Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (UK Tour) @ Regent, Stoke

 

 

It was great when it all began,  I was a regular Franky fan...

Our combined history with The Rocky Horror Show stretches back in Rob's case to his first live experience in 1983 (when Frank was the peerless Peter Straker) and Ian experienced his first Floor Show sometime around 2008..  Both of us devoted to Richard O'Brien's cult classic which had its first performance in 1973 at the tiny Royal Court Upstairs and a couple of years later was made into a movie which has since gone on to become one of the biggest cult movie franchises ever. 

If there is anyone out there unaware of the story,  the strange events take place in the 1950s when an all-American teenage couple Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, set out to visit their science tutor Dr. Everett Scott.  However, on the way their car gets a flat tyre and they are forced to seek help at a nearby castle.  That is the start of their undoing, for it is here they meet creepy servants Riff Raff, Columbia and Magenta.  They are under the spell of the Master of the house, Dr. Frank N. Furter,  alien transvestite and scientist. Brad and Janet have arrived on the night the Master is set to birth his new genetic experiment, the ultimate man - Rocky Horror.  But things take a grisly turn when biker Eddie escapes from the freezer where he has been made captive by Frank...

This homage to 1950s B-movies has captured the imagination of the world, there has been no major city where this incredible showcase of eccentrics has not played. Richard O'Brien's songs remain as fresh as the day they were minted,  and as an usherette begins proceedings proclaiming the greatness of the  "Science Fiction, Double Feature" we are taken into the recesses of O'Brien's mind where gender and sexuality are fluid and a jump to the left can alter time itself...  

                            The originals:  Tim Curry as Frank with Richard O'Brien (show creator) as Riff Raff, 1975

 

 Rose Tint My World

Over the years we have sporadically popped into productions of Rocky Horror, and in that time we have seen the show in many different productions and guises, until it fell into the hands of the Rocky Horror Company, set up by O'Brien and accolytes to licence and protect the brand.  This latest tour directed by Christopher Luscombe has been doing the rounds with a few touch ups, for about twenty years now.  It styles itself as 'a guaranteed party' and so the unique Rocky Horror experience begins...

The 2024/25 tour cast are a curates egg. Each playing their respective roles, but with little symmetry to those opposite.  Adam Strong's Frank leads the way, he's trying not to be Tim Curry but never really finds the genius degenerate core of the character, he does shine momentarily giving his 'I'm Going Home' though.  Lauren Chia and Connor Carson as Janet and Brad respectively look suitably bemused by the goings on most of the time,  I'm not sure if this is due to Brad and Janet's situation or the fact they are coming to terms with the contract they have signed. Job Greuter's Riff Raff is strangely passive,  no sense of the simmering resentment of O'Brien's original. Natasha Hoeberigs and Jayme-Lee Zanoncelli are more spirited as Frank's groupies Magenta and Columbia,  Zanoncelli particularly spits out fire to Frank when she has had enough of his excessive control. Guest narrator Jackie Clune shows her mettle as a stand up comic and writer delivering the Narrator's speeches with added adlib flourishes which had the audience warming to her from the off.  Kudos also to the pint sized Rocky, Morgan Jackson, who backflips, sings wonderfully and looks very pretty.  At the performance we saw, understudy Ryan Carter-Wilson stepped into dual roles, giving us a rock 'n' roll Eddie and for some reason a Glaswegian Dr. Scott.  But the production is such a hotpotch of performances, by that stage pretty much anything was accepted.

 

Rocky Horror has an identity crisis.  It's most unique feature - the growth of the audience participation - has become its biggest setback.  There is no doubt  O'Brien's script remains genius,  but the current production feels like a tired re-tread of a good idea two decades ago. And whilst the Rocky Horror Company might like to think it is looking after the shows interests, what it is really doing is making sure it generates money which is not quite the same thing. Director Christopher Luscombe has given his all in making this version of Rocky Horror, but it is done. Time to move on.  Back in 1973 as Britain emerged from the swinging Sixties into an ever greater social freedom, the events in The Rocky Horror Show had the power to thrill and shock.  We are in a much bleaker era now, and after a good long rest the show needs to be re-imagined as a darker, more dangerous creature, where Dr. Frank is not just a campy figure trotting out phrases for the audience to respond to, but a dangerous and intoxicating presence who is a genuine threat to our society. Its time for its audience to give it back to creativity, and let the show re-invent itself for the next fifty years.  

We'll be back in a few years to re-connect with something we love so much, in the hope that it has renewed itself enough to be a proud addition to the long legacy that Rocky Horror has earned.

Rob & Ian 

Tour details can be found at the ROCKY HORROR UK TOUR WEBSITE

Further listening:

The sky is the limit with recordings of Rocky Horror, albums are available in many different languages. We find ourselves listening to the 2001 Broadway cast recording rather a lot.  Its a great singalong on car journeys

although for a wild card you might like to check out the 2018 Icelandic production, which has a great energy to it.