It was hard for those who came late to find a chair at the Rocky Horror Show. With lines out the door, excited playgoers scrambled to find a seat at the sold out show.
The show kicked off on Halloween night with ushers in fishnets, heels, and makeup escorting individuals as they walked through the entrance of the Backdoor Playhouse. Some students who had no background about the production said they were in awe after attending the show.
“I had absolutely no idea,” said junior Holly Smith. “I knew it was going to be weird, but I didn’t know exactly how weird.”
Junior Kaitlin Spink said she felt like the performance aspect was really incredible. She said the singing, costumes, makeup, and actors impressed her.
Members of the production said they have also been surprised with the turnout of this year’s fall production.
“In the 21 years that I have been here, it’s the first time that we have sold out every performance,” said Mark Creter, artistic director of The Backdoor Playhouse. “So far we have done five performances and everyone has been sold out.”
The show has received many standing ovations and people have lined up after the play to take pictures with the cast.
“It has just been phenomenal to have this amount of people, not only sold out, but that we have been turning away an average of 50 people a night because we just don’t have room for them, which is very hard to do,” said Creter. “I hate to tell people but we only have 200 seats and when they are full, they are full.”
The Rocky Horror Show has been one of the most popular productions in Tech history by connecting the current generation to previous ones.
“I think that so many people have heard of the movie and many people have seen it,” said Creter. “It has that kind of generational appeal. People love the show either because they have seen it and they dig it or they have heard about it and always wanted to see it.
“Every night you look at the mix of people,” Creter said. “At the midnight show, 70 or 80 people were high school kids that were so excited to see the show.”
Aside from its tradition, some believe the production’s features are what have attracted so many individuals.
“We are raunchy, we are in drag on stage, and [the audience] gets to cuss at us, so it’s perfect for the collegiate crowd because they get to interact with us that way,” said Houston Fehrman, a junior student. “They get to be as degenerate that they can be, that college kids are seen and stereotyped as.”
