Long Beach Rocky Horror
HISTORY
The Long Beach Rocky Horror Cast started as Midnight Insanity at the Landmark Balboa Theatre in Newport Beach, California on January 16, 1988, and performed there for four years until the theater closed on November 30, 1991, ending the Rocky Horror tradition for the Balboa Fun Zone which had started in the late 1970s.
Midnight Insanity soon moved to The Art Theatre in Long Beach, opening on January 11, 1992. The cast performed at the Art for an amazing 14-year run, with their final show being on Thursday, July 27, 2006.
Midnight Insanity was then invited to perform in the Royal Theater, aboard the Historic Queen Mary. Opening night was on August 26, 2006, which necessitated adding a second performance that evening, in order to accomodate all the attendees. Midnight Insanity performed aboard the Queen Mary until a change in management caused the show to abruptly close on February 9, 2008.
Without missing a beat, Midnight Insanity moved to the fabulous Warner Grand in San Pedro. The theatre is a historic landmark, and has been recently restored. Opening night was on February 16, 2008.
Midnight Insanity moved to the South Coast Village Regency in Santa Ana on May 19, 2010 to perform a year of exciting shows.
Finally, Midnight Insanity returned to the Art Theater in Long Beach on September 24, 2011 where they perform to this day.
In August of 2012 the cast decided to go in new directions, with a re-imagined Rocky Horror experience. With this the cast simply became known as "Long Beach Rocky Horror" in honor of the city that has become the cast's home. They perform every Saturday night at midnight.
FUN FACTS
The cast also performed Fridays at the Topanga Theater in Woodland Hills from October 1996 through May 1998; as well as Fridays at the 4 Star Cinema in Garden Grove from July 1999 through September 1999.
They were honored by a municipality as the mayor proclaimed January 17th, 1995 "Midnight Insanity Day" in Long Beach in recognition of various fundraising activities and work with local youth. Long Beach Rocky Horror is a non profit organization and survives solely on the donations of their audience and cast members.
The cast and its members have performed at national conventions at 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood for the 15th Anniversary Convention, Beverly Hills, Hollywood at the The Rocky Horror 20th Anniversary Celebration, Denver, Tucson, San Jose and Las Vegas for the 25th Anniversary Convention.
During the 20th Anniversary, after their special performance at the Pantages Theatre, Rocky Horror creator Richard O'Brien requested the backdrop they had painted and used as a set.
In 1993 Midnight Insanity sponsored and hosted 18th Anniversary "Age of Consent" a National Convention at the Hilton in Long Beach commemorating the 18th Anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This event was attended by fans from across the country which featured an appearance by radio legend, Dr. Demento. The convention raised over $1000 for AIDS Project Los Angeles.
In June of 1997, Midnight Insanity hosted the 22nd Annual National Rocky Horror Convention, "The Light in the Darkness", at the "Inn at the Park" hotel in Anaheim, CA. The two-day convention was attended by numerous casts from around the country, as well as people from as far away as Milan, Italy.
In August of 1999,Midnight Insanity was selected to perform at Rhino Retrofest with Rocky Horror creator, Richard O'Brien.
In July of 2000, Midnight Insanity participated in a Rocky Horror documentary titled A Regular Frankie Fan, which was put together by "Magick Films" and is currently available on both VHS and DVD, in stores everywhere.
In June of 2001, Midnight Insanity hosted "Frankie Goes to Hollywood", a 4-day Rocky Horror Convention in the heart of Hollywood, CA. This convention featured guest stars Patricia Quinn (Magenta from RHPS), Bob Simon (Frank from The Rocky Horror Show), and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark); and was attended by folks from around the country, plus a few dedicated fans from Japan.
In June of 2005, Midnight Insanity hosted Cirque Du Rockeil, another 4-day Rocky Horror Convention. This convention was held in Sin City, Las Vegas, NV.
In September of 2005, Midnight Insanity performed at the RHPS 30th Anniversary held at the Hollywood Bowl to celebrate Rocky Horror's 30th Anniversary, along with nearly 8000 fans!! Our opening band was Louis XIV, and our lovely MC for the evening was Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos and various other projects.
In July of 2007, Midnight Insanity held our fifth Rocky Horror Convention, The Pirates of Transylvania. This convention was held aboard the Queen Mary, where we raised the Pirate flag, and went off to raid nearby ships in the Port of Long Beach.
In March of 2014, multiple members of Long Beach Rocky Horror participated in El Fishnet Fiesta Dos.
Midnight Insanity cast members have won several convention awards for costumes including "Dr. Frank-N-Furter", "Janet Weiss", "Brad Majors", "Riff Raff", "Magenta", "Columbia", "Eddie", "Dr. Scott" and "Transylvanian". At the 15th Anniversary, Midnight Insanity won for "Midget" (Sadie Corre) Transylvanian. At the 20th Anniversary, Midnight Insanity won for Best Eddie, Riff, Magenta and Transylvanian. At the 25th Anniversary, we won for Best Eddie, Dr. Scott and "Kimi Wong" Transylvanian.
Midnight Insanity has promoted Rocky Horror on national TV during Doo-Dah parades, appearing in the Fox-TV Television Special in October 1993, The Drew Carey Show - "New York And Queens" in 1997, and on VH-1's "Behind the Music" in 1999.
Long Beach Rocky Horror celebrated 20 years of performing as Rocky Horror cast, and performed a true Double Feature with back-to-back performances to two packed houses, over the course of about six hours.
In January 2009, Long Beach Rocky Horror celebrated their 21st Birthday, featuring a themed Special Performance, dozens of Long Beach Rocky Horror Cast Alumni, and an appearance from Celebrity Guest, Jamie Donnelly.
In the summer of 2015, an alumni of Long Beach Rocky Horror suffered a severe tragedy and lost most of his house. Joined together by multiple Southern California casts, Long Beach Rocky Horror participated in the "Benefit for Elfboy" where money was raised via donations and auction items to support one of our own.
In August 2015, Long Beach Rocky Horror performed at a surprise engagement at the Colony Theater in Burbank to a large crowd. The performance can be viewed on Long Beach Rocky Horror's new youtube account.
Long Beach Rocky Horror can be found on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, and their personal website.
