Submitted by Julia Scott the 2024 Spring program in Paris, France…
Before I leave Paris, it is very important to me that I see live performances and theater while I am here, even if just once. This past weekend I was lucky enough to have friends who felt the same way, and we bought tickets and attended my first Rocky Horror Picture Show. Typically, this performance is a very strange ritual that sticks to eccentric and vulgar traditions that have been expanded upon for decades. The musical, a cult-classic film from the 70’s, is explicit and odd, the very definition of queer culture, however what I saw was different from those high-participation shows. The theater we attended was formal, with seats with tables and a professional stage rather than a makeshift lip syncing arena. The audience was surprisingly old, and everyone was sitting politely drinking glasses of white wine and showing their enthusiasm in the form of a statement piece, or slightly more mascara than they are used to applying. My friends and I showed up in heavy makeup and flirty outfits, but I don’t think we would have been scorned if we decided to take it to the next level of drama. The performance was live, and the entire show I was absolutely dazzled at the talent of the actors’ abilities. They also had very convincing American accents and I thought they must have been a foreign tour coming to Paris, but would sometimes adlib entirely in French. I think the star of the show was the actress who played Columbia, she was hilarious. All in all, an excellent performance and a lovely night out with my friends. If you come to Paris, be sure to catch some live theater performances! (Submitted on April 23,2024)