TIME is fleeting and all that. The Rocky Horror Show concludes its Cape Town run at Theatre On The Bay on 17 October 2026 before heading to Joburg until 20 December, where those lucky people will get to have their Halloween parties and year-end celebrations. Not that we need a reason here; a Tuesday night is just fine.
While I’ve been racking up my views, and in the reviews I’ve written (here and here), it came to my attention that there are some cast members for whom I’ve not show enough love, and each and every one of them deserves special mentions. Let’s begin with Jasmine Minter, who is the first one on stage as The Usherette, singing Science Fiction. She next appears as Magenta, bringing the required inappropriate and rude glee with her. I was lucky to be invited to rehearsals way back in the beginning and when she spoke the line “How sentimental” that day I knew right then she was going to be superb. I love being right,
Robert Everson as Brad has a special place in my heart but let me not overlook Léa Blerk as Janet, whose journey from sweet and innocent and looking forward to being a little wife, to embracing an explosive sexual awakening, is perhaps one of the most significant. Where to for her and Brad, who has plenty of his own self-examination to deal with? Brad keeps telling an anxious Janet, patronisingly, that it’s going to be all right but by the end it seems like she has emerged the stronger, and tender, one.
Natasha Sutherland is The Narrator and oh boy, does she have her work cut out for her. It’s mostly her lines that generate the traditional call-backs, “dark storm clouds, heavy, black and pendulous” being chief among them IYKYK. She handles it all with aplomb and heckle her at your peril. You will not come out unscathed by that razor-sharp tongue.
And then there is the lovely Anna Olivier as Columbia, who can kick as high as anyone I’ve ever seen, and she has some of the best and most breathtaking choreo in the show. Like with Eddie (Zak Hendrikz) when he comes out the freezer for Hot Patootie. Do not hesitate to gasp as he swings her around, her head barely clearing the floor. Columbia also gets her tap turn in The Time Warp, and an audience-pleasing bit in act two, berating Frank before being spritzed by Riff Raff before the floor show. She tells Frank she loved him, past tense, but she still makes the ultimate sacrifice to try to save him.
Hendrikz plays Eddie as well as Dr Scott, the way it has been done in so many stage productions, since the very first one in June 1973. Fun fact: Meatloaf played the dual role on stage in 1975 on Broadway. The characters have relatively little stage time but both are so pivotal to the plot. Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul and Eddie’s Teddy are such vibrant tunes begging to be sung along to.
I cannot wrap this up without calling on the Phantoms, a rotating cast of seven with six in attendance at each performance (catch them in the theatre before the show for some flirting and photo opps). They are Miguel de Sampaio, Tjaart van der Walt, Cleo Wesley, Alessia Gironi, Taya Pearson, Gabi Knight, and Sasha Duffy, each of whom brings manic energy to every ensemble number, and are so incredibly talented in their own right. I heard Van Der Walt, Duffy and Knight singing at this month’s Musical Mondays and they are mind-blowingly good. Yes they are in an ensemble now but can hold their own in solo roles too, and have in fact stood in for some of the main parts of this production.
I can’t wait to do The Time Warp again, but I will be sad to bid farewell to my current obsession. Heartfelt thanks to this amazing cast and crew, and of course to Richard O’Brien.
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