Autumn is my favorite season. Halloween is amazing; I like dressing in costume, eating so many Milky Way Midnights and, of course, attending The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight on Halloween. If that sounds like fun for you, too, then you’re in luck!
For those who don’t know Rocky Horror—I’m sorry. Something went terribly wrong for you, but not to worry, because I can fix it!
The Murfreesboro Center for the Arts is hosting Rocky Horror through the Halloween weekend. In the grand tradition, they are showing the movie while actors shadow-play the scenes below. Prop bags are available for $5 before the show, and naturally you want one of those. If none of this makes sense, let me explain.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical comedy/horror directed by Jim Sharman. While initially panned by critics for being . . . unconventional (at best), it is now considered a cult classic. Both a spin-off and a spoof of classic horror films, it follows a young, newly engaged couple through their mutual sexual awakening at the hands of a group of very bizarre individuals, most notably a young and unnervingly attractive Tim Curry. If you have not seen it, I hesitate to give too much away, because it’s an experience you really shouldn’t have too much knowledge of before it happens to you.
When I went on opening Friday, there were a surprising number of people who hadn’t seen it, which is always amazing. The dedicated arrive in costume, audience callbacks at the ready, while the “virgins” are sacrificed comically and endearingly to The Lips. It’s all in good fun and all for solidarity’s sake—after all, we’re all freaks in this together. If you haven’t seen Rocky Horror before, or if you don’t feel like driving all the way to the Belcourt Theater this Halloween, I highly recommend the Center for the Arts. If you have seen it but know someone (or several someones) who haven’t, take them. They go all out: Strait-laced Brad and Janet are, eventually, scantily clad, a pre-fame Meat Loaf is among the peculiar cast, and Rocky is, um, . . . distracting (in the best way).
I should say that I don’t recommend children going (without supervision), but I first saw it when I was 15, and I’m no worse for wear because of it. Just use your personal judgment, I suppose.
Note: one woman loudly exclaimed, “She’s taken her clothes off, oh my word!” followed shortly by, “Find the latex, honey!” Take that however you will.
Buy tickets at boroarts.org. Seriously, buy them!
