Soo I actually decided to hop on Tumblr for a lil bit and do a semi-rant of sorts relating to Rocky Horror shadowcasting (if uninterested at this point just keep scrolling aight) b/c the shadowcast whose shows I’ve gone to tons of times has really let me and my Rocky-loving friends down lately. They mainly perform in a bigger city about 40 minutes away and only come to my hometown to do four shows a year. It’s pretty much the only time I get to go see Rocky and it’s become a tradition I look forward to. I haven’t been able to make it to any shows at their usual venue yet.
So basically, I have no idea if the regularly scheduled first show of the year in my town actually took place or not last night, because they didn’t include a cast list for it on their website and didn’t update ANY of their social media outlets with reminders prior to when the show would have been. I even messaged them on Twitter, with no response. This hasn’t happened in the last 2.5ish years I’ve been going to their shows, so it was pretty disappointing, but not unbelievable based on how this cast has treated their quarterly shows of late.
In comparison to photos taken during the shows they do in the big city, it’s obvious that a lot more effort is put in when they are at their usual venue. They never bring any actual set pieces to our shows, such as the birth tank, backdrops for the lab and Denton billboard, or the curtain/light used to silhouette the bedroom scenes. Although the cast is typically very friendly and funny, they do have their weak points. Several cast members don’t bring their full costumes/wigs/makeup and will go on half-ready. And though many recurring cast members I’ve seen do a great job of portraying their characters and pantomime/emote/interact with the audience, many others will do little more than just stand there and look like they would rather be anywhere else. Their dancing, facials, and general characterization is almost non-existent and I’ve wanted to jump up out of my seat in my crappy cosplays and take the place of the character I’m dressed as so many times. Additionally, the members who are most responsible for leading all the callbacks each show vary from attentive, quick and hilarious to, again, almost non-existent. I’ve been to shows where the callbacks are so rapid fire (both ”oldies but goodies” and on-the-spot creativity) that I can’t keep up, and I’ve been to shows where there’s five to ten minutes of dead air/movie dialogue only and I don’t want to be *THAT* audience member that yells every single callback before the cast can and acts like they’re in it just b/c they’ve been a million times.
Now, I will admit that the audiences are typically smaller in my hometown than what they appear in photos from the cast’s usual venue, as well as less enthused/willing to get loud and crazy, which doesn’t make for a good exchange of energy, but that is NOT an excuse in my opinion to put in less effort and deliver less of a show. Sometimes Rocky audiences (especially with lots of virgins) need to be pushed and encouraged to let loose and be obscene/off the wall and that is the cast’s job. To me, that would be one of the most fun parts of the gig, and if you’re unwilling to put in as much effort as possible to portray your character and make sure the audience has a good time, you shouldn’t be a shadowcaster.
So there you have it, my two cents. I wanted this to be as anonymous as possible so as not to call out the cast on social media, which is in pretty poor taste (they don’t follow me last I checked), but I did want a place to say something so that if other casts or shadowcasters follow me, they could see the kind of things that their fans might not like. I just wish the shows I’ve gone to in the past year or so were more consistent; it’s getting to the point where it isn’t really worth my eight or nine dollars every three months to go see. If you’re going to be a semi-traveling shadowcast, make sure your members are actually willing and enthused to perform at another venue on occasion, even if it doesn’t produce the usual volume of audience members or megafans that you’re used to. That’s all I ask! :)
