New Wimbledon Theatre – until 16 February 2019
Reviewed by Alexandra Sykes
5*****
It’s not every day you can go to the theatre wearing a maids apron and fishnet tights but when going to see The Rocky Horror Show it seems almost compulsory.
Set in the early 1970’s the musical tells the story of Brad and Janet on a
supposedly normal night out.
With the opening song, Science Fiction/Double Feature, being sung by the usherette (Laura Harrison) everyone in the theatre settled down to enjoy the show. The biggest cheer of the evening went to Dom Joly as the Narrator, especially when he not only accepted the heckles from the audience but encouraged it and heckled audience members back.
Joanne Clifton (Strictly Come Dancing) and Ben Adams (A1) work well together as Janet and Brad respectively. Miracle Chance embraces the role of Columbia, whilst Riff Raff is brought to life by Kristian Lavercombe. The stars of the show however are Callum Evans who plays Rocky and Stephen Webb who plays Frank. Evans uses his award winning gymnastic abilities to wow the audience with a series of back flips and somersaults where as Webb channels Tim Curry in
his portrayal of the fabulous Frank N Furter. Although Rose Chisari is wonderful as Eddie, his portrayal of Dr. Scott is not as powerful and his accent got a bit lost in some places.
Although the set is simple it works. One moment you are in the great hall with Webb singing Sweet Transvestite and the next you are in the lab watching Chisari making his entrance, all with a twist of a wall. The costumes are simple, with many audience members recreating them, but they help to give the characters personalities.
The on stage band, led by George Carter, are fantastic and really get the character and audience singing and dancing along, especially with the Time Warp.
All in all a brilliant production which does Richard O’Brien proud and will have audiences flocking to see it for years to come.