Sometime mid-late 1978 I was involved in 2 firsts... one was to become The Sydney Gay & lesbian Mardi Gras (I'll post about that later on, too)... the other was Rocky Horror. A little-known, badly flopped, kitschy musical based on a small London musical, (written by a New Zealander),which achieved hedonistic fame in both London and Los Angeles, was made into a film and was then left to the detritus of the late-night schlocky cult movie circuit.
It flourished.
Thanks to the callbacks (cat-calls yelled at the screen at appropriate times throughout the film) allegedly instigated by Sal Piro (a New Yorker, who saw the film at the 'Westgate'(?) Cinema), and certain residents of the East (Greenwich) Village attending the screenings in drag/costume, it became an underground phenomenon.
It hit Australia quietly, but the news from overseas grew. Fox-Columbia decided to screen it at the 'new' Hoyts Entertainment Centre, ironically built on the site of The Trocadero (Dance) Club, one of the more hedonistic nightspots of old Sydney. Paul Beaver travelled to New York and took in a showing of Rocky Horror, and brought back the reactions and audience participatory behaviour to his friends Peter Larsen and Brad Grainger. The first person to ever wear a form of costume to Rocky Horror in Sydney was Brad, who wore a 'Dracula cape' to a screening a couple of weeks later and a member of the audience called out "Look! It's Dr Frank N Furter!" - the rest is history.
I joined the late-night screening madness in 1979 (though I had seen the film sporadically since mid-to-late 1978). I had moved to Sydney and had nothing to do on a Friday night (except hang about in bars ;)) so I joined in. Peter Larsen was the co-ordinator of a loose-knit few people who dressed up, yelled at the screen, threw rice, tossed toilet paper, wore drag (or underwear, or less), and sprayed water pistols at each other. I was there when Robert Smith first got up in front of the audience, with several torches trained on him, and he performed 'Sweet Transvestite'. The audience went nuts. Over the next weeks Robert became a cause celebre around town, he was the man who rode his Triumph down George Street, to park it outside Hoyts, dressed in a spangled tank-top, make-up and with a cape flying out behind him. The second number ever to be performed at Sydney Rocky Horror was (2-3 weeks later) 'Dammit Janet' and that was done, rather haltingly at the time, by myself and Penny Miller as our first Janet. The man 'running' the show for those first heady weeks was Peter Larsen (Peter, Brad Grainger and Paul Beaver were publicly acknowledged as being the ones who actually started the show in Sydney at an Anniversary show a few years back).
I should list here that the first 'cast' ever assembled for Rocky Horror in Sydney was:
Frank N Furter - Robert Smith
Brad Majors - Craig Walker
Janet Weiss - Penny Miller / Melissa Bean
Riff Raff - Brad Grainger
Magenta - Abby 'Leia' Coombs / Michelle Catts
Columbia - Lisa Catts / Mary Payne
Eddie - Paul Beaver
Rocky - Dean Grainger
MC - Peter Larsen
We didn't have a Crim until Penny Chatterton took up the reigns one week and handed them over to Fiona Thompson (whose daughter you may know - Ruby from Doppleganger Hair) or a regular Dr. Scott (I think we convinced Quentin to first stand up and play The Crim albeit only once or twice) until Stephen Smith took that role.
Everyone was a Transylvanian - but the first two were Anthony & Angela, followed by Pam Chatterton and a host of others, which at one time included most members of 'Jimmy & the Boys'. Of course high points were: the month when we were filling and running 2 cinemas at once with 2 casts; when we were asked to make Bette Midler's 'Divine Madness' into a new Rocky Horror with costumes and callbacks; when Fox released 'The Apple' and asked us to promote it as the 'next Rocky Horror' to much amusement; invitations to the Fox-Columbia Christmas Party; being asked to promote The Rocky Horror Show by the producers only to have them ask us to stop because we were getting more attention than the stars of the show; appearances on national TV (such as The Mike Walsh Show [the Rove MacManus of the time]); and of course the release of 'Shock Treatment' which we promoted for Fox.
I could go through all the casts, but that's probably best left for another forum/time, suffice to say that the show lasted on a weekly basis until about 6 months after I left it, in 1986, when it went on a forced 'hiatus' (apparently Hoyts Management thought that having less than 80 audience members attend a once-per week late-night showing was not cost effective - even though they were showing other late-night sessions and only had 1 projectionist on). So, the film finished it's run - well actually it continued running, it just went to once a month, without an endorsed 'live cast'. This lasted until 1989, when the Fox-Columbia Publicity Department (specifically, Bronwyn Delaney) with the aid of Garfield Barnard (now of Barnards Star Productions) resurrected the show with a number of the original 'live cast' members (as memory serves: Caroline Fiedler [Janet]; James Burrell [Brad]; Stephanie Lennon [The Crim]; Andrew Sheehey [Frank]; Tim Neeley [Riff Raff]; Karen Smith [Margenta]; Graham 'Garfield' Barnard [Eddie/Dr Scott]; Julie Norris [Columbia] and a couple of others - I was living in Canberra at the time, and so was uncontactable) and it took off again on a wave of nostalgia.
I heard the show was on again, and so I went back to see it (I was only in Canberra and that's only 2 hrs away). It rekindled the fire, so to speak, and seeing as I was moving back to Sydney at this stage, it was something familiar to go back to. So I did. After their 'opening night' many of the 'returning' cast left - ushering in a 'new generation' of performers.
This new 'live' cast was:
Frank N Furter - Andrew Sheehey
Brad Majors - Tony Harris
Janet Weiss - Phillipa Beauchamp/ Laura Bourke
Riff Raff - Tim Neeley / Mark Spain
Magenta - Phillipa Beauchamp / Denise Blanchard
Columbia - Janelle Grimshaw
Eddie - Graham 'Garfield' Barnard
Dr. Scott - Graham 'Garfield' Barnard
Rocky - Tony Calder
MC - Graham 'Garfield' Barnard
Unfortunately, the name of the person who initially played The Crim escapes me (embarrassingly so), though I will edit them in as I recall them, (though, later on, the Crim was taken up by Trevor Collict). The casts shifted and changed throughout the next years, even having a logie-winning actor appear regularly as Riff-Raff, probably the best Riff-Raff (with his own irreverent style) ever to grace our stage. Of course I have to mention the 'warm-up crew' who forged their own names in Rocky mythology. The Paul Keating No-Stars (modelled on the supremely anarchic and popular Doug Anthony All-Stars) consisting of Derek Proud, Ivan DeVulder and Angus Glashier, along with various supporting cast, gave me (as MC) the best support a show could ever have - and made the warm-ups something magical to behold. One high-point at an anniversary was having friends of Angus come along, set up their drums and guitars, and doing a flawlessly live rendition of 'We Will Rock You' along with vocals by 'No-Stars'. My time with this new cast, being a regular through MCing the show and later fully taking over from Tony Harris playing Brad along the way, was about from late 1989 through to late 1995/early 1996. Weirdly about the same length of time I had been involved 10 years earlier.
Mind you I kept going to all the anniversaries, watching them go from strength to strength, from Highs through Lows and finally getting to where the show is today. This 'new' regular season has been going for over 18 years, longer that the original season by some 11 years, though technically the show has been on regularly (at the same location, now owned by Greater Union) since way back in early-mid 1979, making it close to its 30th Anniversary at the George Street Cinema Complex. It makes one wonder why, now, it's actually leaving - and the reason given is that there are not enough paying audience to have the show continue - ironically the same reason used back in 1986.
Tonight, at the George Street Cinema Complex, there will be a gathering of the tribes (if you will) - I have no idea how many will be there. I don't know how many audience will turn up. It's not an Anniversary, it'll be more like a wake (in the real celebratory sense). Some members of the casts, from past & present will be going to see the show in the cinema complex where they all helped make it famous, in fact in the very cinema itself so I am told. George Street Cinemas... for the last time. It'll be strange, it'll be fun, it'll be oddly happy and sad, but at 11:30pm tonight it will be the end of an era.
Of course times change, people's tastes also change, and what was exciting and hedonistic to us way back then, is (in these days of 'Desperate Housewives', 'Naked News', 'The Wonderful World Of Sex', etc...) to some a little passé. There are a lot more things to do and see now. Yet, still, the magic (though perhaps a little tarnished) is still there. The message is still as valid as it once was... and hopefully Rocky Horror Sydney (currently presented by 'Fun In The Dark') will find a new home soon. We didn't just dream it... and THAT is the important thing. After all, like Mardi Gras, after 30 years, it's only the beginning.
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