Show Report: The Rocky Horror Show at the Dallas Theater Center!!!
By Jason!
So this is a little different kind of show report. This isn’t a show WE did, this is a show we SAW. The great folks at the Dallas Theater Center put on a production of the Rocky Horror Show, the original stage play that Richard O’Brien wrote and which was so successful, that a movie was made of it. A movie which then took on cult classic status and grew into the midnight tradition that we carry on to this very day (monthly at the Inwood, hiiiiiiiint). So, if for no other reason, it is the honor and duty of every Rocky slut to make a pilgrimage to see the musical mom from whose loins we all spawned from.
You can’t see a show all by yourselves though, and thanks to RebeccaMom (who is a lovely and talented actress when not hooking up her favorite Bastards with sweet ticket deals and you should go see all of her shows) we were able to get a great group discount and for some really great seats. We’re talking first 4-5 rows, and some of us even got to sit on the stage! But we had so many tickets and so few cast members (seriously, we need twinks), so we thought “What better way to share the Rocky experience then to invite our audience to come with us?”. And thus the Group Date was born. 48 strong, a mass of humanity converging on the Wyly Theater in Dallas to see some live legitimate theater.
This is normally where we’d post the cast list, but what you should really do is go to this link: https://www.dallastheatercenter.org/show_details.php?sid=89 and check them out on your own. Many of them are local, and some of them are regular company members at the DTC, so if you enjoyed their work, you will enjoy their future work, even though they’ll probably be fully clothed. Sigh. We’ll single some of them out individually as we go along, TRUST ME. We stalk them now. For reals.
So our night started a little early because we wanted to assemble outside the theater and take pictures of ourselves! We dressed up all pretty in our show costumes and you can see those photos RIGHT NOW. Once we got down to the theater OH HOLY CRAP. This was one of the two midnight showings they did, and it was the final weekend of the show, and the lobby was PACKED. It was nuts to butts, and both of those things were very much on display. It seemed like everyone was dressed up as something, and everyone was looking good and sweaty. The lines for booze were so long, but they have rad sippy cups, so totally worth it. Okay, so enough of the preshow festivities…let’s go INTO THE THEATER!
Like I said, we had great seats, and so sightlines were really good for every one of us. The production was in the round, meaning that the audience completely surrounds the stage area, so the cast plays to all sides. There’s a big round area that was in the center of the room, then in the proscenium area (the part of the stage where a normal play would take place) there was an upper walkway that connected to the stage via a giant staircase…which would occasionally raise up to allow entrances and exits from underneath it. So as a tech theatre kid, I was geeking out. Between the stage and the walkway, there were five or six rows of bleacher style seats, and those were the onstage seats that some of us got to get in on (and thus, they got to be part of the show later on). In the middle of the round stage section was a tall circular elevated stage with two sets of stairs curving up to the top, and plenty of poles and bars for people to hang from and swing around on. And boy were there people! You know how our Transies rock out the black jacket and slacks look? Welp…their Transies were wearing a little…less. And more colorful. And then the girl with the saddle ass.
So the show starts with some blistering rock music from Chris McQueen and Foe Destroyer, a real life band that was brought in to provide not only the music, but engaged in multiple occasions of hijinks with the rest of the cast during the entirety of the show. Then we got the classic closeup of the LIPS. But wait, you say, this isn’t a movie! You’re right, but in a genius move, in order to make sure that everyone got to see everything, even when the action was facing away from them, the production made the decision to have a videographer running around the entire show! Not only was she super cute, but she was walking backwards most of the time, managing a cable, and capturing the images that were then piped into a couple of huge screens on either side of the stage. Not only did it allow everyone to catch the action, but there were some really clever uses of the camera and screens, so kudos! So Trixie (who bears a striking resemblance to Magenta) came out to sing Science Fiction Double Feature, and then it was Brad and Janet, waving and smiling from the top of the round platform. And boy howdy, did you ever hear a lustier yelling of “ASSHOLE” and “SLUT”.
As a side note, I don’t want to take up all the great moments…that’s for YOU to do in the comments. But here’s my version of things:
Their take on car scene (before There’s a Light) was hilarious, with several Transies using props to create an illusionary skeleton of a car. Magenta’s wig (and boobs and singing voice). Riff Raff’s cadence. Door scene (and the glory holes). Frank N. Furter’s glorious entrance, rising up from below the stage in a fabulous pair of thigh high platform heels and a purple ruffly…garment, and a fierce giant blond wig. The only performance of Hot Patootie that I’ve found musically good…and this was musically AMAZING. Dr. Scott’s Rascal scooter. BEDROOM SCENES. Epic flurries of toilet paper. People banging on the walls of the balconies like goddamn animals. Some great screamer lines being shouted out, both by us, and the rest of the audience. Seriously the sassiest Frank I’ve ever seen, by an exponential factor. SOCK GARTERS. The penis stage…that shot confetti. The Criminologist! Saddle Ass! Ahh, too much stimulation!
Okay, now it’s your turn! We want your show reports, your stories, your photos, your anecdotes, your leads on how to stalk the cast in real life! Leave it in the comments, and let’s show off our massive Rocky boners for this show!
Rocky Horror Picture Show - Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton Metroplex 
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