'The Rocky Horror Show' Broadway review — Luke Evans leads an out-of-this-world revival

Read our review of The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway, Tony Award-winning director Sam Pinkleton's new revival of Richard O'Brien's cult classic musical.

Summary

• The Rocky Horror Show is the cult-classic musical about an innocent young couple's adventure through a mad scientist's mansion
• The star-studded cast led by Luke Evans are strong across the board
• Director Sam Pinkleton adds raunchy flair while also grounding the characters emotionally
• The show is recommended for fans of the cult-classic movie (though callouts are discouraged at the Broadway show) and other queer Broadway shows like Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Oh Mary!

Every theatre kid has a list of favorite musicals they wouldn’t miss a revival of, and The Rocky Horror Show has got to be at the top of a lot of those lists. With over 50 years of performance history and the ultimate cult classic movie adaptation to contend with, however, it can be hard for revivals to set themselves apart. Enter Sam Pinkleton, the Tony Award-winning director of genre-buster Oh, Mary!, and a star-studded cast with talent even bigger than their resumes. 

No Rocky Horror Show can get off the ground without a good Brad and Janet, the hilariously milquetoast couple planning the rest of their lives together when they stumble on the grounds of a creepy castle in the middle of nowhere. And in Andrew Durand and Stephanie Hsu, this production has found the Brad and Janet of a new generation. They nail their simpering 1950s personas in the show’s first act, and audiences familiar with either of their careers can antici...pate just how weird both of them are willing to get.

Hsu has a pitch-perfect range of breathy to brassy, and Durand’s sweet demeanor and even sweeter voice give us a Brad who is more of a well-intentioned fool than a pandering asshole (though it doesn’t stop the audience from calling him out at every opportunity).  

But the heart of the show is Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the lovelorn mad scientist and cross-dressing doomed diva who pulls Brad and Janet into his orbit. And from the moment Luke Evans makes his grand entrance, it's clear he was born for the role. His sonorous voice dominates the theatre even more fiercely than his leather corset, and he delivers Frank’s mercurial temperament with a tricky combination of scary and sexy.

But for all of Frank’s sadistic and hedonistic tendencies, Evans is also a Frank-N-Furter you’re ready to weep for by the time he pulls off his wig. In Pinkleton’s production, there is a vulnerability to this magnificently selfish character that can’t help but bring Oh, Mary!’s Mary Todd Lincoln to mind. 

There are no shortage of lush performances and lavish production design. The costumes (David I. Reynoso) and makeup (Sterling Tull) pay homage to the movie while maintaining their own creativity inspired by the performers. Supporting performers like Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (as Columbia), Harvey Guillén (doubling as Eddie and Dr. Scott), and Josh Rivera (as Rocky) round out a strong cast, and each have their moments to shine. There are almost too many places to look. Focus too much on Frank’s radiant petulance and you might miss Janet’s come-hither exchanges with Rocky, Brad’s resentful glares, or Riff Raff (a spectacularly creepy Amber Gray) and Magenta’s (a fittingly deadpan Juliette Lewis) conspiratorial glances.

The scenic design collective dots has created castle sets that are unapologetically lavish, especially the campy, overstuffed stairway entrance hall where “The Time Warp” is performed. But as the show goes on, the sets become simpler and simpler until the final scenes are on a bare-bones stage. Like Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the layers of the castle itself are stripped away to reveal the vulnerability beneath. And before too long, the dream comes to a close. There’s no other way to describe it but to say... it’s astounding.

The Rocky Horror Show summary

Straitlaced couple Brad and Janet, fresh from a friend’s wedding and their own saccharine engagement, end up stranded in the middle of nowhere on a dark and stormy night. They are forced to approach a nearby castle for help, where they meet the mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Frank’s hedonistic ways and the castle’s otherworldly tenants set Brad and Janet on a bizarre, eye-opening, raunchy journey they never could have imagined.

When writer Richard O’Brien began envisioning The Rocky Horror Show in the 1970s, it was a celebratory parody of 1950s sci-fi and B-horror movies. And it certainly is. But what the show became, even more so, is a celebration of queerness, counterculture, and glam rock.

What to expect at The Rocky Horror Show

For the uninitiated — and Rocky Horror is a cultural experience deserving of initiation — perhaps the biggest disclaimer is the audience callouts. They’re an integral part of Rocky Horror’s history: Almost immediately after the release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the iconic 1975 movie adaptation of the stage musical, it developed a cult following unlike any seen before (or possibly since). Audiences began talking back to the screen at midnight showings of the movie, and what began as a gag eventually became more or less a time-honored script. 

For many fans, the experience is incomplete without these callouts. Of course, there’s a huge difference between yelling at a screen with an audience of willing participants and yelling at actors on a stage among Broadway theatregoers, and the production itself asks attendees to "choose your call-outs carefully."

But the cast of Pinkleton’s Rocky Horror Show seem to have reached a comfortable, if sometimes resigned, stride with them. Rachel Dratch, as the Narrator, leaves ample space for them and freely breaks the fourth wall without ever losing that matter-of-fact affectation so characteristic of her comedic style (and so perfect for the role). Hsu steps hard on the innuendo gas as Janet, often beating the audience to their own jokes. Every time they call Janet a “slut”, her affronted, caught-in-the-act expression betrays the sexual awakening brewing beneath her prim surface.

What audiences are saying about The Rocky Horror Show

As of publication, The Rocky Horror Show has a 90% audience approval rating on Show-Score, averaged from 232 total reviews from theatregoers. Audiences especially praised Luke Evans’ leading performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter and the cast as a whole.  

• “This exceeded my expectations…which were very high to start! Amazing amazing amazing cast and crew.” - Show-Score user Carli J
• “I went in a little judgmental, being a Tim Curry fan, but…it is so well done, perfectly cast & absolutely wonderful.” - Show-Score user AnonymouslyMe
• “I genuinely believe Luke Evans was the perfect Frank N Furter casting, he truly embodies the character.” - Show-Score user Joey 6087 

Read more audience reviews of The Rocky Horror Show on Show-Score.

Who should see The Rocky Horror Show

• Fans of the 1975 movie adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show will want to see this revival of the original musical. 
• Theatregoers who loved Sam Pinkleton’s direction of Oh, Mary! will delight in the raunchy flair he adds to this already most irreverent of musicals, but also appreciate the vulnerability he affords the characters.
• Fans of unapologetically queer Broadway shows, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch to the current hit Cats: The Jellicle Ball, won’t want to miss this cult classic that has been a staple of LGBTQ+ culture for more than 50 years.

Learn more about The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway

Whether you’re a die-hard fan, a curious theatregoer, or a complete rookie, Sam Pinkleton’s Rocky Horror Show is one for the ages.

Learn more and get The Rocky Horror Show tickets now. The Rocky Horror Show is at Studio 54 through July 19.

Photo credit: The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)