Anyone plugged into the Web or the television likely knows that Tuesday, Glee took on the cult smash of outcasts worldwide of the past three decades, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
And, while Ryan Murphy often leaves me flat and the slight de-gothing of Magenta is disturbing at best, I am pleased that Glee is introducing audiences to the sexually free, sci-fi / horror / musical phenomenon that had a hand in shaping queer culture back when there was little to be found save for at gay bars. Once upon a time midnight screenings of Rocky Horror in towns across the country was where a gay girl could go to find likeminded girls, gay boys and lovable freaks in general.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its mostly unintelligible plot, began as a stage show in London and became a beloved, if not deliciously bad, film starring Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, and it has now wound its way into today’s vernacular thanks to gay wunderkind creator Murphy and the cast of Glee.
Kudos to Fox for airing the hyper self-reflexive, aware-of-itself, episode in which Matthew Morrison’s Mr. Shue faces censorship when attempting to get the show off the ground -- a plot point employed to explain censoring Rocky to make it palatable for network television.
For instance, Mercedes’ (Amber Riley) spectacular rendition of Dr. Frankenfurter’s corset-clad number “Sweet Transvestite,” became a slightly watered down version with lyrics switched from “Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania,” to “Sensational Transylvania.” The censorship plot point was a rather fun, albeit meta way to address the issue.
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For a movie / stage show that imagines any number of sexual pairings including Brad and Janet, Janet and Frankenfurter, Frankenfurter and Brad, Janet and Rocky, Frankenfurter and Columbia, Columbia and Eddie, Columbia and Magenta, Frankenfurter and Rocky and so on and so on… Glee managed to keep part of the queer bent intact despite making Frankenfurter a woman and hence, disposing of the ‘transvestite’ piece of the “Sweet Transvestite” anthem. But no matter -- Amber Riley killed on her song, and the move to making Frankie a woman actually made for some possible lesbian pairings as Amber’s Frankenfurter toyed and teased with Columbia and Magenta.
While writers made much ado about the boys, Finn (Cory Monteith) and Sam (Chord Overstreet) and their borderline ‘Manorexia,’ over taking to the stage in their chonies, the girls kept their clothes on for the most part – including Lea Michelle who was playing Janet – the role that put Susan Sarandon on the map for singing in her bra and panties. With the recent kerfluffle over Lea’s naughty schoolgirl shots for GQ it’s probably a good thing writers had Jayma Mays’ Emma as a real-life Janet for the wildly suggestive "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me.”
Even sans Lea in a bra and slip the “Touch-a Touch-a” maintained some of Rocky’s liberating queerness with Brittany and Santana, clad in their twin Cherrios uniforms, gleefully acting like Magenta and Comumbia come to life, teasing each other and singing “more, more, more” at the prospect of sex – any sex – even if it was between their glee club director Mr. Shue and their guidance counselor.
Overall, Murphy and company paid fine homage to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with refreshing highlights including John Stamos’ Eddie, Chris Colfer’s Riff Raff , Riley’s Frankenfurter and Monteith’s Brad. Although, it would have been great to see a full-on Brittany and Santana as Columbia and Magenta scene.
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