The Rocky Horror Show is back on tour for fans to come and see. Richard O’Briens brazenly brash 1970’s Sci- fi rock n roll musical is back on stage that will tour the UK in 2022 and 2023.
Many will be familiar with the film and the show so will know the story line. Brad (Ore Oduba) and Janet (Haley Flaherty) are newly engaged and are travelling home during a thunderstorm when their car tyre blows, and they need to find help in the middle of nowhere. They recall seeing a castle several miles back and decide to go and ask for help.
Riff Raff (Kristian Lavercombe), the butler, welcomes them in and slowly the naivety and innocence of Brad and Janet is worn away by the inhabitants of the castle. Frank-N-Furter is brilliantly played by Stephen Webb who portrays a transvestite scientist who creates monstrous humans. Frank-N-Furter is a star, with a flamboyant presence and that completely captivated the audience. He excels himself in the creation of Rocky (Ben Westhead) who has been created as a physically perfect human. Brad and Janet are unable to withstand the charms and physical delights that are on offer to them and gradually succumb to temptation.
The Narrator (Reece Budin) is outstanding and kept excellent comedic timings throughout the show and responded to the hecklers with brilliant fluency and alluded to his new role in the production with flare. During our performance were some devoted Rocky Horror fans in the audience who they knew the responses required of them and came prepared with lights and newspapers.
The show succeeds in getting the entire audience up and dancing by the final curtain, celebrating and participating in the songs and of course dancing to the iconic Time Warp. Despite the age of the musical – it is now a spritely 49 years old – it retains its original charm with the outfits still being outrageous and corseted. The humour is aimed below the waistline, and it embraces its raunchy sexuality wholeheartedly.
The production is full of in jokes and is a quick romp of fun toe tapping tunes that we have all heard of many times before.
The Rocky Horror Show runs at Lighthouse, Poole until Saturday 2 April before continuing on a nationwide tour until 2023.
The Rocky Horror Show
Summary
For an evening of excess and unadulterated fun then this is a show you must see.
