By BRUCE DENNILL
The Rocky Horror Show / Directed by Steven Stead / Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg
Richard O’Brien’s hobby science fiction/B-movie musical scribblings (the actor-playwright apparently wrote the script to stave off boredom between acting gigs) seem to be as reliable a crowd-puller now as they were in the 1970s – this is its 53rd year in production. But there does seem to be some sort of shift in how the dependably bonkers material lands, which is perhaps unsurprising, given that most of its original audience are grandparents; celebration of queer culture is now far more mainstream; and the youngsters who are, happily, still arriving in their numbers to investigate are watching and thinking, “Um, what the hell?”. There are some costumes in the crowd, there are a few on-cue yells at the Narrator (Anne Power) and there is a little bit of standing, dancing and singing along as the first curtain call begins, but there is none (at least in the performance under review) of the wild-eyed cult disciple zeal often so evident in Rocky audiences. This, it must be said, makes the show more enjoyable to watch for the neutral, who is able focus on the performances, rather than having some paunchy accountant in a thong delivering a quavering, off-pitch performance of Sweet Transvestite in their ear.
Onstage, a talented, typically well-drilled cast (kudos, director Steven Stead) with excellent collective chemistry join the dots with glitter-glue lines and arched eyebrow asides. Craig Urbani, returning as Dr Frank-N-Furter, is larger than both life and his castmates, a magnetic presence who seems to be having such a blast that he’s both sporadically improvising and smiling as though almost corpsing at the antics of some of the other performers, while never being less than completely committed to the character’s profound and raunchy oddness. As Frank-N-Furter’s right hand man – the creepy, skulking Riff Raff – Schoeman Smit completely disappears into his character, which is saying something when the role calls for being both bitter and obsequious; a leader and a servant. His is the stand-out craft of the show.
Not at all far behind, however, are the excellent Anna Olivier, who makes her Columbia a gorgeous, wide-eyed, squealing joy; and Jasmine Minter, who brings dynamic technical excellence to her Magenta. Robert Everson is a likeable Brad with a voice and look that suggests he could play the lead in Buddy somewhere down the line, and Zak Hendrikz hams it up delightfully as Eddie and Dr Scott.
Everything else – the rest of the cast, the dramatic set, the sexy costumes and the top-notch band helmed by Kevin Kraak – provide reliable support, rounding out a production likely to make established fans smile anew and enthuse newcomers to begin their own corseted journey with O’Brien’s characters.