The first time I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I didn’t get it.  Of course, I pretended to love it upon my first viewing — especially since the two high school friends who showed it to me were absolutely obsessed with the film, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.  It wasn’t until my friend Lindsay brought a group of us into Manhattan to attend a midnight showing of the movie that it clicked for me.  For those of you unfamiliar with the lore of Rocky Horror, the stage show was a hit in London’s West End, but the film was an absolute bomb at the box office.  Yet fifty years after its initial release, this critical and box office failure hasn’t left cinemas.  In fact, The Rocky Horror Picture Show holds the record for being the longest-running theatrical release in film history.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show—with its themes of self-acceptance, gender fluidity, and sexual liberation—has long resonated with anyone who’s ever felt “othered” by society, particularly within the LGBTQIA+ community. Adapted from Richard O’Brien’s cult stage musical The Rocky Horror Show (O’Brien also appears in the film as Riff Raff), the movie serves as both a celebration and a parody of vintage sci-fi classics like Flash Gordon and King Kong. It follows Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), a newly engaged, buttoned-up couple whose search for help after a car breakdown leads them into the wild world of Dr. Frank-N-Furter—a flamboyant, cross-dressing alien scientist brought to life by Tim Curry—and a night that transforms their understanding of desire and freedom.

The film achieved cult status shortly after its 1975 release, when the Waverly Theatre in New York City began midnight screenings in 1976.  The midnight thing caught on pretty quickly.  Audience members were returning each week—some in full costume—and began to talk back to the screen.  As time went on, groups of Rocky Horror fans (dubbed “shadow casts”) began to act out the film in front of the screen; a practice that eventually spread across the United States.  The film’s popularity has spawned fan conventions, a live television remake on FOX, and multiple revivals of the stage show (the latest revival of The Rocky Horror on Broadway this spring).  

After that first experience with the shadow cast in New York City, I was hooked.  I returned fairly regularly throughout high school, and my friend Lindsay eventually became part of the cast herself; regularly performing as “Columbia” and ocassionally filling in for “Magenta.”  So when my friend Ryan Williams of York Street Hustle invited my partner and me to a concert version he was participating in at Ruba Club last year, it was a quick “yes.”

Last year’s live concert presentation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show was so successful that the group of Philly musicians behind the production decided to bring it back this year with two showings on October 17 & 18, once again at Ruba Club.  Dubbed Mocky Horror, the concerts coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the film’s release.  Most of last year’s cast returned, including WXPN host Robert Drake as the Criminologist (Drake only appeared at the Saturday performance, with Kristie Pagliaro playing the Criminologist on Friday).  

The Cast

Drake, Pagliaro, and Williams (who plays Brad Majors) join a cast that includes: TC Cole and Rachel Pinkstone (splitting the role of Frank-N-Furter), John Stanley (Criminologist #2), Sarah Biemuller (Janet Weiss), Joanne Cunningham and Eric13 (sharing the role of Riff Raff), Hannah Taylor (Magenta/Usherette), Susan Rosetti (Columbia, 10/17), Michelle Armour (Columbia, 10/18), Dave Cope (Rocky), Don McCloskey (Eddie), Steven Wright (Dr. Scott), Sammy Vile, Morgan Pinkstone, and John Ryan.  The live band consists of Chris Grunwald, Lewin Barringer, Doug Dubrosky, Jason Nesta, and James Kittleman.  

With Rocky Horror being a true rock musical, it was thrilling to hear the songs performed by a live band — especially in such an intimate setting as Ruba.  Audience participation was encouraged, though Friday’s crowd wasn’t so sure, as it took some initial encouragement from the cast.  Keep the rice and toilet paper at home, though.  Mocky Horror runs again tonight at 8 pm at Ruba Club in Northern Liberties.  Fingers crossed it becomes an annual Philadelphia Halloween tradition.