So I realize it’s been a while since my last post, but I’ve been keeping busy. I had a stream of auditions and (what I like to think were) near-misses. Then something weird happened last Friday, when a friend let me know that the guy who had been playing Riff Raff in an upcoming production of The Rocky Horror Show down in Burien had backed out, and they were looking for a replacement.
Now Riff Raff is kind of a dream role for me, and I knew at least four of the other people who were going to be in it, so I responded and asked my friend who I should get in touch with about it. After some thought, though, I realized that it was strange that I hadn’t auditioned in the first place for it, and I wondered why. Digging up the theatre’s website and their audition page I soon realized it: they had been looking for a true “tenor rock screamer” to play the part, so when I had previously seen their audition notice I had naturally dismissed it as unattainable, as I am none of those things.
I spoke with the director on the phone and explained this to him, and said while I would love to play the part, I’d never sung any rock before, and without the aid of some kind of futuristic genetic therapy I simply wasn’t of that vocal calibre. He told me that had been their ideal and he had since come to accept that he wasn’t going to find exactly what he was looking for there, and he had seen me perform in a couple of shows before and liked my work, so if I thought I’d be able to hit the notes he’d cast me.
All I had to do at that moment was say “yes”, and I’d be in.
I hesitated, though. I told him I wanted to discuss it with my singing teacher and get back to him. I called Nikki and talked to her about it… sent her some YouTube clips of The Time Warp and Over At The Frankenstein’s Place. We discussed it and I phoned the director back and left him a message, telling him I could hit all the notes but some would have to be in my falsetto and not as strong as when Richard O’Brien sings them in the movie, but if he was okay with me backing it up with strong character choices then we’d be in business.
What followed was about the most agonizing day and a half in recent memory, while I waited impatiently for his non-response and dwelt upon the opportunity that had slipped through my fingers. Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show. I could have been the utterly creepy manservant who sings “The Time Warp”. The part so awesome that the writer of the show had to play it in the original stage production and in the movie adaptation. All I’d had to do was say “yes” when I had the chance… sure, I was just trying to do my due diligence, but if he said “no” after hearing of my shortcomings, or used the time to find someone else… well, sure, they were the same shortcomings I’d have anyway if I’d jumped at the offer, but he might have come to accept them more readily after working with me for a while, and I wouldn’t have missed out on what could easily be a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity…
So I was pretty much shivering with anticipation when I finally got the call and he told me that I’d been given the role, and he’d see me on Sunday.
And just like that, I get to play Riff Raff, easily the coolest role I’ve ever had an musical. Check it out:
So now I’m plagued with insecurities about how I’m going do vocal justice to this character. At the read-through on Sunday he played music from the 2000 revival cast, and it was very clear where he got the idea for a “tenor rock screamer”, as opposed to the original version, which was rocking but nowhere near as… well, rocktacular. The director expects us to provide the usual staples of good theatre but has made it clear that this is a musical about sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, and the importance of that third element cannot be denied.
I’ll just have to do my darnedest.
Dan.