I’m always going to refer to it as “The Rocky Horror Show” as a theatre kid. I’m sorry in advance if excluding the word “Picture” bugs you, but Richard O’Brien himself dictates that the movie is “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and the play is just “The Rocky Horror Show” so take that.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk Glee‘s attempt to do “The Rocky Horror Show” justice. There were liberties (Mercedes playing Frank N Furter?!) and there were echos of the laziness of the karaoke-style Britney episode (only the “Time Warp” was interpretive), but all in all, it wasn’t as good or as bad as I thought it was going to be. I’m glad that the plot moved along somewhat in the episode, but I was really hoping for more Rocky Horror Show itself. I wouldn’t have minded being taken out of the context of the show somewhat in order to get more of the costumes and the songs and awesomely timed, “Janet!” “Brad!” “Rocky!” “Dr. Scott!” moments out of the play. I was really actually hoping for someone to shout out “CONSTA…” and “How do you spell slut?!!” (Sweet Transvestite & Damn It, Janet respectively) to really get into the Rocky Horror spirit.
So the whole concept of the episode was Mr. Shue having the Glee club do The Rocky Horror Show in order to impress Emma who is in love with John Stamos Carl the Denist and been going to a live-audience participation of the play. But I’m not even going to talk about how crazy Mr. Shue was to think that anyone would pick him over John Stamos Carl when he was acting a wee bit…like a character on “Gossip Girl.” I guess I don’t mind the love triangle between Shue, Carl & Emma but despite liking Mr Shue’s character overall, I really hope that John Stamos sticks around! Anyway, I’m just going to break it down to the good, the bad, and the quotable.
The Good:
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- BARRY BOSTWICK! MEAT LOAF!!! AAAHHHHHHHHHHH awesome cameos! Their characters kinda made no sense but I don’t care; it was fabulous to have them cameo.
- “Touch a Touch A Touch A Touch Me” was AWESOME. Emma was fabulous and I LOVED BRITTANY AND MERCEDES playing Columbia and Magenta’s parts and acting them out basically the exact same as it is in the movie/play. Awesome. (Side note: I’ve read online that this is the song that Jayma Mays sang when she auditioned for the role of Emma.)
- Sue pointing out little girls dressing like whores during Halloween on “How Sue “C’s” It.”
- Sue’s pumpkin of herself.
- Becky’s Sue Halloween costume.
- John Stamos aka Carl playing Eddie. As Jay said, “John Stamos is so pretty.”
- Woo-hoo! Tap dance during “The Time Warp!”
The Bad:
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- Mercedes as Frank. I don’t know who else they could’ve used and she was obviously up for the challenge but I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe I’m just too old school
- Not enough Kurt as Riff Raff. Honestly, why cut his part out of “There’s a Light (Over At the Frankenstein Place)? I loved that he got to start off “Time Warp” and he and Quinn were great interacting as everyone’s favorite alien siblings during the Magenta solo.
- I was confused when Quinn and Mercedes were switching off as Magenta.
- I really wish that they had done “Floor Show/Rose Tint My World” and “I’m Going Home” but I know that it didn’t fit in with the plot. I just love that combo at the end of the show.
The Quotable:
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- “The sandwich…the dirty theater? He’s actually making her better!” Mr. Shue
- “I’m going as a peanut allergy.” -Brittany telling Kurt what she’s going to be for Halloween. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
- “I have no idea what’s going on in this script and it’s not in a cool ‘Inception’ kind of way…” -Finn
- “I should have known. People who dress as librarians…all sex addicts!” -Sue to Emma
- “This play has incredible timing issues.” -Sue
- “My grandpa called; he wants his boxers back.” -Football player to Finn when he was walking down the hall in costume to get comfortable with his not-so-bad-looking self.
*Bonus* Funny pop-culture reference of the night: Was Santana pantsing Brittany “in the middle of a celebration” a wink at the Brandi Chastain controversy?
Anyway, those were my thoughts on The Rocky Horror Glee Show. I’m sorry it’s a few days late; I’ve been having some creative block issues lately. What did you guys think?
UPDATED THOUGHT: I kept reminding myself not to forget this, but of course I did haha. When my college theatre group did RHS, I learned that Richard O’Brien’s name has to appear everywhere whenever it’s being promoted. So all posters, programs, t-shirts, etc had to say “Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show“. I’m very curious to know how they got around his name not appearing even on the iTunes album credits or his name even mentioned on the episode.
