The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is about a typical American couple whose car gets a flat tire during a trip to the couple's friend's residence. So, they walk back to a remote castle in the woods hoping to find a telephone. But, as in all such stories, there is some problem. The castle is occupied by a "gender-bending scientist" from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. The movie, which started as a play, is still shown in theaters all over the world on Friday and Saturday nights at midnight (or, if you prefer to get technical, Saturday and Sunday mornings).

"The Time Warp" is a song on many sites' Canons. It is, of course, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and is beloved by many. At some sites, select people each year choose to act out "The Time Warp" and "Sweet Transvestite", in full costume, at a particular dance, which oftentimes occurs on some version of "Cross-dress Day," "Drag Day," or "Gender Bender Day."

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is also often played at overnight reunions and is sometimes acted out by former cast members during "The Time Warp" and "Sweet Transvestite."

Lancaster

At Lancaster, Cross-dress Day (known more commonly as Second Saturday) coincides with the dance. As early as 1997, on this day, twice each year (once per session), a few Alcovians act out The Rocky Horror Picture Show during the dance when the DJ plays "The Time Warp". This song is always followed immediately by "Sweet Transvestite," accompanied by its own stunning performance.

All the parts are typically in attendance; the Criminologist was the penultimate new addition, created in 05.1. In 2009, a group of "Transylvanians" were added during the chorus during both sessions. Both additions were due to increasing population at Lancaster. Additionally, in 2011, a Rocky character was added; he entered during "Sweet Transvestite".

Casts

1997

1998

1999

99.2:

• Frank: Daniel Vitolo
• Riff Raff: Conor Walsh
• Magenta: ?
• Columbia: ?
• Brad: ?
• Janet:' ?

2001

01.1:

• Frank: Randall Leeds
• Riff Raff: Leah McKelvey (?)
• Magenta: Kayla Armstrong
• Columbia: Belle Saxton
• Brad: ?
• Janet: ?

01.2:

• Frank: Mikey Feldman
• Riff Raff: ?
• Magenta: ?
• Columbia: Chelsea Seachord
• Brad: ?
• Janet: ?

2002

02.1:

• Frank: Andy Bartholomew
• Riff Raff: Leah McKelvey (?)
• Magenta: Eve Privman
• Columbia: Hannah Ginsberg
• Brad: Lee Feinman
• Janet: Alexia Simmonard-Note

02.2:

• Frank: ?
• Riff Raff: Gabe Slamovits
• Magenta: ?
• Columbia: Belle Saxton
• Brad: ?
• Janet: ?

2003

03.1:

• Frank: Jon Napolitano
• Riff Raff: Gabe Slamovits
• Magenta: Natalie Bau
• Columbia: Hannah Ginsberg
• Brad: Noah Tucker
• Janet: Lily Marie Beauvilliers

03.2:

• Frank: Nathaniel Stevens
• Riff Raff: Ché Salazar
• Magenta: Emma Turetsky
• Columbia: Laurel Kanawyer
• Brad: George Geanuracos
• Janet: Heather Melling (?)

2004

04.1:

• Frank: Andrei Mouravski
• Riff Raff: Jeremy Berkowitz
• Magenta: Alyssa Gottschlich
• Columbia: Belinda Chiang
• Brad: Dan Robinson
• Janet: Nora Levy

04.2:

• Frank: Nathaniel Stevens
• Riff Raff: Nathan Schiffer
• Magenta: Susannah Roush
• Columbia: Dawna!
• Brad: Michael Nixon
• Janet: Sarah Pickering

2005

05.1:

• Frank: Drew Grossman
• Riff Raff: Josh Yanovski
• Magenta: Grace Alloy-Relihan
• Columbia: Taia
• Brad: Eric
• Janet: Rachel Thorman
• The Criminologist: Sarah "Fred" Wellons

05.2:

• Frank: Hal LePelley
• Riff Raff: Will Colmer
• Magenta: Sarah Cooper
• Columbia: Tassie Andersen
• Brad: Michael Nixon
• Janet: Marley Teter

2006

06.1:

• Frank: Greg Lawrence
• Riff Raff: Ian Taylor
• Magenta: Lena Zaris
• Columbia: Elizabeth Treptow
• Brad: David Federman
• Janet: Lauren Procz

06.2:

• Frank: Shea Levy
• Riff Raff: Jonathan Sussman
• Magenta: Rachel Todd
• Columbia: Kai Christian
• Brad: Christian "Christ" Burnette
• Janet: Rosie Brown
• The Criminologist: Jeff Sachs

2007

07.1:

• Frank: Zev Hurwich
• Riff Raff: Stephen Rosen
• Magenta: Cassie Deskus
• Columbia: Meghan Vu
• Brad: Jeremy Cockerham
• Janet: Nixxi Chen
• The Criminologist: Rina Polyakov

07.2:

• Frank: Gavin Cook
• Riff Raff: Lowell Lunn
• Magenta: Cedilla Sachar
• Columbia: Magdalena "Laney" Newhouse
• Brad: Ginina "Beans" Velocci
• Janet: Adena Wayne
• The Criminologist: Jeff Sachs

2008

08.1:

• Frank: Everett Maus
• Riff Raff: Sarah Hackney
• Magenta: Julie Leghorn
• Columbia: Dana Reback
• Brad: Veer Dedhia
• Janet: Juliana Biro
• The Criminologist: Kate Wymbs
• Directed by: Gabe Murchison & Verity Walsh

08.2:

• Frank: Eli P
• Riff Raff: Will Steinberg
• Magenta: Ellie Kladky
• Columbia: Ben Boult as a last second understudy to Noelle Aly
• Brad: John Harrison
• Janet: Dominique Benzio
• The Criminologist: Max Wang

2009

09.1:

• Frank: Ian MacKinnon
• Riff Raff: Arthur Schechter
• Magenta: Maddie "Mev" Stevens
• Columbia: Rachel Larrowe
• Brad: Skip McClinton
• Janet: Alex "Sasha" Ayvazov
• The Criminologist: Verity Walsh
• Transylvanians: Mary Kamitaki, Sarah Parr, Zoe Madonna, Kate Davis, Katelin Schutz, Michelle Ehrenberger, Sarah Cuneo
  • Added in to allow more nomores and nevermores to be involved in the performance
• Directed by: Elena Karras

09.2:

• Frank: Race Archibold
• Riff Raff: David Rips
• Magenta: Eliz Leimkuhler
• Columbia: Allegra Kuney
• Brad: Logan Phillips
• Janet: Mackenzie Brennan
• The Criminologist: Daniel Tracht
• Transylvanians: Charlie McGeorge, Wendy Li, Lena Beckenstein, Bee Lockwood, Ariane Turley, Emily Hoffman, Bree Baccaglini (sp?), Megan Keane, Maggie Farrell, Jake Hobbie, Mike Millian, Vinny Brattelli

2010

10.1:

• Frank: James 'Turtle' Buckland
• Riff Raff: Semon 'Russian Sam' Rezchikov
• Magenta: Faye Elgart
• Columbia: Samantha 'Squirrel' Reback
• Brad: Andrew Pellegrino
• Janet: Rowan Matney
• The Criminologist: Sam Bauman
• Transylvanians: Hope Brinn, Allie Burns, Midori Cassou, Lilly Clew, Seth Gray, Kathleen Guy, Molly Klimak, Alex Natale, Victoria Norman, Aneesa Sonawalla, Loie Warren

10.2:

• Frank: Ramsey Opp
• Riff Raff: Declan Kennedy
• Magenta: Sam Fomon
• Columbia: Emily Grablutz
• Brad: Jacob Kelly
• Janet: Rowan Matney
• The Criminologist: Eloise Gjakmap
• Transylvanians: Emma Gossard, Rachel Szucs, Alison Shay, Kleo Greenwood, Kathleen Guy, Lily Clew, Alana Friedman, Charlene Vance, Otter Lee, Miriam Woodward, Ariel Rock, Taemin Ahn

2011

11.1

• Frank: Will Dahl
• Riff Raff: Alex Kohanski
• Magenta: Sydney Speizman
• Columbia: Deborah Bakshiyev
• Brad: Ajay Nadig
• Janet: Rudy Garcia
• The Criminologist: Joseph Fridman
• Transylvanians: Maddie Ossmus, Sam Fishman, Veronica Boyce, Alex Ding, Beatrice Liang, Becca Samuelson, Molly Weinberg, Deena Alexander

11.2

• Frank: Alex Kohanski
• Riff Raff: Graeme McGuire
• Magenta: Caroline Kelleher
• Columbia: Jesse Weber
• Brad: Matthew Kolosick
• Janet: Gabrielle Ewall
• The Criminologist: Aly Robins
• Rocky: Erik Baier
  • Added in specifically because Erik Baier greatly resembled Rocky
• Transylvanians: Anne Marie Bompart, Zoe Ferguson, Ella Park-Chan, Andrew Hitt, Kimberly Zhang, Jessica Lin, Emma Zdgiebloski, Zach Batson, May Shum, Joohee Park, Sophia Lloyd-Thomas, Lauren Sinski, Phoebe Wang, Madison Carpenter, Jenny Yoon, Rosie Wilkin
• Directed by: Dennis Cowan

2012

12.1

• Riff & Raff: Sam Sagan & Brenton Whiting
• Magenta: Gabby Lysko
• Columbia: Juliet K. Benjamin
• Brad: Eli Tettelbach
• Janet: Johnny Tamburro
• The Criminologist: Regan Dvoskin

Lancaster Callbacks

While only a few people actually act out the songs, the entire audience is encouraged to, and often does, shout out callbacks, which are phrases added in between lyrics or over lyrics, generally for amusement. Most of the callbacks are from actual performances of Rocky Horror (there are many many callbacks throughout the movie, as demonstrated by Ken Levin and Drew Grossman). These are a few which are traditionally used during the Lancaster performance.

Time Warp

1. During the chorus, right after the line "Put your hands on your hips," shout out, "Ooohhhhh shit!"
2. After the line "Bring your knees in tight," shout "2, 4, 6, 8, show us how to fornicate" (or "masturbate", both are acceptable).
3. During the entire line "But it's the pelvic thrust" shout, "group sex" repeatedly. Subsequently, during the line "That really drives you insaaane," shout, "all around the world."

Sweet Transvestite

1. In the first verse, when Frank says "faithful handyman," shout over it, "faithful handjob man." [Session 1 only, watch for RAs or you'll get yelled at]
2. In Frank's line "from Transsexual Transylvania," shout over it, "Lancaster, Pennsylvania." [defunct callback, since at least 04.1]
3. In the chorus, after "I'm just a sweet transvestite," there is a saxophone riff. Over the saxophone riff, shout, "Work that ass," or, if you don't wish to be chewed out by an RA, "Work those hips." [rarely done]
4. In the third verse, when Frank says, "I could show you my favorite (pause) obsession," add "sexual" in the pause. [Session 1 only]
5. After Frank says, "I've been making a man" (and usually points to Riff Raff), shout out "You call that a man?"
6. After Frank says, "With blonde hair and a tan," shout, "You call that a tan?"
7. In Frank's line, "He's good for relieving my (pause) tension," add "sexual" in the pause. [Session 1 only]
8. In the pause after the line "I see you shiver with antici..." shout, "Say it! Say it master!"
   • Then, after Frank finishes, "...pation," shout, "What's masterpation?"
9. After the line "And maybe the rain isn't really to blame," shout, "Unless we're in Mayser!" [nobody says this because Mayser isn't the rain location anymore and also...nobody says this]
   • Or shout, "Yes it is!" if you're actually inside...)
10. After the line "So I'll remove the cause," shout, "What about the symptom?"

Outside CTY

Live showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show can be found in most major cities in the United States, including Cleveland, New York City, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Boston. These showings have set casts that perform the entirety of the movie along with the showing, and each location has its own set of call backs, which can be found here. Florida State University offers a Halloween showing, acted out by the Cheap Thrills Cast. Check here around September or October for details.

In Chelsea, New York City, New York, orgasms contests = amazing. (Warning from Nixon: the hosts can be total dicks.)

General Callbacks

Sweet Transvestite

1. After Frank says, "How do you do? I," shout, "Won't do you!"
2. When Frank says "faithful handyman," shout over it, "faithful handjob man."
3. After Frank says, "He's just a little brought down," rapidly shout, "Don't bring him up!"
4. After Frank says, "...Because, when you knocked," shout *dryly,* "They rang."
5. After Frank says, "He thought you were the - Candyman!" shout, "Didn't you, Freaky?"
6. After Frank says, "...By the way I look!" shout, "You look like shit!"
7. After Frank says, "Don't judge a book by its cover," shout, "You mean like Lolita?"
8. After Frank says, "I'm not much of a man," shout, "At all!"
9. After Frank says, "Maybe play you a sound," shout rapidly, "Your bedsprings don't count!"
10. After Frank says, "We can take in an old Steve Reeves movie," shout, "Who the fuck is Steve Reeves?"
11. When Frank says, "I could show you my favorite (pause) obsession," add "sexual" in the pause.
12. After Frank says, "I've been making a man" (and usually points to Riff Raff), shout out "You call that a man?"
13. After Frank says, "With blonde hair and a tan," shout, "You call that a tan?"
14. In Frank's line, "He's good for relieving my (pause) tension," add "sexual" in the pause.
15. After Frank says, "See what's on the slab," shout, "You mean, 'who's' on the slab?"
16. In the pause after the line "I see you shiver with antici..." shout, "Say it! Say it master!"
    • Then, after Frank finishes, "...pation," shout, "What's masterpation?"
17. After Frank says, "But maybe the rain--" shout, "HalleLUjia!

Florida State Callbacks

Science Fiction / Double Feature

1. As the lips fade in and the music starts, the entire audience shouts in unison, "God said, 'Let there be lips!' ...And there were! And they were good!"
2. When the lips say, "Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear," shout either "sexy" or "crotchless" in place of "silver."
3. When the lips say, "...For Fay Ray & King Kong," shout, "Fucking" in place of "& King."
4. When the lips say, "They got caught in a celluloid jam," shout "sexual" in place of "celluloid."
5. When the lips say, "It came from outer space," shout, "on Janet's face" over "From outer space."
6. After the lips say, "Dana Andrews said prunes give him the runs," shout, "They give me the shits!"
7. When the lips say, "When I saw Janet Scott," shout, "Janet's twat" in place of "Janet Scott."
8. In the chorus, when the lips say, "Dr. X (pause) will build a creature," rapidly shout, "Sex! Sex! Sex!" during the pause.
9. In the chorus, when the lips say, "See androids fighting Brad and Janet," shout "fucking" in place of "fighting."
10. After the lips say, "In the back row," shout, "Fuck the back row! Fuck the FRONT row!"
11. Any time the lips say, "At the late night (pause) double feature (pause) picture show," shout "Early morning" during the first pause and "Rocky Horror" during the second pause.
12. When the lips say, "'I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills," shout "sexual" over "terrible."

Sweet Transvestite

1. In the chorus, when Frank says, "From Transexual, Transylvania," shout "Tallahassee, Leon Florida" over "Transexual, Transylvania."
2. In short pause after Frank says, "So I'll remove the cause," shout rapidly, "But what about the itching & burning sensation I get when I pee?"

External Links

Official RHPS Website