Review: Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show

Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was great when it all began and five decades on it’s still going strong, yes Richard O’Brien’s musical homage to the B movies of his youth might now be turning 51-years-old but it is still as raunchy and racey as ever.

This seemingly eternal ‘World Tour’ brings The Rocky Horror Show back to Glasgow this week promising a ‘guaranteed party,’ and with a show-stopping number like The Time-Warp, audience members dressed, or should that be undressed, for the occasion, that’s exactly what it delivers, a raucous night of fun and frolics.

This current iteration of a musical that has had many incarnations is fast-paced and practically sung-through when compared with some that have gone before. Directed with a deft touch by Christopher Luscombe, it’s slick and sexy and powers through a score of now familiar numbers such as Over At The Frankenstien Place, Touch-A-Toucha-A-Touch Me and the evocative Super Heroes in just two hours, including a 20 minute interval.

The action, as ever, revolves around two normal all American High School sweethearts, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss - a suitably dorky Richard Meek and coquettish Haley Flaherty. Homeward bound from a night out, they’re left stranded and in search of a phone they might use after their car suffers a flat tyre.

Enter Dr Frank N Furter, an alien transvestite scientist, and his menagerie of unconventional ‘servants’ and creations who just happen to be enjoying one of his ‘affairs’ - a party from which Brad and Janet may never recover.

The incredible Stephen Webb once again dons the fishnets and tights as Frank, a role he has now established as his own by bringing a meaty masculinity to the cross-dressing anti-hero, eschewing any temptation to be overly camp in favour of a more robust approach that drives the energy of the show. His rendition of Blue Skies towards the end of the second act is breath-taking.

Webb is joined on stage by guest star, Glasgow actor and Strictly Come Dancing winner 2017, Joe McFadden, who proves one of the most amiable and endearing Narrators yet to grace Denton. His every entrance is anticipated by fans eager to shout the now traditional audience call-outs, which he bats straight back at them with a series of hilarious ad-libs and a big mischievous grin.

Elsewhere, Kristian Lavercombe continues his run as the longest running Riff Raff in the show’s history, a performance that makes him a firm fan favourite and earns him a roar of appreciation on his first entrance. By his final scene, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a young Richard O’Brien. Shout out too, to Ben Westhead who brings a nice line of defiant vulnerability to Rocky, adding an extra dimension to the normally 2D creation brought to life by Frank N Furter.

Lit by Nick Richings, all the big musical numbers, performed by a rocking five piece band, sparkle and shine, none more so than the Floor Show; it’s amazing what you can do with a foil slash cloth and a rig of LED lights. Richings LX design is gorgeous and transforms the staging to another level.

If overall, not quiet as tight a performance as those at the start of this tour, the bedroom scenes remain the comedic highlight of the night, The Time-Warp still entices the audience to their feet and shivers never fail to trickle down the spine as the Usherette closes the show with a bittersweet reprise of Science Fiction.

Half a century on, it seems there’s still nothing better than and evening of sex and laughs and rock n roll to entertain and Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show does that better than anything else.

‘Don’t dream it, be it,’ sings Frank N Furter and the cast at one point, an ethos no doubt shared by those in this audience dressed in full costume despite the passing years since they first lost their Rocky Horror virginity as teenagers. Vintage teenagers now, it makes Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show a particularly poignant ‘party’ that remains every bit as riotous today as it was way back in 1973.

Run ends 3 February. Full tour schedule and tickets available here.