May 13, 2007
 
ROCKYPALOOZA: RHPS Mini Convention Premieres First Shadow Cast of “Phantom of the Paradise”
 
By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Critic
 
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Cast members from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” shadowcasts gathered Friday and Saturday, May 11-12, 2007 in Huntington to celebrate everything “Rocky.”
 
Organized by Downhome Decadence, players attended from Cleveland, Ohio; Las Vegas, Nv.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Scranton, Pa.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Norfolk, Va.; Rhode Island, Charleston, S.C., and Easley , S.C.
 

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The event kicked off with the Friday night “shadow cast’ of RHPS at the Cinema Theatre, then, on Saturday afternoon moved to Marco's on the Marshall campus.
 
Kimmy Woodworth, a cast member of “Simply His Servants” in Cleveland, Ohio, organized the “world premiere” shadowcast of Brian DePalma’s campy rock opera, “Phantom of the Paradise.” Produced in 1974, the film stars Paul Williams as a rock promoter who manipulates Winslow (William Finley) a disfigured musician to sell his soul so Phoenix (Jessica Harper), the woman he loves, can perform his music.
 
Loosely based on “Phantom of the Opera,” the flick received an Oscar nomination for best music and original score, as well as a nomination by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for 1976 “Best Horror Film.” Brian DePalma, who later directed “Carrie,” received a Writer’s Guild Nomination for “Best comedy.”
 
Ms. Woodworth told HNN that the idea to “shadow cast” “Paradise” stemmed from a two-fold reasoning: Jessica Harper (Phoenix) plays Janet Majors in the 1981 follow up to “Rocky Horror,” “Shock Treatment” and , they had a print available of the film.
 
She described the assemblage of the “shadow cast” as “exciting” as “Phantom is a very cool cult film. I love the movie , and, at least it has Jessica Harper in it so there’s a relation to “Shock Treatment.”
 
As for the interactive portion, “we pretty much practiced on our own. We had a rehearsal yesterday, but it was mostly what we could get together.”
 
The convention included a shadow cast of “Shock Treatment” followed on Saturday at midnight with an all-star interactive cast for “RHPS” at the Cinema Theatre.
 
The all-star cast included: Laura Adkins (Huntington) and Missy Defina (Scranton, Pa.); Kenny Ison (Huntington), Crystal Blass (Rhode Island); Aaron Schiff (Cincinnati); Chris Adkins (Huntington); Carrie Kirk and Sarah Kling (Huntington); Bob Foster (Charleston, S.C. ), Jordan P (Pittsburgh); Empa Hope (Huntington); Jennifer Marsden (Norfolk, Va.); Dawn (Scranton, Pa.); Shannon Gobel (Huntington); Missy Stricklett (Cincinnati), Nathan Amos (Huntington); Kimmy Woodsworth (Cleveland); Jamie Dzierzak and Hannah Bird (Huntington); Jonathan Ruggiero (Las Vegas); Chris Hutchinson (Huntington); David Humphreys (Huntington); Eddie Steve Van Meter (Las Vegas); Kyle Defina (Scranton), Larry Viezel (Montclair, N.J. , and Kate Davis (Virginia).