What did I expect for free?
I've never been to a proper "Rocky Horror" presentation. I've only ever seen "Rocky Horror" on video, and I slept through the 2nd half. But I can't believe the "Rocky Horror" cult would have gained such a strong following if "Rocky Horror" presentations were as consistently (brutally blunt choice of words here) lame as this presentation of "Clue." I imagine "Rocky Horror" has a lot more to play off of, and I imagine that with so many years of performances by so many different troupes, many in-jokes and traditions have built up to make it even more fun for people who attend shows regularly. I imagine if an equally strong tradition were to build up around "Clue" it would eventually get to be a lot better than what I saw Saturday night. Certainly the crowd Saturday night seemed to get a huge kick out of a couple of "Rocky Horror" gags that were crowbarred into "Clue," but those gags were quite lost on me. But for someone with the right pop culture background, evidently this show "rawked."
So, as a presentation unto itself, with no context provided by years of attending "Rocky Horror" presentations, I found the live show weak. I found it boring to watch some people in costumes approximating the costumes in the film walking around mouthing lines and vaguely approximating the gestures of the characters in the film. I found it much more entertaining to watch the film itself, which I hadn't seen in years, and is full of fabulous performances by a terrific ensemble cast.
But the live portion of the presentation was not without some entertaining aspects. The cast was young & full of energy & having fun. The fellow they cast as Colonel Mustard bore an uncanny resemblance to the fellow in the film. The woman playing Miss Scarlet was nothing short of amazingly well-endowed, and I was completely fascinated by the triumph of engineering that was her dress. (The males in the audience were no doubt fascinated by the boobs themselves, but I wanted to know how so little fabric was managing to support so much flesh!) I loved some of the quips called out by the audience. I even supplied our group with Kleenex to wave & toss when Mrs. White utters that marvelous quote: "I believe husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong, and disposable."
We missed having one of our raffle tickets called out by a single digit, and I'm glad, because it turned out that once a winning number was called out, it didn't mean you won, it meant you got to go onstage & make out with a perfect stranger (potentially of a gender that doesn't send you), and if your performance gained enough audience applause, then you win. A Clue board game or some chocolate. Ah, college.
Not a waste of time at all, since the film itself was excellent, the show was free, the theatre is great, and the live aspect had a few entertaining bits & did not intrude on my enjoyment of the film. And the people watching was great. If folks go to the presentation of "The Princess Bride" next month, I'm up for it.
I'll leave the shock of the transformation of the Student Union for another post.