Admittedly, I didn’t see it in its first release, but it wasn’t too long afterwards, probably at one of the screenings at the Crystal cinema in inner-Brisbane, where it ran and ran and ran. As it did around the world, Rocky Horror became a fixture on the big screen with a big enough “cult” audience to keep it going for, well, forever.
The movie still attracts crowds who come dressed as their favourite characters to enjoy a singalong and sometimes a stage show presented by people who’ve devoted the best part of their lives to the sci-fi rock opera.
And then there’s the stage show, which pops up every decade or so, often with stunt casting in the Narrator role. The urbane Stuart Wagstaff played it in the first Australian production I saw (at the now-demolished Her Majesty’s Theatre in Brisbane). In New Zealand, the role once went to former prime minister Robert “Piggy” Muldoon, and one US production featured Jerry Springer.
But it’s the movie that helped launched some serious careers — including Susan Sarandon (Janet), Meat Loaf (Eddie) and Tim Curry (Frank-N-Furter). They
Reportedly there’s a made-for-TV version, with the working title of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Event, in the works at the US Fox network. Will it succeed, or is Rocky Horror one show that’s best left alone?
