{"id":2155523,"date":"2025-11-14T02:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T02:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2155523"},"modified":"2025-11-14T02:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T02:26:10","slug":"rocky-horror-celebrates-50-years-at-columbia-entertainment-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/rocky-horror-celebrates-50-years-at-columbia-entertainment-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Horror celebrates 50 years at Columbia Entertainment Co."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Around Halloween, a showing of \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d is easy to come by at most local movie theaters. Because of the film\u2019s iconic status, many fans don\u2019t realize that \u201cRocky Horror\u201d was written for the stage first. This fall, local community theater Columbia Entertainment Company is put on a production of \u201cThe Rocky Horror Show,\u201d in part celebrating the movie adaptation\u2019s 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Longtime fan and director Drew McCoy suggested the play to the theater for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Rocky Horror\u2019 has always been a bucket list item for me to actually direct or perform in,\u201d McCoy said. \u201cI submitted my suggestion, and the play selection committee chose it, and it was an opportunity that I just could not pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d is a cornerstone of cult cinema. It went from a box-office flop to the longest-running theatrical release in history. It became a fan favorite when theaters started showing the film at midnight, drawing in a new audience that embraced the show for its funny, raunchy and queer-positive qualities.<\/p>\n

Leilani (LJ) Jones, secretary of the Mizzou Horror Appreciation Club, became a fan after seeing the film at The Blue Note in 2024. They were drawn to the film because of its queer positivity and fan culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the community that\u2019s around it as well,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s fine to watch (\u2018Rocky Horror\u2019) by yourself, but it\u2019s really about the people that come together to be a part of it, and how anyone can watch the movie. I feel like there\u2019s a character for everyone in that movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show is also widely recognized as an important early depiction of LGBTQ+ characters and relationships on both the big screen and the stage.<\/p>\n

Brandon Moore plays the lead: a \u201csweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania\u201d and mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the CEC production. Moore explained that LGBTQ+ representation makes \u201cRocky Horror\u201d stand out to him \u2014 especially considering its mid-\u201970s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so empowering, and I love being able to play this character that means so much to so many people including myself,\u201d Moore said. \u201cYou know, just being a gender non-conforming character and owning it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRocky Horror\u201d was one of the first and only productions where audience participation was encouraged in the theater; fans continually return to late-night showings to yell callbacks, throw rice, play with squirt guns and other props and participate in bawdy shadowcast performances.<\/p>\n

The naive and seemingly innocent heroine Janet Weiss, who gets pulled out of her cookie-cutter life and into Dr. Frank-N-Furter\u2019s anti-culture, is played by Danielle Simpson of CEC. She finds that the interactive aspects make for more fun than an ordinary musical.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m used to more plays where (the audience) sit(s) and (is) respectful,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cThis is definitely the most interactive experience I\u2019ve done in a very long time, and it\u2019s been such a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stage musical had a much better critical reception than the film: acclaimed critic Roger Ebert, when reviewing the film in 1975, alluded that it was better onstage. Moore agrees that the interactive qualities of Rocky Horror are better in the theatrical format.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery director is gonna have a different idea for what scene looks like what,\u201d Moore said. \u201cAll those moments where we\u2019re improvising things and interacting with the audience \u2014 I worry that you wouldn\u2019t get that from a shadow cast\u2026That\u2019s kind of some of the magic of the show so far has been interacting with the audience and having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the format in which \u201cRocky Horror\u201d is shown, the in-person experience is unique. When \u201cRocky Horror\u201d is playing, the theater becomes a judgement-free haven for self-expression for the LGBTQ+ community and anyone wanting to be free of social norms.
The show is about being completely yourself and embracing what makes you stick out \u2014 fans took that theme and turned a normal theater into a place where the audience can dance, sing, shout, throw things, and most importantly turn the viewing experience into a safe space.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edited by Ainsley Bryson | [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/em>
Copy edited by Avery Copeland | [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/em>
Edited by Maya Bensaoud | [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/em>
Edited by Alex Gribb | [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source themaneater.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around Halloween, a showing of \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d is easy to come by at most local movie theaters. Because of the film\u2019s iconic status, many fans don\u2019t realize that \u201cRocky Horror\u201d was written for the stage first. This fall, local community theater Columbia Entertainment Company is put on a production of \u201cThe Rocky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2155524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2155523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rocky-Horror-celebrates-50-years-at-Columbia-Entertainment-Co.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2155523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2155525,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155523\/revisions\/2155525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2155524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2155523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2155523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2155523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}