“Day-glo dinosaurs and burlesque raptors — a raunchy version of a classic Spielberg spectacle,” is how director Alex Woodside sums up his revamp of Jurassic Park. While you might be expecting a similarly inclined approach to 2006’s Fringe hit Giant Killer Shark: The Musical, the Bloor Cinema’s Silver Stage lineup offers live theatrical performances occurring alongside 35mm screenings of such cult classics as David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Joss Whedon’s “Once More, With Feeling” (for non-nerds, the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) For traditionalists, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Repo! The Genetic Opera also get their due.

Inspired by past shadow-cast productions of Halloween mainstay Rocky Horror, of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 2008 by the Toronto Cyclists Union, and of Repo!, which sold out, Woodside, who also acts as the Bloor’s operations manager, wants to hearken back to the cinema’s vaudeville days, when it was called the Madison Theatre.

“Film, especially in its origins, had a lot of connection with theatre,” says Woodside. “What I think is interesting with shadow casting is that it breaks the very essence of performance. For the film, any kind of diegetic space created is completely destroyed by having the performers there. And by projecting the film behind the performers, it completely destroys the fourth wall of theatre. It’s really about bridging the gap between the film and the audience.”

But The Silver Stage is more than an exercise in apparatus theory. There are cap guns, pogo sticks, a masturbating Laura Dern (Emily Armstrong plays the actor in both Blue Velvet and Jurassic Park) and ear pinatas: so promises Blue Velvet director Robin Sharp, a long-time Bloor staffer who made a 2005 documentary about the cinema’s history with co-worker Peter Kuplowsky. Sharp’s Lynchian overhaul features an all-star cast of Fringe veterans and indie rockers alike, including Paprika Festival founder Anthony Furey (a well-muscled Jeffrey Beaumont/Kyle MacLachlan), singer Jo Fallak (Dorothy Vallens/Isabella Rossellini), queer cabaret star Ryan G. Hinds and 14-year-old musician Tom McCammon, playing Dennis Hopper’s character, the nitrous oxide huffer Frank Booth.

“Originally he was supposed to be played by a 12-year-old, but we had trouble with parental permission,” admits Sharp. “In this production, we’ve decided to make all the sexual scenes extremely innocent. So instead of Frank Booth ritualistically raping Dorothy Vallens, he teaches her how to jump on a pogo stick. And instead of inhaling noxious fumes, he blows up balloons. I think it’s absolutely more disturbing than the original.”

The effect is augmented by a live band playing ’60s doo-wop, which includes members of Picastro (Brandon Valdivia), Spiral Beach (Dorian Wolf) and Donlands & Mortimer (Johnny Spence and the play’s musical director Carmen Elle, whose solo work is astounding). The Silver Stage kicked off with a live musical performance on the Bloor Cinema marquee July 1 before the Blue Velvet screening, a sight more Empire Records than Inland Empire.

“I really don’t think there’s anywhere else these performances could be done,” says Woodside. “Ever since the days of Rocky Horror, for over 10 years now, the Bloor’s been the place for shadow casting.

“It also seems like a big part of the Fringe philosophy — that it’s kind of out there. We’re trying to make sure that all the shows are really as outrageous, bizarre and as fun as possible.”
Did we mention the burlesque raptors?