There is and will only ever be one film about which the theater must admonish viewers: “No toast, rice or water please,” and then add, “Prop bags are for sale.” The Rosendale Theatre screens The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday, October 26. The cult classic musical around which dozens of participatory material and verbal rituals developed was ahead of its time with the notion of interactivity. While its popularity has held steady for decades, the film now finds itself completely in sync with the cultural moment, in which lavish gender-bending laughs and musically overwrought fun are the reasons I can barely get a gig anymore. So be it. My child, a/k/a Strawberry, is doing quite well. As for the prop bags, I wonder if this is the collective’s attempt to make cleanup easier or to co-opt and monetize the film’s anarchic grassroots tradition. Subject for a different scholar. Admission to this wild ride costs $10, $8 for members and those in costume (but aren’t we all, really?).
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Saturday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $10/$8, Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main St., Rosendale, www.rosendaletheatre.org
Join the family! 
