 600 seats and gold curtains and played Rocky Friday and Saturday nights to sell out crowds for years.
WESTRIDGE MALL GENERAL CINEMAS, 1985—1991
In the 80s, Rocky went to the suburbs and the malls. In this case, Westridge Mall. This show went through several phases but always drew heavily from neighboring Trevor Browne High School Drama Dept. Birthplace of Once In A While Players (later BROADWAY BOUND & GAGGED). Has one of the most intricate and confusing histories of any of the Valley’s Rocky theatres. Closed with great fanfare February 9th, 1991.
PARADISE VALLEY MALL GENERAL CINEMAS, 1988
Many of the Tempe folk migrated here temporarily between the first and second stints at University, though the two shows did briefly overlap..
METRO CENTRE GENERAL CINEMAS, 1990-1992
Founded by Alex Moore in October 1990. A very successful show, soon strengthened by an influx of homeless Westridge cast in early 1991. Its demise roughly coincides with the return of ROCKY to the Valley Art, Rocky’s release on home video in the US, and 20th Century Fox’s “Only One ROCKY print per market” mandate.
VALLEY ART CINEMAS (II), 1992-1999
Rocky’s definitive home in the Valley in the 90s, transferring directly from University when that theatre’s owner took over the Valley art. Considered a Golden Age for ROCKY, especially during the mid-1990s, it ended its run in April 1999 when the theatre closed for renovation. Its shadow hangs long over ROCKY in the Valley even now, but its current owner is not very sympathetic to ROCKY, and the days of Mill Ave as a freak-friendly haven are long gone. So treasure those memories….
TEMPE CINEMAS, 1999—2001
Quiet little theatre in the ‘burbs of Tempe, where the Broadway Bound & Gagged cast (now with ties to virtually every cast of the past) began to get a larger sense of what was possible to do with ROCKY….restructuring, branching out, reaching for all kinds of goals…and succeeding, for all too brief a time….before elements beyond our control took it away after 94 shows.
GRAND CINEMAS SPECTRUM MALL (III), 2002--2005
ROCKY came full circle in October 2002, returning to the very theatre at which it first played in the Valley (albeit with a new name and under new ownership). Taking its evolution several steps further, from the relatively small production of the Valley Art, through the transitional stage of Tempe Cinemas, the show was now a full-blown extravaganza, featuring multiple theme nights, double features (HEDWIG, CLUE, CANNIBAL THE MUSICAL), and no end of drama. Word came in late 2004 that the theatre's closure was imminent. The final show, on February 12th, 2005, sold in excess of 500 tickets and featured numerous veterans performing one more time, though following its closure (and subsequent demolition) nothing was ever to be the same in the Phoenix-area ROCKY scene. Spectrum lasted for 128 shows.
GRAND CINEMAS WARNER VALLEY VIEW CHANDLER (I), 2003--2005
ROCKY's success at the Spectrum Theatre in Phoenix had only one downside: East Valley audiences who'd grown used to having ROCKY on THEIR side of town now had a longer drive ahead of them. This didn't stop them, but many expressed the wish that ROCKY was closer. Their wish was granted when Grand Cinemas acquired another former United Artists theatre, this one in the heart of Chandler (and design-wise a big brother of Tempe Cinemas). The ROCKY waters were tested with one Friday night show in November 2003, which did well enough for the ROCKY to go monthly in January 2004 and finally weekly every Friday night beginning in September of that year (making it the first time in over a decade that ROCKY had played at more than one theatre in the Valley every week and also the first regular Friday show in at least as long). The monthly shows had drawn about 125 persons each, while the weekly shows had a smaller crowd; however, Halloween 2004 came close to selling out, with at least 300 people in attendance. When the Spectrum theatre closed, the intention was simply to move ROCKY permanently to the Chandler theatre and change from Friday to Saturday night. Sadly, the theatre closed without notice, and as fate would have it, ROCKY's final Chandler show for that time was the night before the final Spectrum show. There were 29 shows at the theatre.
Following the closure of Spectrum & Chandler, the Phoenix area ROCKY scene unfortunately descended into a sea of drama and division, and endured tragic passing of two cast members from the Grand Cinemas era. Barring a single night's return to the Valley Art on April 1st, 2005 (a private showing for a convention audience), ROCKY only showed in sports bars, not movie theatres, throughout the rest of 2005 and much of 2006, until....
CHANDLER CINEMA CAFE (II), 2006
In May 2006, the Chandler Cinemas was acquired by a new owner who seemed determined to bring ROCKY back. After a number of phone calls, emails and discussions, the decision was made to move forward with a brand-new cast (COME AS YOU ARE) rather than return to what had gone before. After several months of rehearsal and preparation, and one false start (the debut show was delayed due to the film not arriving), the new cast debuted to a sellout crowd on Saturday, September 16th 2006, and by Halloween had done a total of 8 very successful shows for nearly 1500 people. Unfortunately, the aforementioned "owner" turned out to be less-than-honest in both his business and personal dealings; and the cast management, fearing a fallout when those dealings came back to bite him, voluntarily withdrew from the theatre following the Halloween show. The owner claimed he would continue the show with yet another "new" cast, but nothing came of this, and eventually the property landlord, tired of the drama and corruption that had followed the theatre owner since he took over, locked him out.
CHANDLER CINEMA CAFE (III), 2007--?
But wait! The story doesn't end there. The landlord approached none other than GRAND CINEMAS to return and revive the theatre for good--and they brought ROCKY back with them! Third time's the charm, right? The first of three Friday night "sneak preview" shows drew nearly 200 people on January 26th, and the show moved to every Saturday night beginning February 17th--by which time ROCKY had already gotten on Channel 3 News! As of this writing, peace has been declared between the various factions of ROCKY fandom in the Valley and COME AS YOU ARE is moving forward into an EXCITING future!
THE FUTURE?
Eventually we would like to have a second show in another part of the Valley so that EVERYONE can be there as often as they like! Of course our GRANDEST dream would be to own and run our own theatre (probably built from the ground up) somewhere in the central/downtown Phoenix area and do a full-on ROCKY production every Saturday night, and do traveling "satellite" shows throughout the Valley on Friday nights. Will that ever happen? We shall see--the future IS open wide!
STAGE PRODUCTIONS, OTHER AZ SHOWS & ODDITIES
The Sombrero often showed THE PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE with shadowcast in the late 70s.
The University cast showed LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS with a shadowcast in 1988.
SHOCK TREATMENT (ROCKY's "sequel") was shown to a large audience at Tempe Cinemas in a double feature with ROCKY and featuring full live stage cast.
At Spectrum Cinemas several double features were shown, all very successfully, all featuring live stage shows, including CLUE (twice). CANNIBAL THE MUSICAL (twice) and HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH (three times).
Other venues rumored to have shown the film were the GLENDALE 9 DRIVE IN sometime around 1984 and the TEMPE LAKES CINEMAS sometime around 1990-91. There has been no solid evidence of these shows’ existence.
There have been three stage productions of The Rocky Horror Show (the stage play upon which the film is based) in the Valley: 1987, at the Mesa Amphitheatre, which was reportedly disastrous; 1990, at the Mill Avenue Theatre, which was EXTREMELY faithful to the original London and Roxy productions and VERY entertaining and effective (both these productions starred one CURT ANTHON as Frank); and in 1997 at the Valley Art—however, this version, by Todd James Smeltzer Productions, was not a faithful stage production but rather a stage-rendered tribute to the film (which the producers simultaneously criticized) and left a great deal to be desired.
TUCSON has boasted one of the nation’s most consistent Rocky scenes since 1978, first at the Loft, then at the New Loft Cinemas, producing such legendary veterans as Charley Brown, Verity Witzeman, James Norman and Asia Rose, and hosting one of the most fondly-remembered Rocky Horror conventions of all time, the Fishnet Fiesta, in 1999. In April 2000 an internal split caused Charley Brown and a number of his most loyal cast members to leave the cast he had founded, A JUMP TO THE LEFT, and a few months later, form HEAVY PETTING. The two casts alternated weekends for several years, until late 2004, when JUMP dissolved and HEAVY PETTING became Tucson's sole active ROCKY cast. QUEENS OF THE DESERT, the 31st Anniversary International ROCKY Convention, was held in October 2006, hosted by Heavy Petting and featuring special guests Sal Piro and original Transylvanian Perry Bedden.
FLAGSTAFF featured an active Rocky scene at the Weremburg Theatre, 1994-96, run by the legendary DEVO (now running the SoCal cast Wild & Untamed Things). Additionally, since 2001 the Theatrikos theatre company has shown charity screenings at Halloween time. The first of these was the cast WILD & UNTAMED THINGS, formed by Scott Gore and BB&G vets Tami King, Harrison Ross and Thad Boyd; every year since then the cast has had no name, though Tami and Thad are still involved.
YUMA features the intermittent cast NASTY LITTLE SYMPTOMS, who perform several times a year at the Arizona Western College. Adele Cernik is their goodwill goddess.
SIERRA VISTA featured a brief run of the show in 1997 run by one Chip Miles.
ALUMNI
It would not be realistically possible to name all those who have been important in Arizona Rocky History. ANY such list could only be seriously incomplete and barely scratch the surface, and moreover, the further back one goes, the fewer names are known. Nevertheless, here is a feeble attempt to name a few (in addition to those named above), with sincere apologies to those not listed here…..and all the ones I’m sure I’ll remember and kick myself for not adding later:
Dawn Grigsby, Lori Whipple, Scott McDonald, Justin Reed, Andy Wise, Chris McCullough, Lil Scott, the Sarge, Lowell Larson, Chris Williams, Alex Ringler, Matthew Yenkala, Nezzy Hill, Chandra Obie, Veronica Wilczewski, Keyth, Ron Stevenson & Pete Roo, Cancer, Lisa Pletsch, Harrison Ross, Tami King, Tiff Lamoureaux, Ben Foreman, Eryk White, Yavone Amoroso, James Kregar, Del Benjamin, Father Mike, Miah Maline, Kelly Jackson, Jen Romero, the Whipple clan, Rebe Rosen, Jen Silver, Staci Norris, Betsy Mortensen, Leesa Roberson, Keyth English, Eleanor Carbett, Abby, Steve Srock, Tim the Punisher, Larry Ellis, Eric Jamison, Jen Jamison, Audrey J. Spencer, Mary Kay & Janelle, Monk & Liz, Raven, Sarah Michal, City, Keith Ponchak, Missy Ahrendt, Rocky Rodriguez, Chris Ceranski, Deana Heinz, Sahar, Jessie Flint, Tiff Blumenthal, Lauren, Trisha Belobraidic, Hymie, Tiger, Reno, Lizzie Campbell, Phil, Angela Egic, Clay Evans, Greg “Gad” Dawson, Cookie Man & Lizard Boy, Kuttre, LeFotoStat, Jasper, Ronnie Duran, Dirk Deppey, Pat Crea, Bill “the Cat” Suphon, Ian Blanton, Sheryl Schuur, Heather Pharris, Dave Troendle, Terrie Weidinger, Gina Schwind, Mike Comunale, Jim the Light Guy, Tracy Payne, Terre “the Very Scary Fairy” Steed, Snowy, Psyco, Buddha, Jeff Rowe, E. Adam Thomas, Chaz McCoy, Rick Waters, Charles Jarvis, Greg Ragland, Chaos & Sebastian, Ghost, Travis Thurman, MyShel Meine, Erin Manning, Randall Hampton, Scott Jeffers, Bryan Myers, Richard Bolinski, Larry Larson, Aaron Glotfelter, Simon, Amber West, Carrie Hodges, Lloyd Lewis, Brad Waddell, Chris Williams, Angela “Curry’s Angel” Egic, Cindy Gray, Mary Riden, Tammy Snider, Ken Kale, Russ, Kevin McClure, Scott Tickler, Valina Cutler, Captain Aries, Luther, Sharon, Paula, Curtis, Tracy Yenkala, & everyone else who SHOULD be on this list.
