But unlike the erstwhile Scott Robinson from Neighbours, The Rocky Horror Show has maintained its cult following for the last 25 odd years. Despite various attempts to update it, the show currently touring is remarkably true to the original version staged at The Theatre Upstairs in Sloane Square in London's trendy Kings Road on 19th June 1973. Who'd have thought that 25 years on Richard O'Brien's tribute to the B movies would still be stacking up his pension fund.
Richard O'Brien was born, bizarrely enough, into the very genteel respectability of Cheltenham some 56 years ago. At the age of 10 his family upped and moved to New Zealand where he was groomed to be, of all things, a dairy farmer (can you imagine Riff Raff on the back end of a cow?). With nothing much else to fuel his teenage imagination, O'Brien quickly became hooked on the late night double features that showed in the flea pits of his adopted home town. At the age of 22, despite having qualified for the career his parents aspired to for him, he left New Zealand (and all his relatives) to return to England and his first love, the theatre. Of course, being untrained he couldn't just walk into the business. He trod the well worn path of many aspiring actors and somehow earned a living as a barber and a dustman while studying acting at evening classes. His persistence paid off when he got a part in Carry On Cowboy, of all things, and ended up as a stunt man calling on his experience with horse gained during his childhood.
With gainful employment in several musicals of the time, O'Brien eventually stumbled across the path of the man who was going to make his fortune. Jim Sharman had cast O'Brien as Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, a short-lived role for which he felt unsuitable. However, it did bring the future director and star of Rocky Horror Show together for the first time. They both moved on from Superstar to The Unseen Hand, where they often discussed O'Brien's fledgling idea for a rock/horror show.
Somehow a tape of O'Brien singing 'Science Fiction, Double Feature', the opening number of the show, found its way to the desk of Michael White, an independent theatrical impresario, and the die was cast. The three motivating forces behind Rocky Horror were now connected. White invested £2,000 in the production and the rest, as they say, is history.
After a limited twelve week run at The Theatre Upstairs the production moved, appropriately enough, to a soon to be demolished cinema in Kings Road. The Classic Cinema had 270 seats, four times as many as The Theatre Upstairs, and the audiences continued to flood in. The enforced seedy atmosphere of the shabby building was incorporated into the production and has set the standard for all future tours. However, the show was not destined to stay in this home for long and the building was soon razed to the ground while The Rocky Horror Show moved to a much more permanent abode in the old Essoldo Cinema across the road in November 1973. Of the 400 seats in the cinema, 50 were immediately taken out so that Frank 'N' Furter could have a catwalk to make his entrance on. It was to this theatre/cinema that I first went and saw the show.
Looking, as it was, close to demolition, the walls were draped with green builder's cloths and the stage was littered with scaffolding and an old coke machine. You felt as though you had walked into the ruined bones of a movie theatre from days gone by. The masked hunchbacks who shuffled you to your seats increased the feeling of being a reluctantly admitted visitor.
As the lights dimmed the hunchbacks slowly faded away until just three were left. These three made their way up to the stage as though to clean it. One turned and said 'So glad you could come' before sweeping of-stage with the gauze curtain in his hand to reveal The Usherette. A lone spotlight illuminated her as she started to sing 'Science Fiction, Double Feature'.
In 1979 the show moved again, but this time into a conventional theatre. The Comedy Theatre in Panton Street. After a run of 2,960 the show finally closed on 13 September 1980. The end of a beautiful obsession? As history tells us, this was really only the beginning ….
In 1973 Lou Adler, then boyfriend of tart-about-town Britt Ekland, saw the show and astutely bought the US distribution rights. Rocky Horror was en-route to Broadway. Well, sort of. Rocky opened at The Roxy on 24 March 1974 with Tim Curry and Richard O'Brien reprising their original roles. For nine months it ran to packed houses and eventually caught the attention of the film industry. The cast flew back to England and Hammer's Bray Studios for a hectic six week shooting schedule. Many of the original Theatre Upstairs cast were reunited for the film which was shot in General De Gaulle's wartime weekend retreat.
To coincide with the release of the film in March 1975 it was decided to transfer the Roxy production to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. It flopped. Rattling around in a huge theatre it lost all its intimacy and closed after just 45 performances.
The film initially did poor business all over the States (except, for some reason, in Los Angeles) until someone hit on the idea of showing the film in the same slot as the films it parodies. Thus began the phenomenon that is midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Punters flocked to the late shows in their costumes with their bags of props and a cult was born. After 10 years of 'off-peak' showings it had made almost as much as Gone With The Wind.
With the film doing regular business on the late night circuit, both in America and Britain, what of the stage version? There had been a foreign touring production travelling the world for some years, but nothing outside of London in the UK. When it finished its run in London in 1980 many thought that was that as far as the stage version was concerned. The film would kill audiences still around. How wrong they were! In 1984 the Theatre Royal Hanley in Stoke-On-Trent bought the provincial touring rights to The Rocky Horror Show and the cult was rekindled. It has been touring ever since.
Over the years there have been many notable actors in the productions. David Dale playing Frank was probably a foregone conclusion; but Bobby Crush? The honky tonk piano playing cherub that all mothers love? Surely not. And what of Gary Glitter? I suppose that the role was made for him. Rumour has it that Richard O'Brien had him in mind when he first wrote the character. If the character WAS based on him then perhaps there are more tabloid shocks in store for Mr Glitter.
Surprisingly Tracey Ullman once played Janet Weiss on tour. And of course, Julie Covington created the original.
And now, bringing us bang uptodate, we are back to the enigma that is Jason Donovan playing Frank. Following hard on the heels of such inhabitors of the role as Robin Cousins (an ice skating Frank?) and Jonathon Morris (a Scouse Frank?) perhaps celebrating the 25th anniversary with the most eclectic casting yet is appropriate. Judge for yourself. Jason is touring in the role from April 1998 right through to Christmas at a venue near you. As the publicity says: 'Witness the …. Sheer staying power of a show that has been keeping it up after 25 years'
© Paul Towers 1998
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