04 September 2011 (gig)
09 September 2011
As part of the Vision Sound Music Festival, taking place at the Southbank over three days, a special Rocky Horror Night was held with special guest Richard O’Brien and composer Richard Hartley.
The festival, the first of its kind, celebrated the meeting point between music and the visual arts. During ‘Rocky Horror Night’, Richard O’Brien (aka Riff Raff) – creator of the cult musical - and Richard Hartley discussed the making of the Rocky Horror Show, which later became The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Host of the evening was Benjamin Louche (looking like a fusion of Frank N Furter and the Master Of Ceremonies from Cabaret). After a brief introduction to the event and addressing all the unconventional conventionalists in the audience, Louche welcomed his two guests onto stage.
Garbed in a candy-pink long dress complete with a pale pink cardigan and sporting a pearl necklace, O’Brien looked indeed as if he’s just arrived from planet Transsexual Transylvania! In contrast, Hartley cut a rather sober appearance with his casual black suit and white T-shirt.
During the conversation, O’Brien revealed how his first brush with ‘the devil’s music’ came about. As a teenager he lived in Tauranga, New Zealand, and happened to pass by a record store. “There was this girl working inside who called me to come in” he said, “and the first thing I hear is Little Richard’s ‘Tutti Frutti’ full blast –A-wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo”, O’Brien roared into the mic. “I was hooked! Elvis was The King, but Little Richard was the Queen” he joked. He also confessed how he came to acting via his enthusiasm for comic books and horror films and really, if dissected, then it’s more than evident how much of O’Brien’s individual pet loves the Rocky Horror Show contains.
Composer Hartley remarked how much the typical R & B and rock ‘n’ roll sound rings through on quite a few numbers in the musical, though some notes had to be changed to higher keys. He also revealed how the song ‘Super Heroes’ didn’t appear in the initial version of the movie and when it did, it was shortened. O’Brien went on about the writing of the song ‘Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me’ and remarked that it’s the ultimate wank song for every adolescent boy, only that he was already thirty years old when he wrote it. The audience was in hysterics.
When host Benjamin Louche pointed out that his girlfriend (“What? You have a girlfriend?” O’Brien teased) told him of the Rocky Horror episode of Glee in which the lyric “…it only leads to trouble and seat wetting” got changed to “…it only leads to bed wetting”, O’Brien dryly remarked that it only proves his point about this number being a wank song. More laughter! In fact, O’Brien wasn’t aware of that particular episode of Glee at all (neither seemed he aware of Glee in general), but Hartley had seen it and expressed his approval for the female lead who portrayed Frank N Furter in the episode. “She really has a great voice” was his opinion and some audio sample from the episode was played. O’Brien, however, didn’t seem too convinced, as he feels a good and powerful voice should come from the gut and not the head-part (possibly referring to breathing techniques during singing).
Clips from the actual movie were also shown on screen, most importantly of course the famous scene in which Frank N Furter (Tim Curry) makes his entrance. “We were so lucky to have had Tim aboard, if it wasn’t for him I doubt that Rocky Horror would be the phenomenon it is today”, said O’Brien. “Originally I had another actor in mind for the part, but in the end he couldn’t commit to it. So when Tim Curry turned up for the audition instead, we knew straight away we had found our Frank N Furter!”
But while the original musical was a success, the film – at first – was far from it! “The film companies simply didn’t know from what angle to promote the movie”, confessed Hartley and O’Brien, “it took a long time for the film to develop into the cult movie it since has become”. O’Brien also talked about the indirect ‘sequel’ to Rocky Horror called Shock Treatment (1981), remarking that in his opinion the songs are better then the ones he wrote for Rocky, while at the same time admitting that he delivered possibly his worst acting performance ever in Shock Treatment. Both Hartley and O’Brien have been working for some years now on a new musical called The Stripper which they hope to finish at some point.
Then it was time for some audience questions, one question came from a member of London’s transgender community and he asked O’Brien what being a cross-dresser/transgender means to him, particularly in context of having written the Rocky Horror Show. O’Brien replied that first of all he is proud to be a transgender or member of the third sex if you so will, though of course he couldn’t always be so open about it. So back then, and through the musical, he could incorporate yet another one of his personal characteristics and fascinations. At the same time, he pointed out that although many look upon the Rocky Horror Show simply as a weird and wonderful gender-bending rock musical, the basic story of Rocky Horror has universal appeal because it really is a classic ‘coming-of-age’ tale. There are the two protagonists - Brad and Janet - who, naïve, conservative and somewhat narrow-minded, by accident enter the sinister castle that’s inhabited by a cross-dressing mad ‘scientist’ called Frank N Furter. The events in the castle have Brad and Janet not only surviving the ordeal but make them lose their innocence and turn them into sexually active grown-ups. “It’s a bit like Babes In The Wood or the story of Hänsel und Gretel encountering the wicked witch in the dark forest”, muses O’Brien.
Before the evening came to an end, there was a special treat in store: the first worldwide ‘TimeWarp’ dance to be streamed online and via Skype, while the audience participated live! O’Brien excused the fact that he couldn’t play guitar during the song due to a recent injury on his shoulder, so musician Mitch Dalton jumped in to carry out guitar duties. Accompanied by Richard Hartley on piano, O’Brien got up and performed the very song that has become the Rocky Horror Show signature tune – the audience (some were dressed as characters from the musical) revelled in it! Afterwards, everyone had to make yet another jump to the left to exit the Purcell Room, and so a fantastic and enlightening event had come to an end.
© Pic by Andrew Willsher / 2011
