After quite a wonderful but oddly emotionally draining year dos, and with a third year full swing underway, I really felt the urge to throw myself into something fun and new and out of my comfort zone that was totally my own.  That was when I decided to get myself notified about theatery things around Seoul.  I figured I always used to want to act, and love being on stage, I might as well revisit that old love and see if something was still bubbling down there. Well, when I got over my high schooler nerves and threw myself into auditioning on a brilliant whim, it was quite possibly the best most exciting thing I could have ever done!

Before auditioning, I had only seen the movie once or twice, and forever ago, so I wasn’t too familiar with all the nuances aside from the obvious pop culture references that you’ve been living under a rock if you don’t know.  After securing my role as Magenta, I watched the movie about 20 times with the additional uncountable amount of listens to the movie on mp3 whilst riding the subway to and fro. I ate, slept, breathed, peed and any other bodily function you can think of, Rocky Horror for the past month leading up to the most fantastical Halloween weekend I’ve celebrated to date. I also never thought I could know any film so.damn.well.

After less than a month’s worth of weekend rehearsals, the 2 shows went down last weekend, October 25th and 26th at Bull & Barrel in Itaewon.  On Friday before the show began, everyone was done up, pumped up and whipped up with madd amounts of anxiety and before show jitters. Well, we all through those into a huddle and shouted “Antici……..PATION”, and on with the show we went!

Here we have my sexy balding brother, Riff Raff, head tranny and master, Frank N Furter, and eternal groupie, Columbia, alongside my frisky elbow-sexing alien maid, Magenta, just before show time.

Most of the shadow cast hadn’t actually seen Rocky Horror live before, so it was an exciting and unique experience to all be performing it together. If you’re unaware, watching the movie with a shadow cast is a very interactive experience. The audience shouts out lewd comments in response to the movie script and throws things like toilet paper, toast and rice at particular parts of the show. After a few minutes on stage, it’s entirely impossible to not be high off the insane amount of audience interaction. At one point on Friday night, someone was yelling about Riff Raff’s hair looking like soft serve dick from Dairy Queen, and I about lost it!

Friday night was NUTS, Saturday night was like Friday pumped up on a lethal dose of steroids with my garter belt secured firmly in place.

I’m gonna toot my own horn and say that playing the “domestic” really got me in touch with my sexy side.  Not typically one to bare the cleave, all that noise flew out the window the second the final button came undone on my little black dress during the opening number.  It was pretty much breasts and sassy eye rolls on a platter for the rest of the show.

I opened the show with a very odd interpretive dance to Science Fiction, Double Feature with Angela who played Dr. Everett Scott, and Lauren who played Columbia. There was a lot of heavy petting and crawling on the floor, and in true Korean fashion, I even got ddong chimmed up the butt.

Just after Janet and Brad get caught with a flat tire in a rain storm, and are met with a creepy greeting from ol’ Riff, here I am making my grand entrance with a “he’s lucky, you’re lucky, I’m lucky, WE’RE ALL LUCKY!!!”

With a swing of a leg over the bannister (and zero falls), the flailing maid has arrived.

Which brings us to an old Halloween favorite….

If you’ve never seen Rocky Horror, you’ve at the very least seen or heard Time Warp.  Here’s a little snippet and a glance at what Saturday night’s full capacity looked like. It’s really fun to watch us along with the movie and see just how well we synced up!

Here we’ve got Frank molesting “her” breasts, as Rocky, the perfect male specimen, is brought to life in small metallic gold undies.  This scene also boasts my fashion mask debut and serious amounts of crazy face.

With a “shanananana” and a blonde bimbo chase through the audience, we hopped our way through the making of a man in just 7 days.

Stacie and I used to be a couple of awkward Disney sibling-esq peeping Toms in college. This time I got to be on stage and peep, but it was more like trying to keep face and refrain from my typical bursts of laughter. Especially when our male Janet got his legs thrown over his head.  I also have a very VERY sexy romp of elbow sex with my brother. As you can hear, the audience is really into this incest thing!

After the show, Columbia and I recreated our balcony scene from Toucha Toucha, looking nothing short of alien from Transexual, in the galaxy of Transylvania.

Then everyone sat down to an awkward birthday dinner for Rocky, where Columbia had a tantrum, and Dr. Scott sang about Eddie, who everyone ate for dinner. Meanwhile, Riff and I enjoyed the tune and flirted behind our master’s back.

Kayla (Riff Raff) and I were on stage for the entire show, except for the final floor show where everyone pranced around in the almost nude.  When we came back, we came back with a vengeance and wreaked havoc on Frank N Furter and his perfect man.  Only to revel in taking that glorious step to the right once more, so we could all have elbow sex, and most importantly, do the Time Warp againnnnnnnnn!

Rocky Horror is by far the best worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it is so damn bad it’s excellent, and partaking in the shadow cast was the most fun I have had my whole time living in Seoul!  I always heard that Rocky Horror shadow casts have some crazy love affair, and it’s so true. After Saturday night’s show, the entire cast bonded so quickly and fell so hard in love.  I’m so happy to have been a part of it, and met some awesome people along the way, even if it means I have Dammit Janet and Time Warp on a repeat loop in my head. My only wish is that this could be a regular thing, and not just a Halloween jam.

I have always loved being on stage, so celebrating Halloween in this fashion really sealed the deal. It was the perfect way to celebrate my favorite holiday, crack out of my shell and kick off year three with a bang.  I definitely see myself auditioning for more shows this year!

To top it off, this fan club of lovers got to share in the madness with me, even if some of them would rather choke on some fishnets than watch the movie ever again. Hey, it’s not for everyone, but I still question your sense of humor and taste if you can’t find the glory in this treasure!

I’ll be shivering with antici……pation, until I have a chance to do this again!