Since the project was first announced, Fox’s live telecast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show has met with skepticism. The casting hasn’t been bad; it’s more a question of why? Unlike other remakes, the original is still bouncing around in midnight movie showings, its tale of transgressive behavior almost quaint in the days since 1975. It holds up for a variety of reasons — some people think it strikes a chord, some people love the music and the energy (and Tim Curry’s performance), and yes, some people just think it’s so bad it’s good. Those people are wrong. It’s just good.
Entertainment Weekly gets the first photos — staged, of course — from the production currently rehearsing for a Fall broadcast. It looks like they recreated the sets almost faithfully — right down to the stained glass window in Frank N. Furter’s bridal nook — and then let a group of strangers play on it in a Kenny Ortega version of the classic musical.
Oh, wait. This IS a Kenny Ortega version.
The cast is chock full of talented people, but with this duality of being faithful to one aspect of design and then messing with another, it hasn’t answered the question of “why” beyond the obvious: because it might get ratings.
Below, LaVerne Cox (Frank) confronts Dr. Scott (Ben Vereen), or maybe it’s the other way around. Vereen looks right enough, and Cox looks formidable. She just doesn’t look like Frank, does she? Maybe the performance will make the difference.
L-R: Laverne Cox and Ben Vareen.
Staz Nair plays Rocky, and there’s that stained glass window. Fox will win big points with me if the production restores the full version of “Sword of Damocles” (cut down in the movie) from the stage production. If you’re going to do this, give us something the movie doesn’t have — and that include the chance for the Criminologist (played by original Frank N. Furter Tim Curry) to interact with the story outside of “The Time Warp.”
Staz Nair.
Ryan McCartan and Victoria Justice as Brad and Janet. They look like Brad and Janet. Fans of her old show: she has a powerful pop singing voice, right? There’s that then.
L-R: Ryan McCartan and Victoria Justice.
Reeve Carney still looks haunted from his days as Broadway’s Spider-Man.
Is that Eddie on the left? Okay. I’m down with that.
L-R: Christina Milian, Reeve Carney and Annaleigh Ashford.
