Familiar faces filled the foyer of The Theatre Royal Sydney with glasses of sparkling wine in their hands for the opening night of The Rocky Horror Show. The night was full of laughter, shock and gripping entertainment. I missed the show last year when it toured for its 50th anniversary in 2023. But the successful hit has come back for more at Theatre Royal Sydney, rebooted with some cast changes for Rocky, The Narrator and Brad.
 

The Rocky Horror Show is like no other musical, where audience heckling and participation are highly encouraged throughout the performance. It is a different atmosphere compared to viewing a traditional musical where audiences often sit in silence. Watching this show was a unique experience. The intimate nature of Theatre Royal Sydney created this dynamic performer and audience magic, not always achieved in larger venues. But at points, it was clear the heckling for opening night was coming from the sound box and one other particular audience member. The audience felt hesitant to participate in all the noise and energy due to traditional theatre etiquette. Hopefully, audiences can feel more comfortable and loosen up in future Rocky Horror Show Performances!

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Images from Theatre Royal Sydney Website

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Usherette (Stellar Perry) opens the show singing ‘Science Fiction/Double Feature’ wearing a short pink dress carrying an ice cream tray, mimicking a theatre usher selling ice creams. The scene then shifts to the two lovebirds, Brad (Blake Bowden) and Janet (Deidre Khoo) who are on their way home from their best friend’s wedding. After Brad proposes to Janet they decide to go to their good friend Dr Scotts, all of a sudden their car breaks down and they end up at a mysterious castle to call for help meeting an array of odd characters

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Images from Theatre Royal Sydney Website

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Bowden and Khoo suited their respective roles superbly, heightening the awkwardness of these characters. Brad and Janet become stuck in this castle, initially meeting Dr Frank-N-Furter’s sidekick Riff Raff (Henry Rollo), Rollo’s execution of Riff Raff is creepy yet entertaining. We next meet his is his sister Magenta (Stellar Perry), whose brilliantly strong voice is recognisable from the Voice 2020. We also meet  Columbia (Darcey Eagle) who is weird and wonderful. In the lab, we meet the rock and roll wanna-be Eddie (Ellis Dolan), who breaks out in tune with ‘Hot Patootie’, Eddie was originally played by MeatLoaf in the 1975 original movie. Rocky (Daniel Erbacher) is revealed, with a tanned muscled body with blonde hair “the perfect man”. The costumes were sexy and raunchy, with Rocky just in his underwear for the entire show. The phantoms (ensemble members) add elements to the show played by Josh Gates, Nicholas Van Litsenborgh, Hollie James and Erica Wild. While the musical is over fifty years old, Nathan M Wright’s modern choreography was a hit for this contemporary style of production.

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Images from Theatre Royal Sydney Website

 

Dylan Alcott as The Narrator was a standout, adding hilarious jokes and comedic moments to the show. However, his distinctive Australian accent felt jarring against the rest of the characters with American accents, which may have been a purposeful choice from the director for the role of The Narrator. Considering he is an Olympic gold medallist in basketball and tennis, as well as former Australian of the year, Alcott shined on the stage. The Australian comedian and presenter Peter Helliar will soon play the role of The Narrator from the 18th of April. Another standout was Jason Donovan's performance as the iconic Dr Frank-N-Furter, the mad self-proclaimed “sweet transvestite” scientist. Donovan was flirty, and cheeky and at points made the audience laugh so much they cried. With a mastery of crowd control and physicality Donovan’s anticipated portrayal does not disappoint. Alcott and Donovans' moments of ad-lib and reacting to the offers made by the crowd made the show more real and raw for audiences.  

 

The storyline is known to be confusing as it is chaotic, silly and full of sex. A show I definitely wouldn’t recommend taking children to! But is a great night for Rocky Horror lovers. With the element of science fiction jumping to odd endings of the plot and a range of random characters, the talented cast tackles the crazy storyline with sheer humour and perfect execution. This version of the stage show loudly blasted well-known songs, including ‘Science Fiction/Double Feature’, ‘Dammit Janet’, ‘Sweet Transvestite’, ‘Touch-A,Touch-A, Touch Me’ and of course ‘Time Warp’. It was amazing to see Dylan Alcott do the Time Warp at the end of the show, just proving theatre should have no limits. But I was slightly disappointed even though the whole stall level was standing up, not everyone was doing the Time Warp! This show was enjoyable and lots of fun for a night out in Sydney.

 

 

 

 

 

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Images from Theatre Royal Sydney Website

 

The Rocky Horror Show plays at Theatre Royal Sydney until May 12th.

You can grab tickets here before they sell out.​

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