Produced by produced by Howard Panter (Ambassador Theatre Group) and John Frost (Gordon Frost Organisation)
Where & When: Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, to July 12 2015
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****Show opened on Sunday June 14, 2015
All pics taken by Joe Calleri at the Media Call today, Friday June 12, at The Comedy Theatre. KH
The Rocky Horror Show is
back to rock and shock Melbourne again and Craig McLachlan is still shamelessly
hamming it up as the ‘sweet transvestite’ alien, Frank N Furter, sporting corset
and fishnet stockings while teetering on high heels.
McLachlan
is audacious and ostentatiously camp as Frank, the provocative, strutting, beefcake,
drag queen with a multitude of seductive, sexual peccadilloes.
He
taunts his adoring audience with outrageous, mock depravity, comic ad-libbing and
risqué innuendo, meanwhile seducing his hapless house guests, Brad and Janet (Amy
Lehpamer, Stephen Mahy) with decadent parties and dissolute excesses.
The sexual antics become a bit adolescent at times and begin to pall after the first act.
The sexual antics become a bit adolescent at times and begin to pall after the first act.
In
the 1970s, Richard O’Brien, who single-handedly wrote music, lyrics and book,
blended trashy drag shows with 1950s B Grade movies to produce this
unforgettable and originally controversial rock musical.
The crowd pulsates and sings along to favourite dance tunes, Time Warp
and Sweet Transvestite, and a repertoire of hits that includes: the 50s-style
Science Fiction/Double Feature, the anthemic tune, Over At The Frankenstein
Place, the impudent Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me, and Damn It, Janet.
The crowd pulsates and sings along to favourite dance tunes, Time Warp
and Sweet Transvestite, and a repertoire of hits that includes: the 50s-style
Science Fiction/Double Feature, the anthemic tune, Over At The Frankenstein
Place, the impudent Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me, and Damn It, Janet.
Christopher
Luscombe’s direction is assured and mischievous, Nathan M Wright’s choreography is
sexy and funny and an expert band, led by musical director, Stephen Gray, plays O’Brien’s songs with rock
fervour.
Lehpamer takes syrupy-sweet
Janet on a rollercoaster ride from pert innocence to depravity, while Mahy as Brad, Janet’s
clean-cut, guileless fiancé, falls rapidly under Frank N Furter’s corrupting
influence.
Kristian Lavercombe is impish and debauched as Frank’s loyal,
alien servant, Riff Raff, and he leads the talented cast in a sassy rendition
of the timeless, pelvic-thrusting hit, Time Warp.
Jayde
Westaby is Magenta, Frank’s lusty housekeeper, Angelique Cassimatis is his perky
groupie, Columbia, while Nicholas Christo is versatile as Eddie and Dr Scott.
Bert
Newton plays the Narrator with his idiosyncratic aplomb and Brendan Irving is brawny
and brainless as Frank’s toy-boy creation, Rocky.
Although
the script is uneven in the second half and some scenes, dialogue and even songs could be edited or even excised, The
Rocky Horror Show is just as raucous and rude as it was in the ‘70s and O’Brien
would be proud of his mutant creation 40 years on from its inception.
By Kate Herbert
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