Let’s do the time warp again

Bill Ung still recalls the day he and his fellow cast mates heard that the Balboa Theater was closing.

“My heart fell through the floor, because this was our home,” Ung said.

He performed every weekend in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which ran at the historic theater from the late 1970s until its close in 1991.

The Balboa Performing Arts Theater Foundation has invited some of the show’s former Midnight Insanity cast to perform at a benefit to raise funds for its renovation June 13.

“They’ve got a lot of history with us,” said Mark Stenroos, the foundation’s director of development.

“If you would have told me 20 years ago that some community association was going to have a $150-a-head fundraiser focused on ‘Rocky,’ I would have said you’re out of your mind,” said Dan Dye, who played Rocky at the Balboa. “Even now, even with how — at least relatively speaking — tolerant our society has become, ‘Rocky’ still has that fringe element to it, and I think it’s always going to remain there.”

The foundation now hopes to turn the theater into an acoustic space that will accommodate musical performances, lecturers, smaller meetings and conventions, in addition to films.

There may be a glimmer of hope for a “Rocky” piece of that pie.

“I think it is something that was beneficial to the area,” Dye said. “It gave the kids something to do on a Saturday night that didn’t involve crime.”

“It has been and always will be a thing for youth,” Dye added. “The fact that you can yell back at the screen, you can use dirty words, and that’s acceptable — I think that’s appealing to a lot of people.”

Only a handful of named casts like Midnight Insanity perform statewide.

Midnight Insanity, which was formed at the Balboa in January 1988, now performs weekly at the historic Warner Grand in San Pedro.

Together, they have performed at conventions, Hollywood studios, Halloween parties, parades and the Hollywood Bowl for the movie’s 30th anniversary in 2005.

Dye was one of the founding members of that cast; he has been involved with various versions of “Rocky” for nearly 30 years.

He joined the cast while still in high school, after he heard from a friend they were looking for auditions.

“I first saw ‘Rocky Horror’ when I was 12 and joined the cast a year later,” Dye said.

Dye was a true die-hard.

He drove down from the South Bay weekly to perform in Newport Beach, driving home afterward in the middle of the night.

“I don’t miss getting home at 4:30 or 5 in the morning,” he said.

Even when Dye dropped out of the cast when he had open-heart surgery at the age of 19, he came back afterward.

He also recalled when the closing announcement came.

“It was total disbelief,” he said. “The Balboa was an institution. That’s what you did on Saturday nights.”

Closing night lives on in the memories of all who were there.

Dye had left Midnight Insanity to form another group, but was still there.

“The house was oversold, and people were just so full of emotion,” Dye said.

Hundreds of people had to be turned away; the entry line reportedly went all the way to the Balboa Pier.

Dye eventually retired from performing, but came back to Midnight Insanity earlier this year and now plays a “phantom” character who does goofy stage interactions without makeup.

Ung and his sister joined the cast in July 1989; he had no background in theater, but was inspired after going to the show with some of his friends.

By the time the Balboa run ended, Ung was out of college and working in the corporate world.

“‘Rocky’ takes place in the middle of the night, and corporate likes me have to be there at nine in the morning, so that’s been an ongoing conflict,” he said.

He runs a pinball parts business and still performs at shows in San Pedro.

“A lot of my friends that I still have today are from ‘Rocky.’ We were just crazy kids having fun,” Dye said.

IF YOU GO

WHO: The Balboa Performing Arts Theater Foundation

WHAT: Time Warp party

WHEN: 7 p.m. June 13

WHERE: The Balboa Pavilion, 400 Main St., Newport Beach

INFORMATION: (949) 673-0895 or [email protected]

COST: $150 donation per person

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (949) 494-5480 or at [email protected].