 THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
Music, lyrics & book by Richard O'Brien
Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre - June 19, 1973
Comedy Theatre, London - April 6, 1979 (2960 perfs)
Belasco Theatre, Broadway - March 10, 1975 (32 perfs)
Available on DVD To find out more click here
STORY
Three masked and weirdly dressed ushers approach the stage, where
an usherette, lit only by the light from her ice-cream tray, sits draped
in white gauze. The ushers unveil her and she introduces us to the
double-feature world of science fiction.
Brad and Janet, 'two young, ordinary, healthy kids', run on, breathless
and excited after the wedding of some friends. Janet has caught the bride's
bouquet. The ushers throw confetti and Brad sings to his fiancée.
The narrator, an unctuous, authority figure, dressed in a bow tie and
dinner jacket, steps in, proposing to take us 'on a strange journey ...'
He reappears periodically throughout the show to guide the audience and
remind us of normality amidst the weirdness that is to come.
Brad and Janet mime a car journey. They are on their way to visit Dr
Everett Scott, their ex-science teacher. The ushers make the sound of
the car and then a blow-out. 'Didn't we pass a castle back down the road
a few miles?' asks Brad, innocently. Hoping to use the phone, they set
out for the castle in the pouring rain.
The cadaverous Riff-Raff admits them to the castle, then leaves them
alone in what we recognise as the classic, old, dark house of every creaky
horror movie. Suddenly Riff-Raff is back with Magenta, his cool and mysterious
sister, and Columbia, a groupie. All three cry out 'Master!', and Dr
Frank 'n' Furter makes his big entrance, bizarrely attired in Basque,
fishnet stockings and suspender belt.
Frank exits to his laboratory and the three servants strip Brad and
Janet's wet clothes down to their 1950s' underwear. Brad reassures the
fearful Janet, but we wonder about mysterious mentions of Eddie - a delivery
boy who disappeared some time ago. Riff-Raff reminisces about the good
old days.
In the laboratory, Frank tells them all how he learned the secret of
life itself. He seems equally impressed with Brad and Janet's underwear.
With Riff-Raff's assistance, Frank brings his creature, Rocky, to life.
He is introduced to the couple, but Janet claims not to like men with
too many muscles.
With a drum roll, a light comes up on the huge coke machine in the corner,
and Frank's failed experiment, Eddie, looking like a cross between a
rocker and Frankenstein's monster, makes his appearance. But not for
long. Frank stabs him to death with the mic' stand, pushes him back into
the machine, slams the lid, and sits on it. 'One from the vaults,' he
comments, with macabre humour.
In silhouette on a screen, we see what looks like Brad making love to
Janet. In fact it's Frank. Janet, who was 'saving herself', is horrified
by the trick. Then she changes her mind and falls back into his embrace.
An exact repeat of the dialogue from the previous scene follows, but
this time we are in Brad's room. Bi-sexual Frank has repeated his seduction
technique - on Brad. Then Riff-Raff announces that Rocky is missing.
Janet and Rocky are together in the lab. She is remorseful but also
excited after her escapade. Rocky is hiding from Frank. On the TV monitor,
Janet sees Brad and Frank kissing. She is appalled, but she's beginning
to have second thoughts about not liking men with muscles. Janet and
Rocky climb into bed.
Frank is whipping Riff-Raff for failing to guard Rocky. Riff-Raff searches
for him on the monitors, and finds him in the female's quarters. After
checking there is someone to catch him, Frank faints.
Riff-Raff announces an intruder in the castle. 'Great Scott!' cries
Brad, seeing who it is: Dr Everett Scott. The wheelchair-bound Dr Scott
immediately identifies the Coke machine as being 'made of a metal that
is not of this earth' and that Frank is, in fact, an alien. Then he reveals
that Eddie was his nephew.
Frank produces Eddie from the Coke machine. He is in a bag in pieces.
Magenta offers to put him down the waste disposal unit. Using his space-age
technology, Frank restrains the rest with a flick of a switch which roots
them to the ground. He releases them but Riff-Raff sprays them with a
drug in preparation for what Frank calls 'the floor-show'.
One by one the cast come on, dressed in black fishnets and suspenders.
But Riff-Raff has had enough. Dressed in extra-terrestrial costume, he
and Magenta take over.
Then Riff-Raff tells Frank he isn't coming back to the planet Transexual
in the galaxy Transylvania and produces a ray gun. which he aims and
fires at Frank. But Columbia throws herself in the way to little avail.
Both she and Frank are blasted to death. Brad, Janet and Scott escape,
while Riff-Raff and Magenta climb onto the lab bed and activate the transit
crystal. They disappear leaving the rest of the cast to comment.
The curtain finally closes. Magenta, as the usherette, ends the show
with a reprise of the first song, before the whole cast join her once
more.
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Cast: 