Review: The Rocky Horror Show at Sunderland Empire
What better way to beat the January blues than with Richard O'Brien's legendary rock 'n' roll musical The Rocky Horror Show?
The Rocky Horror Show first played in 1973 to an audience of just 63 people, but the story is probably best known thanks to the 1975 film adaptation starring Tim Curry, Meat Loaf and Christopher Biggins. Now the longest continuous run of a contemporary musical anywhere in the world, while I’ve been doing the Time Warp my whole life I’m ashamed to say I’ve never seen Rocky Horror live. I guess it’s one of those cases where you love the film so much, you’re worried the stage show will never live up to it. But this is Richard O’Brien’s intergalactic baby and the production is everything we expected it to be, which explains why it returns to Sunderland Empire time and time again.
My favourite thing about going to so many different productions is seeing the very different people who visit the theatre. The audience for this show is unlike any I’ve ever seen before. Let’s just say we feel slightly underdressed (or perhaps overdressed) when we look around and see outrageous outfits – men in lingerie and groups of women in bedazzled suits. When Usherette (Laura Bird, who also plays Magenta) starts the show with a playful rendition of Science Fiction Double Feature, the audience almost roar back at her, and their applause gets louder and louder as the Narrator (the hilarious Jackie Clune) takes to the stage, then West End star Stephen Webb who plays a captivating Frank N Furter.
The whole show is a fever dream and it really doesn’t matter how many times you see it, it’s still difficult to explain what actually happens. It’s a science-fiction, horror, comedy musical which is strictly for adults only. I’m aware audience anticipation is encouraged and quite a few members of our audience are clued up on the well-established quips (whilst others create their own). I can’t quite bring myself to shout ‘a***hole’ or ‘sl*t’ at Brad or Janet but I do enjoy the Narrator’s quick thinking and banter with the audience. James Bisp and Haley Flaherty play an endearing Brad and Janet and really play with the comedic craziness in act two. Haley has been performing in this production for years, and you can tell, but her on-stage chemistry with James is a joy to watch.
Ryan Carter-Wilson seems too young to play Riff Raff but is fantastic in the role and his mannerisms almost perfectly matched Richard O’Brien’s in the film. Morgan Jackson plays an energetic Rocky complete with body glitter that dazzles even up in the dress circle, only upstaged by Daisy Steere’s garish costumes as Columbia. We love Edward Bullingham as Eddie, who plays a brilliant Meat Loaf doing a brilliant Elvis. He also plays Dr Scott. We’re toe-tapping along to Sweet Transvestite and Time Warp but Hot Patootie will always be my favourite.
Although the characters tease the audience, who bat right back with heckles, the story has very much stayed the same as it always has been. The cast seamlessly change the wacky sets with high-energy routines and silliness and we leave the theatre glad the production lived up to our expectations. Stick around at the end for an encore of Time Warp – dancing encouraged. I guess we need to do our homework on the heckles for next time!
