“Well, [my career] might be over after tonight’s performance!”

It was not only Narrator Myf Warhurst who had to recover from the action-packed 50^th anniversary production of The Rocky Horror Show, which moved into the Theatre Royal for the first time on the weekend. Scores of diehard fans, decked out head to toe in Rocky Horror merch from many areas, left the show with voices hoarse from incredible levels of audience participation that was interspersed throughout the show.

In this case, Warhurst asked the audience “Over? What was over?” to which a heckler responded, “your career.” After a long pause and laughter both from the audience and Warhurst herself, the show continued on in its merry way. After all, the heckling was not only in good taste but indicative of an incredibly engaged crowd who were loving every minute of an outstanding performance. 

The Rocky Horror Show is part of the suite of early 70s along with Grease and many others that centred around more expansive plots and well-crafted, catchy musical scores. This production played into the strengths of the musical, with the songs and music foregrounded throughout. To this effect, one of the stars of the show, Stellar Perry set the tone with a superb rendition of “Science Fiction”. What was great about this rendition was that it wasn’t too sweet but still maintained that beautiful, ethereal vocal quality that highlights the beauty of the song and of the music. 

While Perry stole the show in parts, the absolute stand-out was her partner in crime, Henry Rollo, who played Riff Raff. From his introduction in “Over at the Frankenstein Place”, Rollo stole the show with his incredibly powerful voice and strong sense of character in the role.  Having previously worked on Jagged Little Pill in various roles, I’m sure will be seeing a lot of Rollo in years to come. 

It will come as no surprise that the highlight of the show was when the cast, led by Perry and Rollo, broke into the iconic “Time Warp.” Both Perry and Rollo again given inspired performance, with particularly sharp and striking in his performance of the classic choreography. It was a truly epic moment in the show, with a buzzing energy moving through the cast throughout the whole number. 

While Perry and Rollo definitely stood out, the rest of the cast was incredibly strong as well. Jason Donovan was also typically hilarious in his role as Frank-N-Furter. Our first introduction to him in “Sweet Transvestite” was most amusing and had the audience in stiches and his vocals throughout were also excellent. Warhurst was very natural as the narrator, often ad-libbing around the audience’s heckles.

In their brief numbers, Deidre Khoo and Ethan Jones as Brad and Janet also managed to show off their beautiful voices and exceptional acting skills, playing the roles with the requisite earnestness to highlight the absurdity of their situation. A brief note though, I would have loved to have heard a bit more of Loredo Malcolm as Rocky as he sounded amazing in the few short moments in which he sung. 

As with the genre of science fiction itself, there were a number of tropes which Director Christopher Luscombe had to follow in order to do the show justice. That said, there were still hints of modernity and sufficient subversion of those tropes to bring the show into a new age whilst still maintaining the charmingly 70s vibe of the musical. The costuming was bigger, brighter and more beautiful than ever before and the band nicely complemented the high energy of the show. The show also subverted the tropes of the original production by foregrounding diversity more than the Australian typical theatre production which was a welcome change. 

Overall, the show seemed just that bit bigger, better and more energetic than previous versions of the show on recent Australian tours. The vocals were excellent, the choreography was top notch and the acting was absolutely hilarious. If there was ever a show to see in Sydney, this would certainly be the one! 

The Rocky Horror Show plays at the Theatre Royal until 1st April, 2023. Tickets and information are available here.

Photo: Daniel Boud

Rating ★★★★1/2