Adelaide Festival Theatre. 22 Mar 2014
Rocky Horror has come to town - and South Australia takes a jump to the left.
Co-incidence?
Alexander Downer was conspicuous by his absence on opening night since the fishnet gag he did for the Variety Club almost 20 years ago has simply kept on dogging his handsome, besuited image.
Craig McLachlan, on the other hand, was very much the man in fishnets and, after 22 years, he has pretty much made it his own - despite the luminaries who have gone before and after, from Tim Curry and Reg Livermore to Tim Ferguson.
Each actor has brought his own wicked charm or dangerous edge to the role of Dr Fran-N-Furter. McLachlan brings big, beefy, cheeky, ham to it. It plays to all his strengths - physique, voice, comedy. When he is not wiggling that shapely tokus, he is mugging. His fair, curly-headed Frank-M-Furter does not give one the horrors. It is pantomime naughty and wildly self-indulgent, perhaps even channelling a streak of Dame Edna.
But Rocky Horror is no longer a horror show in anyone's lingo. Transvestites don't have cachet as a taboo subject any more. Anything and anyone goes these days. So the shock element of the show has faded. Instead, it stands its ground as a wonderful sci-fi fairy story - a latter day ‘Babes in the Wood’.
The naive, conservative lovers come in out of the storm to a crazy party house where they will lose their innocence. There are lots of wonderful songs. The audience knows and loves them all. All it asks is a good, loud orchestra and a fabulous cast. This show delivers.
It is a production less lavish than some that have gone before - returning to the old roots when it was alternative and risky rather than the mainstream blockbuster it became. The staging is smallish. The band is almost invisible on a balcony behind panels which would seem to have a film strip motif. The set is fairly economical - with some wonderful "stuffed" heads on the castle walls and a few clever trucks - particularly the upright double bed in which Frank has his naughty way with the visitors. McLachlan masterfully milks that scene for laughs - and it is pushed the brink of acceptability but not over.
But, if the show belongs to McLachlan, it is a glorious vehicle for its rising stars. Tim Maddren is simply the best Brad in the history of the business. Not only does he look and sound perfect, but the man can hoof up a storm. Christie Whelan Brown embodies the sort of Janet that Olivia Newton John would envy. She is lithe and lovely and can belt out a song with a big Broadway voice. Magenta also is beautifully cast. Erika Heynatz has a powerful presence, a great voice and wild wigs. Kristian Lavercombe not only has big shoes to fill as Riff Raff but they were there on the stage beside him in the 40-years-on form of Richard O'Brien, the show's creator. Lavercombe's performance is right up there with O'Brien's. Meanwhile, O'Brien gave a new element to his old show with a very casual and familiar delivery as the Narrator. He was an elegant joy to have on stage.
There were no weak spots in the cast. Ashlea Pyke is a lovely Columbia, albeit her costume is less idiomatic than in past productions. Nicholas Christo is so strong as both Eddie and Dr Scott that most people would not realise it is the same performer. Brendan Irving is just the cutest golden-haired muscle man in his leopard skin jocks and everyone is eminently well-supported by the four Phantom song and dance ensemble.
There are no surprises in Rocky Horror. It just rocks on through the ages. It is a cult classic and its fans are in seventh heaven at the very idea of it. They are not giving standing ovations; they are giving it leaping 'lovations'.
Samela Harris
When: 20 Mar to 13 Apr
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
