Our Trip to the Buffy Musical Sing-a-long

Posted by Kyle February 22nd, 2007 at 03:00pm In Buffy

As you may know, our intrepid reporter Maggie watched the entire seven-season run of Buffy The Vampire Slayer last year, and being home sick with an 80-year-old man's disease, I joined in. We both liked it very much, although Maggie was in love with the musical episode before we had even started watching the show. It was the first one she made me watch and I didn't really get it, since I didn't know who all those people were. Having seen it a few times since, I am definitely a fan.

But I'm not a crazy fan. And it appears that there are quite a few of those. For a few years now, a group of especially… dedicated fans have organized a series of Buffy sing-a-longs. For the purposes of science, Maggie and I attended one last weekend at the IFC Center in New York City. Here is my report:

We began the evening by arriving an hour early, the customary time for special movie events. We once showed up an hour early for a free screening of Volver and 100 people in line ahead of us didn't get in either. But apparently when you pay $15 for a ticket, and the show is at midnight, you don't get such a big crowd. We were there so early that the theater didn't know what to do with us. Since the IFC Center lacks proper indoor line facilities due to its diminutive lobby we retired to the lovely bar adjacent to the theater for a drink.

After a few minutes, the couple next to us was approached by this girl

Who looks like this girl

and said "Hi I'm Dawn."

Maggie and I tried very hard not to look at each other but there were definitely some barely suppressed grins of embarrassment for a) being there, b) eavesdropping, and c) realizing that we were really going to enjoy this nerdfest. It turns out the guy next to us was some sort of professor of something who knew somebody in the show, and since professors of things tend to love Buffy, he was treated like a VIP. "Dawn" assured him he would be seated first and introduced him to the usher. We had definitely chosen the right place to wait. "Dawn" returned with goody bags including the following items

and a program

explaining when to use the various items and fun things to yell during the show. I went to a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was in high school that was clearly run by a bunch of slackers.

As midnight approached, we noticed a huge line outside the theater. A bunch of people left the bar to get in line, but we stuck it out inside and were rewarded with priority entrance to the theater before all the suckers waiting outside. Apparently the IFC Center lets you in first if you buy a drink at the bar. Who knew! We got seats in the middle back for a good balance between watching the crowd and watching the show.

The evening started with a round of Buffy Jeopardy featuring one extremely knowledgeable audience member and two less so. The answers were often illustrated by actual clips of the episodes in question. It was pretty slick. The host reminded me of a slightly less wittily erudite version of David Witt, host of the Union Hall Spelling & Grammar Bee of which Maggie is a former champion. He also had a Gileseque vibe, which makes sense because he played Giles in the "show."

It seems that in the grand tradition of Rocky Horror it's not enough to just show the episode, you also need a cast of people who either look like or (more commonly) dress like the characters in the show. There were two Anyas because "Giles" just couldn't say no. Their enthusiasm usually made up for any lack of talent or preparation, although the standout performance was Anya and Xander's dance scene. In addition to knowing all the moves cold, they also synced perfectly with the screen. That musical number happens to be my favorite so that helped. Too bad it'll never be a breakaway pop hit.

As you can see from the photo, there were subtitles of the lyrics, but your humble author was unable to sing along. Not from fear of singing in public—as many of our readers know, I am an award-winning karaokeist—but having only seen the show three times I couldn't keep up. Maggie, however, could more than handle it.

At the end of Willow and Tara's dirty song about lesbian witch cunnilingus, everyone was supposed to pull their party popper thing at the same time, which would have been cool, but there were a number of people who pulled their strings prematurely. I hope their girlfriends understand.

So we had a good time. Will we be back? I don't think so. And to finish off, I'd like to leave you with something in the same spirit that Joss Whedon did himself