Everybody remembers their first time witnessing a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” Shadow Cast. A phenomenon that sprang organically from the midnight showings of the Richard O’Brien queer monster mash classic starring Tim Curry from 1975, the Shadow Cast is a fully immersive theatrical extravaganza, a live drag show that unfolds while the movie plays on the big screen, complete with rampant audience participation through an endless array of timed call-backs while performers act out the film in real time. “The Well Hung Speakers”, New Orleans’ only regularly performing Shadow Cast, has been dazzling audiences for over a decade and is set to unleash their grand opus of midnight October performances for eager, toast-throwing masses, presenting a space that is as inclusive as any, where everyone, regardless of race, body type, sexual, or gender identity, is invited to revel in the absolute pleasure of “Rocky Horror”.
“At my first show, I didn’t really know how a Shadow Cast even worked, beyond the yelling and call backs,” explains Emily Jean Henry, the current President of “The Well Hung Speakers”. “But I had the best time. The cast created an environment where nobody cared who you were, there was no judgment of sexuality or gender, and everyone was just there to enjoy the show together. I was immediately obsessed and needed to be a part of it.”
The film, an adaptation of O’Brien’s own “Rocky Horror Show” stage production, was initially a financial disappointment, with audiences unsure what to make of a musical
that paid tribute to the classic monster films of yore with the addition of men in exquisite corsets and high-kicking chorus lines before a life-sized representation of the RKO Pictures logo, while a gigantic pair of red lips sang sexually suggestive lyrics regarding Flash Gordon’s silver underwear. Starring Curry in the role that would kickstart a legendary career, alongside Barry Bostwick as Brad and Susan Sarandon as Janet, the film was a fabulously flamboyant screed against the perversity of chastity and the ultimate liberation of unfettered sexual and gender expression. Yet, while initial box office receipts were lacking, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” found its audience in the second-run theaters showing it at midnight. From these sparsely populated screenings, a virile subculture was born, with an ever-changing script of off-color jokes, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” style call-backs, and the custom of performers acting against the movie screen itself, quickly spreading around the world, making the movie not just iconic but the longest-running film release in history.
“The Well Hung Speakers”, so named for the well-endowed statues that populate the laboratory of Curry’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter, have become a staple of the Halloween Season in New Orleans for all comers looking for a place to belong. Emily, herself taking over the role of the good doctor this October, knows firsthand the liberating nature of the performance, having caught the bug from her first time on stage with the cast in 2020 when volunteers were requested to “strip tease” during the opening credits song, “Science Fiction, Double Feature”.
“Usually, the first role for new cast members is as Transylvanians, and my first performance was actually at Prytania Canal Place, a much smaller venue,” says Emily. “They were asking who would want to dance during the opening credits number, which is usually a fake striptease played for laughs. I said I would and got up there, and I danced in a way I thought was both funny and alluring. As soon as I got off stage, the cast was saying how well I did, and I immediately felt like I belonged.”
Belonging is in many ways the key component to what makes “Rocky Horror” so special; the curation of a space where LGBTQIA folks are not just welcomed but encouraged to freely express themselves, to find acceptance and love while performing on stage or simply enjoying the show. This concept, while foreign to those for whom herteronormtity is the default setting, is the lifeblood of entire communities simply seeking to feel whole and themselves in a world increasingly hostile and overtly dismissive of their very existence. What “Rocky Horror” understood, and has demonstrated for fifty years, is that to shed the precepts of traditional gender and sexuality norms is the purest form of protest, an honest accounting of our most earnest human truths. “Rocky Horror” is a haven, a safe harbor among the hateful turmoil swirling outside those theater walls, where somehow living one’s honest truth is the most politically incendiary act of all.
“When ‘Rocky Horror’ came out, many people chose to ignore the meaning of the movie and the stage show because they refused to acknowledge that queer people even existed,” says Emily. “In many places around the world, “Rocky Horror” is the only space where young queer people can be authentic, where they can identify as themselves and build confidence through community. While the show isn’t preachy, the times we live in have made it inherently political. Because of that, we have to make sure these shows happen, for the audience as a whole, but also so there is a space for young queer people to feel safe.”
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a blast, a musical born from one man’s particular obsession with B-movies and drag culture that becomes so much more than the sum of its parts. Having experienced “The Well Hung Speakers” in action more than a few times, I can say with confidence that there is no better way to spend the midnight hours during cool October nights. As a heteronormative man, it is not a space built for me, as most spaces unjustly are, but it is one that accepts me for who I am, as it does for everyone. There’s nothing more fun than doing the “Time Warp” with a crowd around you, yelling your favorite jokes at the screen, or singing along with a full cast of performers that represent the full breadth of human experience, an example that we are our best when we are ourselves.
“The entire point of the movie is accepting folks for who they are, and our cast represents that,” says Emily. “We have cisgender people, trans people, the whole shebang, and our October cast is the best of the best; it’s our Super Bowl and a magical experience for everyone.”
Seeing a “Rocky Horror” Shadow Cast in college was, in many ways, a foundational experience in my development of understanding the richness and wholesome joy that freedom from cultural confines can bring. You haven’t lived until you’ve been in a space of ultimate inclusion, of joy and sensual daydreams to treasure forever. It’s something we should all be able to experience as much as possible, and a service that “The Well Hung Speakers” are proud to offer.
Don’t dream it, be it.
See y’all in the moonlight!
“The Well Hung Speakers” are performing throughout October, on select nights, October 24 – November 1, at Prytania Uptown.
And on October 29, FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY at the Mahalia Jackson Theater, as part of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECTACULAR TOUR, come see “The Well Hung Speakers” with the original ‘Columbia’, NELL CAMPBELL, the original unedited movie with a live shadow cast and audience participation! Plus a costume contest, and more!
Get your tickets HERE!
