Rocky Horror Show

It’s a tale as old as time. Two clean cut American kids meet, fall in love and are engaged to be married. Driving through a storm, their car breaks down and they seek help from a mansion that just happens to be occupied by alien transsexuals from the planet Transylvania.

I’m sorry, what?

A parody of the science fiction movies of its time, and a rock musical on both stage and screen, The Rocky Horror show is a worldwide phenomenon and quite possibly one of the strangest things I have ever seen.

Upon walking into the Sydney premiere last week I was greeted by an extraordinary amount of fishnet stockings, basques and platform high heels – and that was just the audience. My friend Livia and I queued for the obligatory slushie cocktails in the glowing plastic “glasses” and lamented the fact we were clearly wearing too many clothes. We took our seats, wrapped ourselves in our complimentary red feather boas and spent a good many minutes star spotting in the crowd.  Clearly Rocky Horror is the MUST SEE musical of the moment!

The show opened with the very talented Jayde Westaby as a 1950s usherette, introducing the show with my now favourite song “Science Fiction/Double Feature”. (After all, who wouldn’t love a song with lyrics like “Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear”?) and the curtain was pulled aside to reveal a fantastically bright, almost cartoon–like set.

I was looking forward to seeing Craig McLaughlin in the show that he originally played in 1992 and which earned him the Helpman Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the role in 2014. Clearly I wasn’t the only one. His appearance on stage as Frank N Furter was greeted with thunderous cheers and applause. He was clearly very comfortable in the part, not only in his high heels, but with sassy comebacks to comments from the audience. He was outrageous, hilarious, and as for those biceps… well, like Janet sang, “I’m a muscle fan”.

Stephen Mahy and Amy Lehpamer were fabulously cast as the naïve Brad and Janet, and I was delighted to see Jayde back on stage as Magenta. I want to see and hear more of Jayde. Kristian Lavercombe was fantastic as Riff Raff, while Bert Newton as the narrator was, well, Bert (as underwhelming to me as always, but still a crowd favourite). Yet it's clear this show is all about Craig in his role as Frank, and he is the star.

 The show is high energy and a lot of laughs. Unlike the original, which I have heard was shocking and made plenty of people uncomfortable; this “tamed down” version plays up the comedy. Craig hams it up as Frank, and the crowd adores him for it. I can’t imagine anyone playing a better Frank N Furter in this production.  

Liv and I leapt to our feet to perform the Time Warp, delighting in the confusion of some audience members who were very taken aback by the whole thing.  We sang along with the cast, reliving every school disco of our childhood. The songs are catchy, the atmosphere electric, and I had an absolute blast.

The Rocky Horror show is playing at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney until 7th June. Don't miss your chance to see it. To book your tickets click here. 

Note: Livia and I attended the premiere as guests of Gordon Frost Productions. My review is unbiased and all thoughts are my own.

Thriller Live - Sydney

There’s only one Michael Jackon, and to this day he remains the undisputed King of Pop. As Rolling Stone magazine stated, “Trying to trace Michael Jackson’s influence on the pop stars that followed him is like trying to trace the influence of oxygen and gravity”. He was a musician that continually changed the landscape of music and dance, and someone whose talent I greatly admired.

Fun fact: my karaoke song choice is Jackon 5’s “Ben”. Despite being released two years before I was born, the sweet song about a pet rat has been a favourite all my life.

Recently I was given the opportunity to see the Michael Jackon celebratory show “Thriller Live” at the 2015 Sydney premiere. Having run for 5 years in London’s West End, it promised a visual, audio and electrifying journey through the magic of Michael’s 45 year musical history. Who could say no to that? I wasted no time inviting a fellow MJ fan to accompany me and together we discussed the difficult choice producers must have had to whittle down the hits to fit into a single show.

 The song choices did not disappoint. Over the 2 ½ hour show, we were treated to renditions of Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean, Thriller and so many more (although sadly for me, there was no pint-sized singer’s version of Ben).

There were moments of brilliance. Britain’s Sean Christopher wowed the audience with his moonwalk and trademark MJ moves, making the audience believe they could have been watching Michael Jackson himself. Fellow Britain Alex Buchanan was unbelievable, his performance of “Beat It” earning him a standing ovation.  Despite my initial reservation of a female performer, Aussie’s own Prinnie Stevens did an exceptional job.

There were some moments that left me feeling as though I was watching an episode of Glee. Too much cheesiness, uninspiring choreography and an over-the-top version of Dirty Diana from Australia’s Mig Ayesa detracted (albeit momentarily) from the overall wonder of the show.

The band, led by John Maher, was incredible, and I appreciated the way the production allowed band members to shine front of stage. It’s not often you get to see the musicians during a musical show, and their integration was great. 

My highlight was seeing that anti-gravity leaning dance move from Smooth Criminal. 

Thriller Live is a highly engaging show with all the right ingredients for a great night out. Audience participation is encouraged and the crowd spent much of the night dancing in their seats.  My friend and I left the theatre inspired to dig out our old albums and listen to the show hits and those that didn’t make the cut. 

Thriller Live is playing in Sydney for just three weeks. Don’t miss your chance, buy your tickets here.