Where to see Rocky Horror and other spooky themed performances
Halloween is coming to stages around Connecticut, from the staple Rock Horror Picture
Show events to theatrical retellings of spooky local history to a Halloween drag show and several costume contests. Here are a few:
Do the Time Warp again and again
Rocky horrors can take many different supernatural shapes. One is the original “Rocky Horror
Show” musical, with actors embodying the roles of Transylvanian transvestites, top-hatted tap-dancing terrors, buff monsters and what-have-you, The other is screenings of the movie version, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” with folks in costume, and in character, singing and dancing along to what’s on the screen. In both cases, there’s also lots of odd audience participation.
■ Square Foot Theatre and Tavern, 950 Yale Ave., Wallingford, is performing the live show through Oct. 31, with performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and a single Sunday performance on Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $28.
■ There’s a new staging of the show in Connecticut this month, by Pantochino Productions at the Milford Fine Arts Center through Oct. 29, but every performance is sold out.
■ The biggest film event happening around “Rocky Horror” this year is Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. at College Street Music Hall, 238 College
St., New Haven. It features the movie, a shadow cast performing alongside it, audience participation and — Say it! — a special appearance by the original movie Brad, Barry Bostwick. $25-$65. collegestreetmusichall.com.
■ Fairfield Theatre Company Oct. 29, with “pre-show festivities” at 7 p.m. and the movie at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15, and for an additional $5 the theater will give you a special kit of rice, a newspaper, a water gun, a glow stick, a Time Warp flier, a rubber glove, a noisemaker, a confetti popper, toilet paper, a party hat, a bell, a sponge and more. Stalwart time warpers
will know what to do with all those things. For novices, instructions are included. fairfieldtheatre.org.
The Strand Theater, 165 Main St., Seymour, has a fancy screening Oct. 30, with a pre-movie costume party around 7:15 p.m. $23. facebook.com/Strand TheaterSeymourCT/.
Stage Frights
■ There’s a Bad Witches Halloween Drag Show Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at Priam Vineyards, 11 Shailor Hill Road, Colchester. priam-vineyards.com.
■ The “30th Annual Halloween & Samhain Celebration!” Oct. 25 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Curious Goods New Age Shop, 417 Campbell Ave, West Haven, is about spiritualism, rituals (Celtic and Wiccan) and some calming practices like meditation and aura cleansing. But there is also a costume contest. facebook. com/events/curiousgoods-new-age-shop/ 30th-annual-halloweensamhain-celebration/202030137652485.
■ The locally lensed thriller “Night at the Eagle Inn” is being shown Oct. 27 in Constitution Plaza. Other scary films being shown in the plaza, all at 6:30 p.m., are “Coraline” on Oct. 28, “Misery” on Oct. 29 and “Candyman” — the original 1992 one starring Hartfordraised horror star Tony Todd — on Oct. 30. hartford.com/events-calendar/ spooky-popcorn-night-atthe-eagle-inn.
■ “Spirits, an Otherworldly Tour” Oct. 28-30 at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 77 Forest St., Hartford, explores the popular 19th century fascination with spiritualism, and how it affected Stowe and her social circle. There are three days of tours at 5, 6 and 7 p.m., and only six people are allowed on each tour. $18, $12 members. harrietbeecherstowecenter.org.
■ “SpookTacular!”, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford, is a sort of spooky circus, promising vampires, skeletons and “acrobatic cats.” $20-$40. palacestamford.org.
■ “Dance Til You Die,” in the Pratt Street Historic District, Oct. 29 from 7 to 10 p.m., is a open-air, performance-oriented costumed dance party with a DJ. hartford.com/events-calendar/ dance-til-you-die-on-prattstreet.
■ The Hallowed History Lantern Tour Oct. 29 at Cedar Hill Cemetery, on Fairfield Ave. in Hartford, is a 45-minute visit with costumed actors telling stories of famous fires and other hot tales. $20. cedarhillfoundation.org.
■ A “Halloween Organ Concert” Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at Enfield Congregational, United Church of Christ, 1295 Enfield St, Enfield, finds organist Wesley Hall playing Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in d minor and fun Halloween Songs like the Adams Family. Costumes encouraged. facebook.com/ EnfieldUCC.
■ Local band Bella’s Bartok holds a two-night “Halloween Spectacular” Oct. 29 and 30 starting at 8:30 p.m. at Arch Street Tavern, 85 Arch St., Hartford. They’ll be joined by a different band each night: on Friday it’s Nikita and on Saturday it’s Leon Trout. archstreettavern.com.
■ The Manchester-based Hildebrand Magic brings a Halloween show, “39 Missed Calls from Mom,” to the Hole in the Wall Theater on Oct. 29 & 30 at 8 p.m. $20. hitw.org.
■ Sea Tea Comedy Theater, 15 Asylum St., Hartford, knows how to improvise any special day. Twice, on Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. and Oct. 30 at 8 p.m., before your unbelieving eyes, they’re creating an “Improvised Horror Movie.” $10. The theater is also holding a Trick or Treat Show with Sea Tea Three Dee & Friends, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. also for $10. Theaterseateaimprov.com/ theater.
■ Magician Andy Gross, one of whose tricks is splitting himself in two, is bringing a special haunted doll to his Oct. 30, 7 p.m. show at Broad Brook Opera House 107 Main Street, Broad Brook. $35-28. broadbrookoperahouse.com.
■ The YWCA New Britain School of Dance recreates Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video Oct. 31 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at “the Halloween House,” 62 Metacomet Road, Plainville. It’s free to watch, but bring a canned good or other non-perishable food as a donation for the Plainville Community Food Pantry. ywcanb.org/dance.