This well loved (read: gang raped) musical is in town and we welcome back the delightful Transvestites from sweet Transsexual to the Theatre Royal stage.

We all know the plot; an alien transvestite, quite sweet but with a tyrannical edge, is having a party which is crashed by poor Janet and Brad, two virginal teenage squares.

The sweet transvestite has been making a man (with blonde hair, and a tan) in his laboratory. He gets loose, they all shag each other, an ex Nazi in a wheel chair arrives, Boas come out, and then things start to get really strange.

Everyone dies in the end, apart from a pair of incestuous extraterrestrial twins and the now deflowered Brad and Janet. Still with me? Oh and Christopher Biggins is in it too, as the narrator, sweating like a pedophile on a bouncy castle and just as appealing. He’s a Panto Dame out of Saw IV, all drool and ‘wait for it’ eyebrows, but does the role with as much justice as the audience allows.

Ah yes the audience, the other main character in this show and the only one not to give it’s best this evening. While dressed in stockings and suspenders they were also reserved and not up to the ironic heckling level that one expects. The audience participation can make or break this show and the actors; all primed for some  (apparently) spontaneous improvisation lap it up.

David Bedella as Frank N Furter makes the character his own as a flirtatious cross between Prince and Joan Collins, Brad and Janet (Mark Evans and Haley Flaherty) milked the laughs, hit the sweet spots and transform themselves with great strumpety flair and Rocky, played with athletic and acrobatic sexy vigor by Dominic Tribuzio was superb, his dancing and strutting the perfect combination of macho delight and vulnerable naivety. He’s got a great ass too!

For me, Nathan Amzi as Dr Scott stood out in the carefully orchestrated and harmonized ‘Eddie’ which was a highlight of the second half of the show.

It rocks from open to end, the band never miss a beat, the cast are loving every moment and the audience do their level best to disrupt the process. Sue Blane’s costumes are superb and although the set felt a little basic it worked on the night.

And while the musical revels in hedonism, it also touches on the larger theme of taking control of one's life and choosing one's destiny. I just wish I’d never read that Richard O’Brian (the writer) based Frank N Furter on his mother, now it’s got a Freudian subtext I’d never seen before.

This was a fun night out, with some good laughs and tender moments, the audience were all Time Warping away at the end, and left singing their favorite tunes. It’s THE cult show. Oh, did I mention how fine Rocky’s ass was?

Until the October but selling out FAST!
Theater Royal, Brighton
www.ambassadortickets.com/1087/664/Brighton/Theatre-Royal-Brighton/Rocky-Horror-Show

Take part in the world record attempt at the biggest Time Warp, done your heels and suspenders and join Biggins, Paul O’Grady and a host of the worlds TV and Media this Saturday morning by the West Pier from 10am.

It’s free so don’t dream it, be it!


Details here: www.rockyhorror.co.uk/worldrecord

Richard O’Brian talks about his inspiration for the character of Frank N Furter:
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6799279.ece