My intro to Rocky Horror was a midnight showing of the film version at the Hyway Theater in Fair Lawn NJ the summer after my senior year in high school. I went with a group that were fans. I was a virgin. At the end of the night, I was making out with a girl I barely knew (the guy crushes would come later) and wondering wtf I had just experienced. Something silly. Something wicked. Something wild. But also, something slightly subversive. I had a blast.
Rocky Horror began life as a stage show and I delighted in the 2000 Broadway revival, starring Tom Hewitt, Alice Ripley and Jarrod Emick.
I also frequently watch the 4K of Jim Sharman’s movie, despite the fact that my favorite song, “Once in a While,” was cut. It is on the disc as a special feature!
I preamble the above to show that while I am not a ‘throw rice and shout shit,” devotee, I am an enthusiast of the work. I appreciate the nod and bow to queer culture (way before it was vogue). I celebrate the cult status the movie achieved. I know most of the lyrics by heart. I also acknowledge its glaring shortcomings, basically it’s a tribute to B-movies with a C-movie plot–the book is paper thin.
For those who don’t know the story–Really? Were you born yesterday? Give it a Google Gemini. Suffice to say there’s an oddball love triangle involving Brad, Janet and a Sweet Transvestite from Transexual Transylvania, set against the backdrop of a terrifying castle and its inhabitants. Well, actually it also involves a beefy Frankensteinian creation (the titular character) as well as a trio of loyal (but are they?) servants. Enuf said.
In Oh, Mary! director Sam Pinkleton’s rousing, campy and dazzling new staging, via Roundabout Theatre Company, there isn’t too much daring, beyond a sexy scene or two–which is a bit disappointing but not surprising considering the faux puritanical times we’re living in. But what makes this Rocky Horror Show so worthwhile, beyond the fab costumes (by David I. Reynoso), wig and hair (by Alberto “Albee” Alvarado) lighting (by Jane Cox) and sound (by Brian Ronan) design, are the gloriously unhinged performances.
And I’ll start with the most brilliant.
For those of us that don’t live in the UK, it’s easy to be astonished by the vocal prowess of Luke Evans. On the West End he’s appeared in Taboo, Avenue Q and Rent. He’s also recorded two studio albums. Here we mostly know him from his wonderful film and TV work (Good Grief, Nine Perfect Strangers), although he was Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beast.
Still, nothing prepared me for his absolutely spellbinding performance, delivering the queerest, most charismatic, most magnetic Frank-N-Further I’ve ever witnessed (and, yes, that includes Tim Curry.) He has sexy swagger to spare. His Frank is every grand dame diva (LuPone, Scherzinger, McDonald!) blended with a touch of Jesus Christ, yes the Superstar! He blows the roof off of Studio 54! And his 11th hour showstopper, “I’m Going Home,” was moving in a manner I’ve never experienced. In a just theatre world (and I won’t hold my breath) he would easily win the Tony for Lead Actor in a Musical!
Sexy AF Andrew Durand is a most delicious Brad. He’s at first perfectly demure and tentative until he starts to give in to taboo pleasures. He def leaves that castle a new man. After a string of wonderful roles in Shucked, Little Shop of Horrors and, especially, Dead Outlaw last season (he was robbed of that Tony!) is there anything this bravura actor can’t do? It’s a shame the Tony committee has unjustly sabotaged him by placing him in Lead.
Ditto to Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as sensual, firebrand Janet. Hsu is fantastic and should be considered in Featured. Alas…
Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear) opens and closes the show in great fashion, with the song “Science Fiction Double Feature,” getting her freak on. She is her own special creation, always has been. Lewis plays an usherette basically setting the B-movie stage for what we are about to see. True cinephiles will get some of the references in the song. Most will not. But it doesn’t matter because Lewis is so compelling you can’t help but be enthralled. She also plays the wacky Magenta.
Rachel Dratch’s dry, witty, deadpan narrator is a keeper and more kudos to her for handling the audience participation with improvisational flawlessness (at least at the performance I attended.)
Amber Gray (Hadestown) is a mesmerizing and vocally astonishing Riff Raff and, in her Broadway debut, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (Pose) goes blissfully berserk as Columbia.
At my performance I didn’t get to see Josh Rivera as Rocky, which makes me sad.
In a season of disappointing musicals (new or revived), The Rocky Horror Show is a welcome tonic.
The show has now been extended through November 29, 2026 at Studio 54, Manhattan. For tickets visit ROUNDABOUT.
