27 Live and "World of the Weird Monster Show" Conjure a Rocky Horror Halloween

Halloween is one of those times when adulthood feels overrated.   Aging out of the most fun holiday of the year is simply unjust.  What, do we need a time warp to bring back tricks and treats into our lives?  Yes!  Yes, we do.  And here’s the good news.  If you are between 13 -130 years old, that time warp happens Halloween night (and monthly) at 27 Live in Evanston, the North Shore’s most unique and inviting new venue.  On that happy, spooky night, 27 Live, which combines gourmet food with gourmet entertainment, all reasonably priced, will feature The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  The evening will be hosted by Undead Johnny (a/k/a Chad Byers), star of television’s award-winning The World of the Weird Monster Show.   

If you have seen Rocky Horror you know that it’s more than a movie.  It’s an experience and an unforgettable one at that.   It’s about Brad and Janet, two people who probably were always too old for Halloween.  One night, their car breaks down and they find their way to Dr. Frank-N- Furter’s castle where all sorts of rock ‘n’ roll alien transvestite Frankensteinish mayhem breaks loose.  

And while that’s enough to make any evening memorable, there is much more.  Of course, there is the legendary audience participation (prop kits will be sold at the show).   And if you haven’t seen Rocky Horror recently, you may not know about shadow casts.  Now an international Rocky Horror tradition, the shadow cast  acts out the movie as it unfolds onscreen.  And 27 Live has the only shadow cast in the world made up of the delightfully frightfully talented actors of The World of the Weird Monster Show.  

In fact, Byers and his WOWMS crew have received such positive notice that renowned Rocky Horror memoirist Kevin Theis made a guest appearance at their September show in the role of Riff Raff.  Says Theis,  “I've been a big fan of The World of the Weird Monster Show ever since I first met Chad and Jenny Byers and saw their wonderful production up in Wilmette. It was my distinct honor and privilege to share a stage with them last month at their new venue and there is no question: This is one of the finest shadow casts I've ever seen in all my Rocky days. From top to bottom the WOWMS is a top-notch, thoroughly enjoyable ensemble, the venue itself is fantastic and I sincerely hope they run for another 40 years. Can't wait to go back and try on the tails again!”

So never mind what the North Shore municipalities say!   Halloween does not end at 8:00 p.m.   At 8:00 p.m., doors open for 27 Live’s Rocky Horror Picture Show and that’s just the beginning.   Take back Halloween!   Go in costume!  As the famous Rocky Horror mantra commands, “Don’t dream it. Be it.”

 I spoke with Chad Byers to learn more about this spellbinding event.

Q: Please tell us about The World of the Weird Monster Show.

A: The World of the Weird Monster Show is a sketch comedy horror host show which premiered on Halloween night in 2004.  We’re on Comcast in the Chicago area on Friday nights.  We have a YouTube channel and can also be seen on the Monster Channel which is a 24-hour online channel, monsterchannel.tv.   We host horror movies, classic and not-so -classic.  We also host independent short films from up-and-coming indie film directors.  And then just a lot of crazy weird stuff and our own sketch comedy.   The Chicago Sun-Times once described us as being as if Son of Svengoolie and SCTV had a mutant offspring.  

A few years ago we branched out into live shows.  Undead Johnny’s charm and personality is too much for just the small TV screen!  So we started doing monthly live shows where we’ve hosted everything from Shaun of the Dead to Friday the Thirteenth, Ghostbusters and then of course, the monthly Rocky Horror Picture Show.  We do it right and the best time for it is Halloween.

Q: Kevin Theis said, “Halloween is to Rocky what Christmas is to Jesus.”  How so?

 A: Everyone knows about Rocky Horror whether they have seen it or not.  It is the ultimate cult film.  Even though we do it monthly and other casts around the country do it weekly or monthly, the time when everyone seems to want to see it is Halloween.  It’s the perfect movie to see.  It’s like Halloween itself.  Halloween can be silly.  It can be kid-friendly, but it can also be scary and spooky and gory.  It can be sexy.  It can be all these different things. 

Rocky Horror is like that.  It’s almost like a Frankenstein of a movie.  It’s got all these old horror movie references and the atmosphere of the spooky castle and a couple that is trapped there and a monster, but it’s also a rock musical.  It’s got fabulous costumes and great songs.  It epitomizes the season. 

Q: Please tell us about Rocky Horror’s longevity.

A:    This movie has been pretty much in release in theaters since it came out in 1975.  I don’t think it has ever been out of theaters and the reason is that it’s just really a fun thing to watch. It also has some of the best music.

Q: Would it be accurate to say that Rocky Horror is always playing somewhere in the world?

A: I think that’s very accurate.   At least every month if not every weekend.   It’s still almost technically a first-run movie.  

Q: That’s a great way to put it.

A: And there’s a reason for that.  It’s not Planet 9 From Outer Space where it’s so bad it’s funny.  It’s a really good movie.  The music is great.  Then when you add the audience participation, which is one of the things that’s kept it around for so long, and people yelling lines back and throwing things and you have us as the cast acting it out in costume it’s a really unique movie-going experience.

Q: Please tell us why Rocky Horror at 27 Live is the best place to be this Halloween.

A: Well, first of all, it’s Rocky Horror.  So that automatically makes it the best thing to do on Halloween.  We’ll have a costume contest so it’s a perfect night to get dressed up in whatever you want to wear.  We’ll have some cool prizes.   And then 27 Live is an awesome venue.  It’s newly opened so a lot of people may not have seen it.  It’s an ultimate cool hotspot in downtown Evanston.  They’ve got a great stage with cabaret table seating.  There are a lot of seats, but it’s also intimate. There’s a restaurant. There’s a whiskey lounge and a bar. They have awesome Rocky Horror themed drinks.  So it’s just a really cool night out and a really cool space to see it.   

Q: How would you describe your monthly audience?   Is it really rowdy?  Do you have a lot of regulars?  Do they get involved?

A: Yes.  They get involved. It’s a lot of fun.  It’s rowdy to the extent everyone is yelling stuff back at the screen and you’re throwing the toilet paper when you throw the toilet paper and that kind of stuff, but it’s mostly just fun.   It’s all different ages.  It’s a very wide range of people.  There are the people who’ve never seen it before, you know, the virgins, and then there are the people who see it all the time and then there are the people who maybe saw it in college twenty years ago and they have great memories and wanted to go see it again now that it’s in their home town.  So we run the whole gamut of all these different types of people.  The atmosphere is fun and light-hearted and high energy and it’s a lot of fun to be there.

Q: How would you answer someone who says, “Why can’t I just stay home and watch it on DVD?”

A:  It is the ultimate audience participation movie.   If you have never seen it in a theater or in a venue like 27 Live, then you haven’t seen it.  If you’ve just seen it on DVD, then you’ve only seen half the movie.  You really need to see it in a place with a live audience, with a cast, with all the audience participation to get the full Rocky Horror experience.

Q: Would you say the audience becomes part of the show?

A: The audience becomes totally part of the show.  That’s what makes it so cool.  There’s the movie on screen and then there’s the cast acting it out, but then there’s also the audience. The audience is yelling stuff back.  Someone in the movie will say a line and the audience will say something funny to respond to it.   At certain times during the movie you may be throwing a paper plate or playing cards or toilet paper into the air or you’re putting a party hat on your head or holding up a glow stick. 

It’s a total experience that combines everyone together and that’s what makes it so fun.  It takes on a life of its own which is probably why it’s lasted.  There’s an energy that’s re-created every time the show goes on.  

Q: What about Rocky Horror is most meaningful to you?

A: To me, it puts together a lot of things that I love.  I’m a big fan of music.  I’m also a huge fan of horror movies ever since I was a kid.  One of the reasons I first saw Rocky Horror was not because it was a cult movie or a musical, but because it was an homage to the horror movies that I saw as a kid on Son of Svengoolie or Uncle Don’s Terror Theater where I grew up in Rockford.   

Richard O’Brien (who wrote Rocky Horror) also loved those movies and made Rocky Horror as an homage to them.  So for me, it encapsulates a lot of things.  It’s an homage to the movies I love.  I love the whole atmosphere and aesthetic,  but it’s also awesome rock and roll music and a chance to do our TV show live and to connect with fans in a different way.      

Every single episode of World of the Weird Monster Show -- we’re in our eighth season right now, so we’ve had over eighty episodes -- ends with us saying, “Every day is Halloween.”  I love Halloween. So to be able to do Rocky Horror live with an audience is like having a Halloween party every month.

Q: Do you have a favorite Rocky Horror song?

A: I’ve always loved “The Time Warp.”  “Hot Patootie,” the song when Eddie comes out, the Meatloaf song, is my current favorite.  I also really love the opening song, “Science Fiction Double Feature” because it mentions so many movies that I loved as a kid.

Q: How did you decide to play Riff Raff?

A: Riff Raff fit in with Undead Johnny.  That was the thinking behind it.  He’s one of the main through-lines and I’m the host of the show.  Also, I’m the emcee of the live show, so I do the opening pre-show of the live show.  Since Riff Raff isn’t in the movie until fifteen minutes or so after the movie starts, it worked out perfectly where I can be the emcee and get everybody into a high-energy state and then get into Riff Raff’s gear.  And I like Riff Raff.  He’s the hunchback butler.  I like that.

Q: How did you get first get involved with Rocky Horror?

A: I ran a theater in Evanston, the Evanston Theater, which is no longer there.   I did a series of midnight movies and brought in Rocky Horror.   I’ve always had it at theaters where I’ve worked at various times.  It also seemed like a natural extension of the TV show.  

A Halloween came up where we had a chance to do a live show and we asked, “Which movie should we show for our first live show?”  So we did a double feature of Rocky Horror and Night of the Living Dead.   It was a perfect fit and it was so much fun to have Undead Johnny and the cast live in front of an audience.   All of our major things have come about on Halloween.  We premiered on Halloween in 2004.  Our first live show was a Halloween show when we did Rocky Horror.  That Halloween theme repeats over and over.

Q: Can interested fans join your Rocky Horror cast?

A: Yes, of course.  If people are interested, they can talk to us after a show.  It’s usually people who keep coming for a long period of time.  Eventually they do a little bit more.  That’s how most people get involved with Rocky Horror over time.  They start out as audience members.  That’s how it keeps going and how all these casts keep growing.  People discover the film and they love it.  Then they go to see it a lot and eventually get involved with the cast.

Q: That’s very cool.  I can’t think of anything else where you can do that.

A: It’s very unique for a film to be in theaters this long and to have a cast performing.  There are tons of other cult movies, but there’s nothing like Rocky Horror.  

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27 Live is located at 1012-1014 Church Street in Evanston.   On October 31, doors for The Rocky Horror Picture Show open at 8:00 p.m.    The movie starts at 9:30 p.m.  Between 8-9:30 p.m., there is a video pre-show which includes sketches from The World of the Weird Monster Show.   The evening is for ages 13 and up.

Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.   Tickets are available at www.27live.com.   Prop kits will be sold for $3 or 2 for $5. The bar will be open and food will be available during the show.

For more information about The World of the Weird Monster Show, visit www.wowmonstershow.com and watch Friday nights on the Comcast Channel at 11:00 p.m.  

Kevin Theis’ book, co-authored with Ron Fox, is Confessions of a Transylvanian: a story of Sex, Drugs and Rocky Horror and is available at www.amazon.com, www.bn.com and at bookstores.