Gettysburg Community Theatre to Present THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

Gettysburg Community Theatre, the non-profit 501c3 organization located in the original Elks Lodge building at 49 York Street within the first block of Lincoln Square in historic downtown Gettysburg, will present rock musical The Rocky Horror Show LIVE on stage at 8pm and 11:55pm October 29-31, 2015. Costumes and audience participation are encouraged at this BYOB special event, and while outside props are not allowed in, the theatre will be selling Rocky prop goodie bags as a fundraiser so guests can enjoy the audience participation parts of the show even more.

Many will remember attending the midnight showings of the cult classic film where they got to be wild and fun for a night. They would dress up in costumes, yell things at the movie screen, and even use props on cue to match with the movie.

The Rocky Horror Show is a musical with music, lyrics and a book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the late 1940s through to the early 1970s, the musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple getting caught in a storm and coming to the home of a mad transvestite scientist unveiling his new creation, a muscle man named Rocky Horror.

The original London production of the musical premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1973 before moving to several other locations in London and closing in 1980, running for a total of 2,960 performances. Its 1974 debut in the US in Los Angeles had a successful nine-month run but its 1975 Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre lasted only three previews and forty five performances despite earning one Tony nomination and three Drama Desk nominations.

The musical was adapted into the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which has the longest-running release in film history. The film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, and singer Meatloaf.

Although largely critically panned on release, the film soon became known as a midnight movie when audiences began participating along with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976. Audience members returned to the cinemas frequently and talked back to the screen and began dressing as the characters, spawning similar performance groups across the United States. At almost the same time, fans in costume at the King's Court Theater in Pittsburgh began performing the movie along with the film. This "shadow cast" mimed the actions on screen above and behind them, while lip-syncing their character's lines.

But why in Gettysburg? Well why not?

A student musical theatre club of Gettysburg College has been performing the shadow cast with the screening of the movie on campus for over five years now. A few years ago Gettysburg Community Theatre presented a "floor show" of numbers from the movie musical at the Adams County Arts Council's annual Masquerade Party which had the guests on their feet dancing to the famous number "Time Warp". This Halloween weekend, GCT is producing the fully staged rocky musical Rocky Horror Show with a rock band LIVE on stage with the actors.

The GCT production is directed by Chad-Alan Carr and Ann Walsh, music directed by Adam Rineer who will lead the live rock band, and choreographed by Lexi Barrick and Chad-Alan Carr. The cast stars Gettysburg College seniors Alessandra DeMartino as Janet and Ryan Gallagher as the muscle creature Rocky Horror, Billy Emig of Dover as Brad, Chris McGuiness of York as Narrator, Brian Scace of Biglerville as Dr. Scott, April Howard of Hanover as Magenta, Rebecca Schrom of Dover as Columbia, Travis Thorpe of Hagerstown as RiffRaff, and Jessie Jones of Hagerstown as Eddie, with Chad-Alan Carr of Gettysburg as the "Sweet Transvestite" mad scientist Dr. Frank N Furter. WARNING: This show is not recommended for the easily offended as it deals with MATURE subject matters in an IMMATURE way. If sex, drugs, rock & roll, adultery, cannibalism, cross-dressing, aliens, and above all, CAMPY SHOW TUNES are not your cup of tea, this may not be the show for you. The movie was not great, but what people turned it into is a LOT of fun!

$18 Limited reserved seating tickets can be purchased online today at www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org or by calling 717-334-2692.

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