The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a Halloween tradition for thousands of fans. The campy sci-fi musical is famous for rowdy screenings with props and costumes, but a Sunday night screening in New Haven upped the ante. It was part of a tour that featured one of the original stars, Barry Bostwick, who played the character Brad, plus actors reenacting the film onstage in front of a crowded theater at College Street Music Hall.
“If you are easily offended by foul language, if you are easily offended by scantily clad women, if you are easily offended by scantily clad men dressed as scantily clad women…”
Elizabeth, a lifelong fan of the show, says she always felt like an outsider growing up, and Rocky Horror made her feel at home.
“It was welcoming, it was, you can be the freak that you are, and you’re not going to be shamed for it. It really gave me permission to be myself.”
Elizabeth came with her boyfriend Eric, who was dressed as the gender-bending Dr. Frank-N-Furter, who sings the show-stopper “Sweet Transvestite.”
“I’ve got fishnet stockings on, garter belt, and a corset top, and little black underpants,” Eric said.
That costume? Totally her idea.
“It took a little bit of coaxing. But I think he wants to see me happy and he’s willing to expand his horizons for that. And I think he looks fantastic!”
