Science fiction, double feature…

Last night, Columbia Musical Theatre Society staged its third annual production of Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with shadow cast and call backs. Bwoggers Lila Etter and Mia Lindheimer ventured to Transexual Transylvania (aka the Diana Event Oval) to check it out.

For its one-night-only production, CMTS presented the show as a shadow cast: a traditional setup of movie in the back and actors in the front, while the audience yelled call backs throughout the show, all in all making for a rather entertaining evening. The show began with a crucial initiation of virgin viewers, each marked with red-lipstick “V”, and a warning to anyone on the more conservative side to kindly find the exit promptly. Without further adieu, the hosts left the stage, and the show began.

For those of you entirely unfamiliar with Rocky Horror Picture Show, this musical comedy horror film from 1975 became a cult classic within a year of its release, and it has remained one ever since. Filled with puns, pop culture references, and lots of profanity, Rocky is mostly known for its melodrama and overt sexuality, as well as its call backs. If you’re curious as to what a call back actually is (and if you’re not already familiar with the show, you should be curious) here is the full script with line-by-line replies. A series of “counterpoint dialogue” that runs as an undercurrent to what’s on the screen, the call backs only serve to make the show more filthy and more hilarious. Depending on how well people in the audience know the script that night, call backs can range from occasional to constant.

Last night, we were lucky enough to bear witness to not one, but two, die-hard fans who reeeeeally knew their stuff. Their commentary was its own show, and the call backs ranged from witty to outright obscene. They had the audience laughing and booing, alternately, throughout the show. The real highlights were the sporadic references to Columbia that one audience member in particular managed to slip in. After Doctor Frank-N-Furter’s famous line, “There’s no crime in giving yourself over to pleasure,” the caller yelled out, “Yeah, except at Columbia!” This elicited the largest laugh from the audience thus far. They were hit or miss, and sometimes the misses were painful. But ultimately, the call backs make the show what it is truly meant to be. Rocky Horror is, by nature, a hot mess. A sexy, dirty, offensive, over-the-top, hot mess. This makes it very difficult to critique. We can say that the show lived up to its promiscuous reputation, the shadow cast donning corsets and other assorted undergarment–any other articles of clothing were quickly removed–and performing sex scenes very convincingly behind a backlit bedsheet. They closed to a standing ovation, dancing off the stage to Time Warp.

In the end, our only real critique was that the show – which came to be known as a midnight movie – did not premiere at 12am, but instead at 9pm. Other than that, our reactions were nothing but praise.

But enough from us. Here’s what others had to say after the show:

From a younger audience member, “It made me wanna dance.”

From a student already in costume, “I feel sexy as f**k right now. I’m so ready to go out after that.”

From a slightly older member of the audience (and possible Barnard mom), “It was so vulgar. I mean, I know they warned us, but man oh man.”

And, from a not-so-impartial cast member, “SO MUCH FUN IT SHOULD BE DONE EVERY NIGHT ON LOW STEPS.”

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