INSIDE SCOOP

-- Compiled by Daily Pilot staff

The Newport Beach City Council meeting found itself in a time warp on

Tuesday as shades of a certain sweet transvestite possessed council

members and audience members alike.

While discussing whether to finance the proposed Balboa Performing

Arts Theater even more, some people, like Gay Wassall-Kelly, reminisced

about the theater in their youth, excavating some secrets that perhaps

should have stayed secret.

“I used to sit in the balcony, way in the back so my mother couldn’t

see me,” the Balboa Peninsula resident and activist said.

Such closeted memories then started coming out in a big way after

theater board member Andy Youngquist said he, too, used to lurk in the

back of the balcony. The discussion was soon peppered with allusions to

the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which used to play at the theater.

“Which character were you?” Mayor Tod Ridgeway playfully confronted

Youngquist, in the process revealing that he may know more about the

‘Rocky Horror’ phenomenon than an average mayor.

Councilman Steve Bromberg steered the snickering illusions into an

open environment welcome to full-fledged confessions when he revealed:

“I will also admit to seeing the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ 42

times,” he announced.

During a break in the meeting, theater supporters murmured in the

aisles that perhaps the new theater could include screenings of the

‘Rocky Horror’ movie. Or even, as one suggested, a live stage show.

“No throwing rice, though,” one said, proving at last that grown-ups

are now firmly in charge.