Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 19th April 2023.

It's time to do the Time Warp again, as The Rocky Horror Show is back in Adelaide, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The 1973 rock 'n' roll musical phenomenon, a parody of 1950s b Grade science fiction films, was composed and written by Richard O'Brien, who played the role of Riff Raff. I wonder what that young, unemployed actor would have said if somebody had told him that the musical that he was writing, and that he thought might run for around three weeks, would still be running, all around the world, a quarter of the way into the next century, and that he'd still occasionally be performing in it.

This is a new Australian production, and I wondered how many others in the audience saw, as I did, Reg Livermore playing Frank-N-Furter all those years ago in the first Australian production. The very first production in London, starring Tim Curry as Frank, was, of course, directed by an Australian, Jim Sharman.

A newly engaged couple, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, are on their way to see Doctor Everett Scott, their paraplegic former science teacher, and good friend, when their car gets a flat tire during a terrible storm and, not suspecting what awaits them, they seek a telephone at the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite mad scientist. They are greeted by Riff Raff, the hunchbacked handyman/butler, and his sister, Magenta. After that, things get weird. Oh, yes, I almost forgot, the residents of the castle are sex-mad interstellar aliens from the planet Transsexual, in the Transylvania galaxy. I said that it gets weird.

David Bedella gives an exceptionally fine performance as the Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania, Frank-N-Furter. He has enormous stage presence and completely commands the space. He drives the action and creates a character who charismatically seduces all around him.

Brad Majors and Janet Weiss are played by Ethan Jones and Deirdre Khoo in two wonderful performances as they develop their characters from the sickly-sweet, naïve, young, virginal lovers through their abrupt and unexpected sexual awakenings at the hands, and other parts, of the insatiable Frank.

Ellis Dolan tears up the stage as the ill-fated, brain-damaged bikie, Eddie, who had been the plaything of Frank and Columbia. Frank kills him, much to Columbia's distress. Dolan returns later as wheelchair-bound Dr. Scott, Frank's nemesis, adding more humour to the performance.

Henry Rollo plays Riff Raff in an active performance, but I felt that he lacked some of the sinister, brooding edge that we have come to expect of the character. A lot of the darkness across the board seems reduced in this production.

Stellar Perry opens the show superbly as the usherette, setting the mood by singing of the "late night science fiction double feature picture show", referencing numerous stars and films of the time. She returns to the role at the end, to sum up what has gone before. For the remainder of the evening she plays Magenta, the maid. I felt that she, too, could have given a darker rendition of the character.

Darcey Eagle is the groupie, Columbia, in love with Frank, a love which he is casually discarding in favour of his creation, Rocky, and brief encounters with Brad and Janet.

The titular role of Rocky is played by Loredo Malcolm, requiring a minor, but worthwhile change to the lyrics about "blonde hair and a tan". He is a real triple threat, excelling as a singer, dancer, and actor, as well as having the appearance of a full-time bodybuilder.

Myf Warhurst is the narrator (the role will be taken over by Nicholas Hammond from 2nd June) but Richard O'Brien opened and closed this performance as the narrator and, of course, had to wait for cheers and applause to end before he could say or sing a word.

Mention must be made of the excellent work of The Phantoms: Josh Gates, Catty Hamilton, Jackson Reedman, and Erica Wild, who delivered some of the tightest choreography I have seen in quite a while, coupled with great vocal harmonies. They add a lot to the performance.

Also to be commended is the band, led from the keyboards by musical director, Jack Earle, with Kieran Rafferty, on drums, Patrick Schmidli, on bass, Ash Griffin, on guitars, and that great Adelaide multi-instrumentalist, Adam Page, on saxophone.

The set, lighting, costumes, and the rest of the technical side of the production all impressed, too.

Regardless of what I say here, or what other critics might say, the musical has a cult following and is sure to sell out, and audiences, as last night, will cheer, scream, applaud throughout, interact, and give a standing ovation then dance along with the repeat of Time Warp. You've probably already booked your tickets.

Photography, Daniel Boud.