The Most Surreal Musical I Have Ever Seen

Hello hello! I was away from Steemit for a week because of some strict deadlines. Also, it was the week of Halloween as you know. In fact, there is tremendous amount of celebrations in Cape Town when it comes to Halloween. One of them took place at Labia Theatre since binge-watching horror movies is a key component of spending this time of the year. 

Labia hosted a week-long event called Horrorfest, showing a different movie, a documentary or series of short horror movies everyday. It started on the 25th and continued until the first of November.

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I wasn't keen to partake in this event thinking it's just another musical (I can feel the breath coming from your judging mouths.), but almost every single person I mentioned let out an exhilarated scream, going on about how many times they watched the show and how much they were fascinated. They also started to give me tips on what to wear (from fishnet stockings to corsets) and how to prepare a pack of goods to use during the show.

Those of you who have no idea about the musical, I feel your confusion. There my friends were, telling me the exact amount of rice I needed to take that night. What the actual fudge, RICE?

So, what is this musical all about then? It starts off as your usual horror story with two sweethearts preparing to get married. Eventually, their car breaks down in the middle of the road under heavy rain and leaves them stranded. That is until they discover a grisly mansion and enter to use their phone. Here, they meet a series of misfits that literally became phenomenal not just in the movie but also among its hardcore fans.

Although it was largely ignored by critics and audience during the years of its initial release, it was also ground-breaking in many ways, especially due to the involvement of the transvestite character of Dr. Frank N. Furter, something that was very novel at that time.

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Now, a lot of people are completely consumed by the fabulousness of the characters in the movie, both through dressing up as the characters and through active participation at certain scenes making it an interactive experience. I was going to realize this more clearly when I walked into Labia through the red carpet at the entrance.

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It was packed with people who dressed up as perfect replicas of the characters. Without exception. I literally felt inferior for being normal, so I decided to do some quick make-up with the help of my friends, so that I could compensate for the lack of my outfit.

The participation apparently required us to throw certain substances on air or shout certain words at certain scenes. To guide the first-timers like me, they were selling a booklet and a first aid kit for 50 Rands at the entrance.

Before the movie started, a member from the staff kindly asked us to not throw any object against the screen as it was very expensive.

It was much more hectic than I expected. A vast majority of the audience knew not only every single verse of the songs being sung, but also the dialogues and even the punctuation. There were occasional jokes from audience members that many people somehow processed and reacted laughingly. To me, they were nothing but inside jokes.

Luckily, I was quite responsive to the parts where participation was expected. For example, in one scene during a wedding, we were supposed to throw rice in the air to mimic the bridesmaids throwing confetti at the bride and the groom. Another example was nicknaming certain main characters based on... well, I am not going to give spoilers. Just know that there will be people shouting "a**hole" and "sl*t" at the screen at certain times.

One thing that made me struggle was the difficulty in understanding the dialogues. Because this is an old movie, the sound quality was really bad, as if everybody was speaking through the nose. I still got the main plot of the movie, but not the little funny details. Turns out, a lot of people watched it in their laptops for the first time, so they already had a comprehensive knowledge.

After 100 minutes of what felt like a roller coaster ride, I left the theatre all dazed and confused. With all the replicas wandering off into the streets, it just started to feel like I transcended the limits of reality and stepped into the parallel universe of the musical.

I will definitely watch the movie again to understand more, but not anytime soon. I think I have to gather my strength first. 

Who here has watched it before, and how many times? Drop me a comment.

Cheers!

Haritakurdu.