The 1970s cult-classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show has gained a notorious following in its run of about thirty years.
In Tacoma, the film’s notoriety culminates in the experience found at the Blue Mouse Theater on 2611 North Proctor Street. Playing every second and fourth Saturday of the month, the Blue Mouse Theater’s midnight showing includes many delightful oddities: transvestite-divas singing pop ballads before the start of the show, cacophonous shout-outs from avid fans in the audience, actors portraying the film’s characters in front of the movie screen and much more.
If you’re still holding onto your prized Rocky Horror “virginity,” maybe the Blue Mouse Theater is the place for you to go don some fishnets and lose it. Hey, it’s college, right?
For those unfamiliar with the film’s zany plot, it follows the story of two engaged lovers, Brad and Janet, as they blow a tire and are forced to enter the sexual chaos looming within the castle of Dr. Frankenfurter, a transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. The plot climaxes when Dr. Frankenfurter’s guests dissent against his sexual promiscuity and he is thus forced to turn everyone to stone. Frankenfurter then gathers most of the film’s characters to put on a wild dance number, “Rose Tint My World”—all in make-up, fishnets and drag. The plot thickens as the Transsexuals, Frankenfurter and all his other minions prepare to return to their home planet.
The Blue Mouse Theater certainly has a unique culture of its own. Although the Rocky Horror de-virginizing rituals are nothing new, I saw a particularly outrageous one before a midnight showing in early October.
In it, about ten of the virgin audience members were brought onstage and told to close their eyes, bending over with their asses facing the wall. Another virgin was picked from the audience, blindfolded and brought onstage to hump each of them in order to decide which virgin had the nicest ass. Upon finding it, I laughed hysterically as he roared, “Oh yeah!”
At the showing I saw last Saturday, the veteran audience members were the most entertaining part of the show. Some of their comments were witty, remarking on the strange mannerisms of actors from the film—in one scene, Magenta looks dreamily up at the ceiling to which someone replied, “Magenta can never remember her lines so they had to put them up on the ceiling!”
The traditional shout-outs were fun to witness as always; one of my favorites is when audience members toss pieces of toast into the air upon Frankenfurter’s utterance, “A toast!”
The Blue Mouseketeers, the theater’s performers, were quite talented and witty as well, throwing out their own comments throughout the show. Although the man who played Dr. Frankenfurter was no Tim Curry, his diva-like mannerisms suited the transsexual’s role perfectly. The cast that supported him was equally convincing in their respective roles.
If ever you desire a taste of “absolute pleasure,” the Blue Mouse Theater is waiting to satisfy your appetite for an admission of five dollars. Whether you come in drag or not, the midnight showing is guaranteed to be a wild night of entertainment. Even if it will be your first time watching the show, disturbing as it may be, it is an experience that will stick with you for a long time to come—so why not check it out? Just remember, as the theater’s website cleverly noted, audience “par-tici-pation” is encouraged.
[PHOTO COURTESY/ DANIEL PENDLETON]