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Put your hands on your hips and pull your knees in tight! It's time to do The Time Warp again!
Its finally time to once again dust off your heels, pull up those stockings and pull your knees in tight! The worlds favourite Rock Opera is back in the New Theatre for one week only, and fantastic news… its just as sexy, crazy, and hilarious as ever. So, why don’t you put your hands on your hips and gear up to do the time warp all over again!
The 1975 musical has achieved an astonishing cult status after more than 40 years, having been seen by over 30 million theatre goers across the globe. It first became popularised to dress up and talk back to the characters on stage after the film adaptation became a hit at midnight cinemas in New York in the 70’s, something which is now heavily encouraged. And let me tell you Cardiff did not disappoint. Never mind it was a cold and wet Monday night in February, the New Theatre was absolutely packed to the rafters with fans sporting corsets, heavy eye makeup and sparkly gowns proving that Rocky Horror is still the beloved hit it’s always been.
All your favourite songs are of course back, bigger, and more fabulous than ever; Sweet Transvestite, Dammit Janet and Science Fiction/Double Feature sound as ridiculous and brilliant as they always have. With the pièce de resistance Time Warp nearly bringing the roof down early in the first act and again as a special treat right at the end to blow the cobwebs off the New Theatre’s rafters. I don’t mean this metaphorically, the audience’s reaction to the final song was so chaotic I literally saw some dust floating from the ceiling! As ever with Rocky Horror, the performance is amplified by the audience’s participation and energy and the opening night audience turned that energy up to 11!
The cast themselves do Richard O’Brien proud, bottling up all that is spectacular from the original production and channelling it into their performance on stage. Its so hard to only mention a handful of the cast here, when every single one deserves praise for so lovingly recreating the vision and passion of the show. It almost goes without saying that the man playing Frank-N-Furter was going to be exceptional, but Stephen Webb still manages to knock it out of the park, bringing all the sass and lofty vocals required for such a mighty role. Also brilliant were the hapless Brad and Janet played by BBC 2 presenter Ore Oduba and West End star Haley Flaherty, who captured that magic balance between horror and awe perfectly. I also think Lauren Ingram shone through the crowd in the role of Columbia, supplying a lot of the laughs and the most impressive moves on stage. And all were beautifully tied together with the wit and comedic timing of the great Philip Franks in the role of Narrator.
Overall, The Rocky Horror Show was exactly what we thought it would be, and that’s all out camp mayhem and joy. We had high expectations and every single one of them was met, and you could tell that the packed in New Theatre audience would agree. If you get the chance this week then you must find the time to shelter from the rain in Frank-N-Furter’s castle where you will be in for a night you will not forget for a very long time… an easy five out of five stars for this one.
