On my way back from Jeju I saw a lot of ads on the airport line for Rocky Horror and at first I just stared at it like, what? Is that what I think it is? And then as I squinted and read the names I realized yeah, it was and got rather excited. Only to find that when I tried to look for the show online I had absolutely no luck at all. I scrolled through newspaper culture sites for dates, Seoul. Eventually I found it on the Interpark website and bought my tickets there.
After booking the tickets I made an assumption that the Hongik Art Center Theater would be near Hongik University station in Hongdae and thankfully double checked the address before leaving because it wasn’t anywhere near Hongdae and instead between Hyehwa station and Jongno 5 station. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to find and we were able to pick up our tickets early for the show and relax at the Starbucks in the theater lobby while we waited for the doors to open.
Our seats were on the second level by the balcony, which we picked assuming we’d be close to the balcony and thus easily see over them but instead found ourselves a good deal away from the balcony and while able to see the stage unable to see any interactions or if the performers went anywhere near the stage’s edge let alone off of it.
I’ve never seen the actual live broadway show before, only ever the movie with the audience interaction or a reenactment that is paired with the movie that they do around Halloween in Chicago. I’m not sure what differs from the original broadway and the Korean adaptation, except I could probably hazard a guess that the song about bread is not a factor in the original but something they did for the Korean adaptation since Brad sounds like Bread.
I was surprised by the level of interaction that seemed to carry over between the movie theater shows and this performance. People on the main level could purchase, or quite possibly were given, a little set in which to participate in the show. It included a newspaper, rubber gloves, bread and a noise maker in which to make use of throughout the show. I think they even received a guide on when and how to use the items. Before the show they had a video up teaching the audience the Time Warp, though it was a bit different from what I was familiar with.
On our way up to our floor, when the doors opened “phantoms” greeted everyone in all black and laughter before skating away and giving me a mild heart attack. Though they ended up being one of my favorite parts of the show.
Another note is that I’m surprised by all the English that was still in the show. When I saw The Count of Monte Cristo and Les Misérables (though to be fair both were originally French books) there was little to no English leftover from their broadway runs. But with Rocky there was quite a bit, some even left in the songs.
It was a fun show. I absolutely loved it and all the performers did an amazing job. If you want to participate I highly suggest booking tickets on the main floor and as close to stage as possible. But note, expect to get wet.
Until August 6th Rocky Horror will be playing at Hongik Daehangno Art Center.