There is something that stays with you the first time you see a live performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I popped my virgin cherry when I was in high school many years ago when the callbacks were very different. Alas, time marches on even if the silver screen freezes moments in time.
The movie itself, starring Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, the late Meat Loaf and Susan Sarandon, is a cult classic but something magical happens when you throw a live cast like Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient, into the mix. Starting pre-show “the virgins”, people who had never seen a live Rocky performance before, are picked out of the crowd and marked with a lipsticked red “v” for everyone to see. Before the show starts in earnest all of the virgins are brought on stage to have their cherries popped (their words, not mine) with an auction of sorts. Then the lights go down and the show really begins. The shadow cast of actors mimic the movie as fun additions of audience participation are peppered throughout the next hour and 40 minutes of 70s-style shenanigans.
Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient usually performs at The Esquire Theatre the last Saturday of every month but were invited to wow audiences at The Studio Loft inside Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Center over Valentine’s Day weekend this year. Damnit Janet Enjoy the show…
