Talk:The Rocky Horror Show

Stage sing along
Any references for this claim:  "However, in other countries, the stage show has become a cult, with fans dressing up as the characters and reciting the lines out loud along with the cast."

Dressing up and audience participation is well known in the US midnight screenings of the movie version. I have never heard of audience participation in any live performance. Asa01 08:41, 22 December 2005 (UTC)


 * My parents tell tales of Rocky Horror audience participation. I don't ask any more though. :) -- Longhair 08:04, 31 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Could have been the film - which in Aust recently had a midnight screening on New Year's Eve 2005 at the Astor in Melbourne. Asa01 22:16, 16 January 2006 (UTC)


 * I went recently to see the stage play at Hart House and short of chucking stuff at the stage, there was plenty of fancy dress and call backs. Though no one recited the actual lines of the script. I will modify and restore this sentence. Carolynparrishfan 14:39, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

On June 20, 2009 in St Augustine, FL the Limelight Theater had a midnight showing of the play. We (a group of 60+ women) and others dressed up, brought props (or bought a set from the theater), sang along and talked back!


 * There has definitely been audience participation at the stage shows. Here at the recent run in Toronto, but the last Broadway run had more.  All of the audience callbacks, AND the thrown props.  In an interview with Tom Hewitt (Frank on Broadway), he says there was a night that so much toilet paper was thrown onto the stage during Dr. Scott's entrance that the show had to be stopped so they could clean it up before continuing. 11 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh it definately happens in the stage productions touring the UK! Luckily people dont throw things, but shout Brad and Janet's traditional "ASSHOLE!" and "SLUT!" lines as well as others, reciprocated by the cast such as:


 * FRANK: "And you shall receive it, in abundance!"
 * AUDIENCE: "What's abundance?"
 * FRANK: "It's a disco in a bakery, darlings"


 * and


 * FEMALE NARRATOR: "There were storm clouds ahead..."
 * AUDIENCE: "Describe your balls!"
 * FEMALE NARRATOR: "I don't have any, but for the purposes of comedy I shall continue..."

Yes, I went to see it last night in London (playhouse theatre) and there is definitely A LOT of audience participation... More than any show I've ever seen...!

It should be noted that the people don't throw things in the UK is largely because theatres have banned taking things in. At the producation at DMH I saw, things banned included: rice, water-pistols, toast and kit-kats. Morwen - Talk 08:18, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

POV
Is it definitely unfortunate that some theaters don't allow fans to shoot water pistols? --Amanaplanacanalpanama 02:52, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Horroar
I seem to recall somehting about an alternate misspelling of Rocky Horroar Show that was in use.

Anyone else know more about that?


 * This is an incorrect version of the play's first rough draft title which appeared in some early articles. When Richard O'Brien first conceived the show, he called it "Rock Horroar."  After Jim Sharman agreed to stage it, the play went into casting and rehearsals with the working title "They Came From Denton High."  In the second Rocky Horror poster magazine in 1979, Brian Thomson interviewed O'Brien, and Richard reminded him of the sequence of titles.  Also, in the 1979 play-related Rocky Horror Scrapbook, a handwritten page from O'Brien from 1973 includes both working titles along with original character names and song titles.  Shortly before the play's first preview, Jim Sharman suggested the final title of The Rocky Horror Show.Rockyphantom 21:05, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

New Zealand stage version
I'm pretty sure Gary Glitter was not in the NZ stage version. I believe Muldoon was briefly in the NZ version in the mid 1980s, as the narrator. --Helenalex 21:30, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Gary was in the '78 production; he's on the cast album. Metalion SOS 01:00, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

In Gary's autobiaography, he said that a main part of his salary on this tour was to come from upper circle box office takings. No one told him, however, either by accident or otherwise, that most Rocky audiences never use the upper circle, and so he lost a lot of expected income! Sponplague 16 Sep 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.222.185.132 (talk) 14:20, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Definitely a 1978 version with Gary Glitter. I went to it with my then partner. Unfortunately the night I went one of the cast (I think Columbia) fell from a tower at the side of the stage into the orchestra pit. Sh had a bleeding knee and after showing she was unharmed, left the stage so the show probably couldn't have been exactly as scripted. Yes, I know that's OR & ... Kiore (talk) 04:24, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

Reorganization
I thought it would be nice to organize this article with some headers, since most of it was completely unorganized, and written above the table of contents. In addition, I deleted/rewrote a few paragraphs, which either contained spoilers (in the intro!), were badly written, read like OR (and some POV), etc.

This article still needs quite a bit of work, in my opinion (for example, there clearly needs to be a section on what the play is actually about!). However, I don't really know anything about the play at all, so I feel like I've done all I can. I'm tagging the article for cleanup so that hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will pick up where I have left off. Torgo 22:37, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank You for your honesty about not knowing about the play. There are other editors that will stake a claim on these articles and actualy vandalise them with over tagging when they are simply unable to do what they think is needed for that exact reason. I commend you. --Amadscientist 20:17, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Re-done Plot
Hello, everyone. This is my first contribution to Wikipedia as a registered user, so I hope it was a helpful one!

Using the script from the play found here:http://www.rockyhorror.org/faq/faqtext/t-trhs.txt

I have rewritten and significantly expanded the plot summary, adding in the locations of all of the songs, and I have moved the songs list to be immediately under the plot summary for easier reference between the two. I will admit that, though I have seen the movie on several occasions, I have not personally seen the theater version of Rocky Horror. If something is missing or a detail is inaccurate, please edit my summary. I also refrained from adding links to other Wiki articles aside from the ones previously there because I'm not sure what is required and what isn't. I'm not sure if this contribution was enough to have the cleanup tag removed, but there are still some minor typographical errors that I (or someone else can, if they'd like) will edit in other areas of the article. --Dareus 05:02, 2 July 2007 (UTC) I've cleaned up the tone and style of the plot summary and other sections. There's a lot of good information in this article, and it should be more technically correct now. Rockyphantom 20:36, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Inspired by Ziggy Stardust?
I heard somewhere - in a David Bowie documentary, I believe - that the writer(s) of the original Rocky Horror Show were inspired by David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" persona. Supposedly Ziggy Stardust inspired the transvestites, the glam rock elements, etc of the show. If this is true, it would be an important element to add to this page. If anyone has any sources verifying this, would you kindly add it to the page?

Richard O'Brien began working on Rocky Horror in 1969, David Bowie was still a Folk Musician then. Additionally, Ziggy Stardust was released in 1972 and Rocky Horror's first production was 1973, a year is hardly time enough to write, and produce a musical production. I think there may have been a general feeling in the air that the Glam Scene was about to explode and O'Brien picked up on this. I mean if you think about it nearly all Glam Musicians have at least one song that elludes to Outer Space, even Lou Reed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.63.206.21 (talk) 05:51, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Film in Productions list?
In the inforbox it includes the film and the remake. I propose that these should be removed as they are not theater productions, but instead cinematic adaptions. The articles lead already clarifies the difference, and keeping them in seems pointless to me. Any thoughts? 84.65.58.167 (talk) 15:39, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

In At The Start
Hi all. I have added some information about the original London production at The Theatre Upstairs, Classic Cinema & King's Road Theatre (formerly the Essoldo Cinema). I was working at the Royal Court Theatre and went to the box-office the moment I saw the press release in the offices there. I was a 16 year old, gay guy (without any hang-ups) and the words, "A glamorous transvestite scientist creates his perfect muscle man who wears gold lame briefs..." sent me scurrying!

I saw the show on its second night (11 pm performance) at The Theatre Upstairs and on its last show there. I also saw the first & last nights at the Classic Cinema (and many performances in between) and also the first night at The King's Road Theatre and Tim Curry's final performance in London. During many other visits (contacts!) I saw Richard O'Brien playing Frank'n'Furter as Tim Curry's understudy and the first performance by Philip Sayer, who took over the role. This was really nothing more than a rectangular attic space above the Royal Court (It is very different now - following extensive re-building work in the 1990's).
 * At The Theatre Upstairs:

The theatre was renowned for new plays, usually with a serious message, and each play had a 6 week 'run'. It was realized in the Spring of 1973 that there was a gap at the end of the year's schedule (June) of less than 6 weeks and that the regular staging of a play was not going to be possible. As is well documented, Jim Sharman was directing at The Court & Richard O'Brien was appearing there and so the Theatre decided to mount 'The Rocky Horror Show' as a light-hearted fill-in. It was produced on an absolutely minimal budget 'for a laugh'. The whole atmosphere surrounding the production was that of an 'end-of-term romp'. Those quotes were the words said, to me, by the director of the Royal Court's 'Young People's Theatre' - Joan Mills.

So, we are in a rectangular room with low performance area (approx 2 feet high) in the form of a capital 'H' on its side. The two blocks of seats were made up of old cinema seats. Behind the stage, in front of us, is a cloth 'screen' behind which are the musicians. The room is clad in old green tarpaulins. To the right of the 'screen' is a raised (3 feet) 'laboratory' built of scaffolding poles and furnished with old laboratory equipment, borrowed from a local hospital. To the left of the fore-stage is an old 'Coca-Cola' chest refrigerator (with the back removed).

Seats were not allocated and the audience were admitted just a few minutes before the show started, crossing the stage and jumping down into the 2 seating areas. Of course, the cinema 'ushers' made this especially interesting; clad in tacky nylon uniforms (deep red jackets & black trousers) and with semi-transparent plastic masks. They were completely mute (until the show started). In front of us, propped up against the screen, is a large card bearing the legend; "We apologize to patrons for any inconvenience caused during renovations. A modern 3-screen cinema centre will open shortly".

The Usherette is also in place, centre stage, covered with a dust-sheet. The show began with the Ushers uncovering her....."Glad you could come..... TONIGHT". (Note to person who put up the photo in the main article - I changed the caption to "Theatre Upstairs production" because I am absolutely certain that that is where the photo was taken. That photograph was used for the reviews - in 'Plays & Players' for one. Also, at the Classic Cinema, the only other venue at which Patricia Quinn appeared, the white chair was replaced with a wooden box).

Great use was made of the whole performance space, with events happening before, between and behind the audience. Frank took the audience completely by surprise when he made his entrance behind them. The song, 'Superheroes', was sung by Brad and Janet as they crossed a ladder hanging from the ceiling, above the audience's heads.(Interesting note: These were 'the olden days' when radio-microphones were unheard of. Lead mikes were passed from person to person). To say that the show's success came as a surprise is an understatement; hurried attempts were made to find another venue for the show to transfer to...

This cinema, on a corner of the King's Road, just a few hundred yards from the Royal Court was due to close for demolition. Licenses for live theatre were obtained and the Show moved there for, what was expected to be, a maximum 3 month extension. The auditorium was on one level and the seats were arranged in a single block. The central gangway at the Theatre Upstairs was replaced by a side stage/ramp. Scaffolding poles and tarpaulins were still the main theme. The Usherette was revealed under the dust-sheet as the curtains parted a few minutes before the show started; the message about refurbishment was projected onto the screen. The laboratory was over the right-hand, forward 'Exit' from the auditorium. 'Superheroes' was performed on an arch-shaped climbing frame behind the screen. Great care was taken to ensure that the show maintained the 'cheap & tacky' feel.
 * At The Classic Cinema

Two songs, 'The Charles Atlas Song' & 'Eddie's Teddy' were added. It was while the show was playing here that James Warwick (Brad) & Angela Bruce (Usherette/Magenta) joined the cast.

Once again, there was amazement that the show was gaining momentum and a new venue was sought for a second transfer. Licenses were obtained for a change-of-use of the Essoldo Cinema. If my memory serves me correctly there was a small circle in this cinema but it was not used. As this was a larger space there was a central aisle between the seating and so the central ramp returned.
 * At The King's Road Theatre (Essoldo)


 * Tim Curry's explosive entrance from the behind - described above in WestEndLovely's wonderful contribution here - was still a coup-de-théâtre at the Chelsea Classic. At the Essoldo the space was too huge for quite that impact - but,  little import that anyone could do, the wagon wheels had begun rolling! --Laurencebeck (talk) 23:50, 22 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Trivia:

Julie Covington made a sweet Janet, her dark hair parted down the middle of her head and in two stubby bunches. She had big, black 'comedy' freckles. As Belinda Sinclair was auburn, she opted for big, brown ones.

Tim Curry had, for part of his tenure, the front 2 inches of his hair bleached blond. For a while he had it (the blond part) dyed a metallic turquoise blue. He had a handful of glitter on/in his head/hair which cascaded out as he threw off his cape. At his final performance in London, Tim Curry received a standing ovation the moment he appeared. It was partly relief on the audience's part; Theatre staff had told patrons that he wouldn't be appearing. The Show was stopped for a full 5 minutes after he had sung, 'I'm Going Home'. Angela Bruce (Magenta) dissolved into giggles after Richard O'Brien said something to her out of the corner of his mouth. She had a real job pulling herself together to deliver the next line, 'How sentimental'.

Tim used to sign autographs, 'One for the vaults'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WestEndLovely (talk • contribs) 17:57, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Not to be confused with The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Would it be worth including this at the top of this article? People often seem to get the two confused, and somebody may visit this page hoping to find information on the film.124.176.245.47 (talk) 20:40, 19 January 2011 (UTC)Sam.

Decay of article
It appears that over the past couple of years, some useful information has been lost in this article. I don't have time to rescue it, but anyone who really wants to improve the article should look back over past versions. Also, repeating the song list several times is not helpful. There should be one complete song list annotated as to which of the major productions included songs that were not in the original version. -- Ssilvers (talk) 04:44, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Complete overhaul
The article is undergoing a complete overhaul and is being restructured based on the GA article Hair (musical). The two theatrical musicals are both similar in nature and linked by creative and performance talent. Hopefully the article can be submitted and listed to GA.--Amadscientist (talk) 20:05, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Article name is not title of show
The title of this show is "Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show". When renting the rights to this musical from Samuel French, Inc. there are specific instructions on titling for poster art, promotion, etc. It's the actual name and has been for some time.--Amadscientist (talk) 17:34, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


 * WP:COMMONNAME says it pretty clearly: "The term most typically used in reliable sources is preferred to technically correct but rarer forms, whether the official name [...]". LW izard @ 17:47, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
 * You are using the policy in too strict a term as reliable sources do show this as the name in many places. --Amadscientist (talk) 17:53, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
 * By the way this can and will be referenced. The article is undergoing an overhaul to reference claims and remove what is not sourced. This is easily sourced. It isn't a historic production of the past, it's a production that is very commonly produced and can easily be shown as the title all current and past productions, both regional and professional back to almost 20 years, Broadway revival, current Globe Theatre production in San Diego etc.--Amadscientist (talk) 17:58, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Marketing copy is not the same as the actual title. Please do not move this again. MikeWazowski (talk) 18:41, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
 * It's not marketing copy, it's the actual title. I may be moving this again, but I will not edit war.--Amadscientist (talk) 18:50, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
 * No. WP:COMMONNAME is a policy, and "Richard O'Brian's The Rocky Horror Show" is not ever going to be the title of this page (without a consensus), as this was known as "The Rocky Horror Show" for at least 40 years. And the fact that you reverted my page move reversion means you have already edit warred.— Ryulong ( 竜龙 ) 20:04, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

I am not going to explain what edit warring is to you or that I may edit freely at any time. There is no consensus at this time, but that doesn't mean consensus can't be gained and your just wrong at the time length of name. You can't prove it's the name you claim, because it's not the name of the show.--Amadscientist (talk) 05:10, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Assuming that most published books are reliable sources, and that Google's books index is pretty representative, "The Rocky Horror Show" outnumbers "Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show" 10:1. Neither of those assumptions is exactly true, but it's going to be tough to turn around a 10:1 advantage. LW izard  @ 05:47, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you don't understand things Amadscientist. "The Rocky Horror Show" is the most common name out there to refer to the play by Richard O'Brien. It does not matter that the "Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show" is how it appears in the playbills, because absolutely no one calls it by that name.— Ryulong ( 竜龙 ) 06:46, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

To include Monterrey Cast / Spanish Translation
I am thinking to add the 2011-2012 Monterrey, Mexico cast in the list as long as they made some presentations in 2011 and they are expecting to have a short season in November 2012, is not the same cast as the Mexico City production (the company behind the Monterrey cast is Callejero Producciones), you can look for more information in their Facebook page.

Also, I wanted to add a decent spanish translation of the plot in the Spanish version of the page. A friend without user tried it but was accused to "vandalize" the page, althrough the claimed that the section was not having enough information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Travsam (talk • contribs) 19:58, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

"Early Productions" sections should reiterate the early UK productions
They need to be added, or else it looks like the show premiered in the U.S. Right now the section lists a "Second London Production" but not a first! Softlavender (talk) 00:50, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Roxy Production
"The cast was all new except for Tim Curry and O'Brien." Is this right, regarding O'Brien? I just ask because O'Brien isn't on the "Original Roxy Cast" album at all. Cardinal Wurzel (talk) 09:46, 6 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Found a source that confirms this is incorrect, so changed on page. Cardinal Wurzel (talk) 14:56, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Unencyclopedic tone
The following from the intro is not encyclopedic at all.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a powerful musical that sparked a cult movement through its movie musical adaptation.[1] Rocky Horror’s magnetic power not only drew audiences in and kept them coming back for more but also roused them to blur the boundaries between stage and audience through audience pantomime.[1][2][3] This allowed audiences to enter the fantasy and ritual of the world. Rocky Horror brings together people from all walks of life and through its compelling attraction explores, in the spirit of glam rock,[4] the liberation from normative heterosexuality, celebration of androgyny and queer sexual awakenings.[2]

2601:204:CD00:27C0:D539:9649:7DA3:69A7 (talk) 06:59, 6 June 2017 (UTC)


 * I agree, it's not NPOV and I think it should either be deleted or rewritten. Jobscomforter (talk) 22:19, 14 July 2017 (UTC)
 * As no one else has commented on this I have now deleted this paragraphJobscomforter (talk) 13:50, 17 August 2017 (UTC)


 * The same may be said of the paragraph beginning "Rocky Horror is purposefully subversive..." erroneously placed at the end of the Act II synopsis. If it quotes the reference it should say so. --Hugh7 (talk) 10:33, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

2019 UK Tour
The show is touring again in the UK come 2019. Will this be added to the page once more information is known? 2A02:C7F:1405:B100:90AB:8AA2:CA45:5DCA (talk) 18:30, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

South Coast Repertory production 1970s
In the mid-70s SCR staged a production at a storefront theater in a strip mall off Newport Boulevard on the border between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. The audience sat on folding chairs as I recall. This was early days for SCR. It would have been between 1976-1978. 2600:1700:15D:2560:1C1:2F9D:1072:3202 (talk) 01:43, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

Apparent error in "Original Los Angeles production (American premiere)"
This section contains the statement "Future U.S. Senator Al Franken was a young lighting apprentice brought in by Sid Strong. He recalls Adler had the show mounted by producer Brian Avnet and that both Curry and O'Brien were brought in from the UK." The statement is referenced to "39 Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: the Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There" which was written by Tom Davis.

I have a copy of this book. It has an introduction by Al Franken, and it refers extensively to Franken since Franken and Davis were a team for many years, but when Davis is talking about Franken, it is always by name. It seems clear that it is Tom Davis talking about himself as the lighting technician brought in by Sid Strong. Davis, for example, describes how he was short-changed after doing the work and was accompanied by Franken when he went to complain: "I had clocked in and out, so I went and got a copy of the record, and then I got Al, who was only too delighted to be moral support."

Franken appears in a picture apparently taken at the Roxy, but there's no indication that he worked there. 67.188.1.213 (talk) 06:41, 5 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I've removed this - as you say, the book is by Davis, and is pretty clearly talking about Davis, not Franken, working on the show. (You could replace it with 'Future SNL cast member Tom Davis was a young lighting apprentice...' but he's a significantly less well-known figure.) TSP (talk) 22:15, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Include film in cast list table?
I found it useful to have the film included in the cast list table, because it made it easy to see which castings were transferred to the film from which stage productions (Curry, O'Brien, Campbell and Adams from London, Meat Loaf from L.A.). It was removed by on the basis that the article is about the stage show, not the film. Which is entirely reasonable, but I still found it valuable information that did no harm to include (WP:NOTPAPER).

(It should probably be in italics or a different background or something if it is included. If it isn't, the TV film shouldn't be either.)

Any views? TSP (talk) 21:29, 15 August 2023 (UTC)


 * It looks like other articles about musicals that also have film adaptations keep the film out of the typical big table of theatre cast. However, given the overlap between show and film here, I think it's worth recognising. I'd support the more subtle option, e.g. an asterisk and a note below the table. EditorInTheRye (talk) 21:58, 15 August 2023 (UTC)


 * In the absence of any more than two opinions, I've removed the 2016 remake of the film (I can't see any justification for including the remake film but not the original) and added section footnotes for which cast members were also in the 1975 film. TSP (talk) 17:05, 4 September 2023 (UTC)