Rocky’s New Challenger: Buffy
Not Balboa, but Rocky Horror Picture Show may have a rival for cult entertainment. Midnight screenings of Buffy the Musical (an episode from its 6th season) have been popping up around the city. In traditional Rocky Horror fashion, these screenings involve actors portraying the scenes in front of the movie screen and audience participation, props and all.
I went to see one such screening last night at the IFC Center in the West Village. The place was packed. As a fan of both Buffy and musicals, I fell in love with this episode when it came out years ago, so I was very psyched. The night’s events started with several Buffy mashups, including a collection of Buffy sex scenes, a montage involving Riley and the song Coin-Operated Boy, and a hilarious 5-minute Buffy Abridged. These mashups were followed by a Buffy trivia game, which my friend nearly won. After that, the lights dimmed and the musical began.
I thoroughly enjoyed singing my heart out with fellow Buffy fans. I also enjoyed the new audience participation, particularly everyone screaming “Shut up, Dawn!” pretty much anytime the whiney character opens her mouth. The audience popped “party poppers” at the end of Tara’s rather suggestive song and blew bubbles during Dawn’s ballet. The show finished off with everyone putting on monster finger puppets and saying “Grrr Arg.” After the musical, they showed an additional Buffy episode from the 4th season (where Jonathan is the center of the universe).
The whole event was very well-organized and almost classy. I have to admit, I enjoyed it more than the (quite a few) Rocky Horror Picture Show productions I’ve attended.
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They occasionally have a midnight showing of Hedwig and the Angry Inch as well with sing-alongs, and costume contests and such.
I keep managing to miss the Buffy sing-along and I’m dying. Every single time, I’m dying. and now that Cully has alerted me to the presence of a Hedwig event, I think I’m going to quickly find a new addiction.
Maybe someone can start a bar with all the sing-alongs running in repertory.
I understand your pain. I kept missing it and I was so frustrated. They have a schedule on their website: http://www.buffysings.com .
Oh, and the bar Splash that I blogged about once has a sing-along with musicals night every Monday. They actually occasionally play scenes from the Buffy the Musical now, after my friend and I nagged the DJ about it. Never seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch, there, though.