What better chaser to The Wizard of Oz than The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is essentially just The Wizard of Oz with hipper songs and better makeup? After Dorothy Gale spins away with her little dog, too, the Sphere will welcome legions of Transylvanians
for supersized screenings of the beloved 1975 cult film about hapless Midwestern newlyweds Brad and Janet who Time Warp into just about the best party ever. The folks who operate the venue hope to open The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Sphere, an “enhanced” edition of the original film, in 2027.
“Since The Rocky Horror Picture Show premiered in 1975, it redefined audience participation and became a cultural phenomenon,” Jim Dolan, Executive Chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment, said in a statement. “With Sphere, we have the opportunity to take that spirit of immersion to an entirely new level.”
The Rocky Horror Show began life as a theatrical musical on London’s West End in 1973. Record and film producer Lou Adler was so taken by it he brought the production to Los Angeles and purchased the film rights for what became The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It bombed, but thanks to Tim Curry’s over-the-top performance as “transsexual transvestite” Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick’s goofy portrayals of a naïve Midwestern couple seduced into bisexuality by lusty aliens — and Richard O’Brien’s perfectly kitschy and catchy soundtrack — it got a second life as a midnight movie, complete with shadow casts reenacting what’s onscreen and people throwing toast and rice at the movie screens. The Sphere better have big mops.
The 17,600-seat venue has grossed $400 million in ticket sales for The Wizard of Oz, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That production opened at the Sphere on Aug. 28.
Fun fact: O’Brien, who wrote the original play and portrayed Riff Raff onscreen, originally wanted the beginning of the movie to be in black and white, turning to color when Curry came onscreen as a nod to The Wizard of Oz.
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