Unsurprisingly, Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry weren’t in attendance for this special 50th anniversary show but three of the film’s other stars: the original Brad Majors – Barry Bostwick, the original Magenta – Patricia Quinn, and the original Columbia – Nell Campbell were and were thoroughly entertaining in the pre-show Q&A session.
It was fishnets and basques a go go at The Dome tonight as devoted fans dressed as their favourite characters and posed for photos in the bar. Each audience member was given a prop bag consisting of glow sticks, party blowers, loo roll, newspaper and more, to use throughout the film, a practice that began in April 1977, two years after the film’s release.
A video introduction from creator Richard O’Brien gave a brief back story featuring Sarandon, Curry and some famous fans, mixed with clips of classic horror and sci-fi films from the 30s to 50s. The ‘Masturbator’ of Ceremonies tonight was Larry Viezel, president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Official Fan Club, who tried to control the three original film stars, all of whom seemed happy to chat away without many prompts. All three looked great, especially 80-year-old Barry Bostwick, and all were clearly enjoying the fun. There were lots of saucy and salacious reminiscences of the original stage production at The Royal Court Theatre and that, although the film set at Bray Studios was “a cold dump”, they managed to complete the shoot in five weeks and under budget. To end, Barry sang Once In A While and Nell got everyone up to do The Time Warp. There was also a best costume parade, including two Dr Von Scotts, complete with wheelchairs, on stage judged by Nell, who gave praise to Brighton’s LGBTQIA+ community before announcing four first place winners.
The show was billed as an interactive evening and so an usherette appeared on stage as Science Fiction/Double Feature rang out over the credits, with the very excitable audience singing along with arms swaying and waving their glow sticks in the air. Actors mirrored the on-screen wedding scene and there were well-timed heckles during Damn It Janet, including shouts of “slut” and “asshole” whenever Janet and Brad’s names were mentioned. This would continue throughout the show, as would the appearance of a large inflatable penis being shoved into an on-screen open mouth whenever the opportunity arose.
Everyone got up for the Time Warp, with a mass pelvic thrust and a jump to the left, led by an extremely agile Nell Campbell. This was followed by one of cinema’s greatest entrances, as Tim Curry strutted onto the screen to deliver Sweet Transvestite, which was matched with a gorgeous real life Frank N Furter on stage. The prop bags provided rubber gloves for the lab scenes and loo rolls were thrown when Rocky appeared (this continued for the whole show). A slight issue (for me, at least) was that noisy party blowers and a couple of over-enthusiastic audience members’ constant muffled shouting did drown out the words and grew a little tiresome.
After a short intermission, the fun continued with Janet and Brad’s seductions played out by puppets, then it was party hats on and blowers out for Rocky’s birthday meal and a wonderful rendition of the fantastic Wise Up Janet Weiss. The glow sticks came out again for Don’t Dream It Be It then the entire cast, clad in basques and fishnets, took their bows to a standing ovation following a final communal Time Warp.
The film remains a cult classic because it is wonderfully original with all its quirky characters, incredible songs (and dances), homage to the golden age of B-movies and audience interaction but having both the film and the play overlap meant that, on occasions, a few lines or features were sometimes lost, not that the devoted word-perfect fans noticed or cared. A well-deserved and lovingly performed celebration of Richard O’Brien’s masterpiece.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 50th Anniversary Spectacular,
Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Friday 17th April 2026.
