IF you missed The Rocky Horror Show the first time around and were plunged into the depths of despair, this is your second chance. Don’t mess it up again. Secondly, if you did see it, there is no reason not to see it again. And again. Imagine yourself as a grown up with free will.
And then there are those who have never seen it at all. Not the movie, not the stage production. Yes, they walk among us. The return season at Theatre On The Bay caters for all these needs. For me, for whom Rocky has been part of my life since it came out more than 50 years ago but who is not getting a lips tattoo after Tim Curry died (they are Patricia Quinn’s anyway) like everyone else in all the Facebook groups, what’s left is to go see this production as many times as I can afford the time and money.
Last week I watched performance number 137 (total, not how many times personally) and if anything, it’s better than ever. The cast has grown into their roles with even more power, like Schoemann Smit as Riff Raff, singing from the rafters in Over At The Frankenstein Place. As only the third song it heralds what’s to come. Robert Everson’s (Brad) Once in a While is haunting and beautiful, and the way he holds that last note is incredible. If you’ve only seen the movie you won’t know this number, which was cut from the theatrical release, so another reason to see this show.
When Frank-N-Furter sings about going home, it never fails to move me to tears, whoever is playing the role, after all these decades. It’s just so packed with emotion. Craig Urbani is fantastic throughout as the doctor, from the famous entrance to his seduction of Brad and Janet, the way he strides commandingly around the stage (so butch! So sexually ambiguous!), to this sentimental swan song which is almost his redemption. Until Dr Scott brings us back down to earth. The segue from the floor show’s Rose Tint My World into the fanfare with the much quoted line “don’t dream it, be it” (also tattooed on a lot more people now) and into Wild and Untamed Thing are one of my favourite parts before Frank goes from raucous to melancholy with I’m Going Home.
“Tim defined this character,” Urbani told me a few days after Curry died. “All I do every night is channel him, pay tribute and give the audience a flavour, a taste, little glimpses of that definitive Frank-N-Furter. It’s a gift of a role. I love it and it’s all thanks to what he did.”
My heart.
The cast as a whole is impeccably seamless and there is so much going on in ensemble numbers like Time Warp and Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul, revisiting the show reveals something new every time, especially when you’ve watched from a variety of different seats from front to back, middle to aisle. Each offers a fresh perspective and things you’ve not noticed before, because it’s simply impossible to watch everything at once — and that includes the phantoms: Miguel de Sampaio, Tjaart van der Walt, Cleo Wesley, Alessia Gironi, Taya Pearson, Gabi Knight and Sasha Duffy. They are all fully committed, with energy some us can only sigh and aspire to. This most recent outing, I became aware of how often Brad reassures Janet, or is he trying to convince himself everything will be all right?
Someone who has unfailingly delighted me is Micah Stokajovic as Rocky. He encapsulates that bouncing newborn puppy energy, happy and excited, wanting to be part of everything and having no clue what is really going on but damnit, he’s going to play anyway.
Presented by Pieter Toerien Productions in association with Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy (LAMTA), The Rocky Horror Show is directed by Steven Stead (resident director Anton Luitingh), with trippy set design by Greg King, costumes by Maritha Visagie, musical direction by Kevin Kraak, and choreography by Duane Alexander, this is a theatrical dream team to support the cast, which includes Léa Blerk as Janet, Jasmine Minter as Magenta, Anna Olivier as Columbia, Natasha Sutherland as the Narrator, and Zak Hendrikz as Eddie/Dr Scott.
The whole thing is delicious sensory overload, and I am here for it. I am not done.
As always, thank you to Richard O’Brien for creating a masterpiece of musical theatre.
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