Credit: Daniel Boud
The Rocky Horror Show
The World’s Most Iconic Rock & Roll Musical WORDS LIANE MORRIS
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Newcastle is about to give itself over to ‘absolute pleasure’ with the world’s most iconic rock and roll musical of all time, The Rocky Horror Show, due to take us all ‘on a strange journey’ as it screams into town in a flurry of sequins, corsets, fishnets and suspenders. Starring 80s pop icon Jason Donovan as Dr Frank N Furter and Australia’s favourite broadcaster and music specialist Myf Warhurst as the Narrator, we caught up with both of them to discover more about what it’s like to work on such a phenomenally popular musical. After triumphant seasons in 2023, and due to extraordinary demand, the 50th Anniversary world tour of The Rocky Horror Show will continue its global celebrations in 2024. And in a major coup for the City of Newcastle, it will open this new season right here at the Civic
Theatre on 12 January and run until 4 February before moving on to Melbourne’s Atheneum Theatre from 9 February and Theatre Royal in Sydney from 31 March. For those of us over a certain age, Jason Donovan was a household name in Australia in the 1980s. Born in Victoria in 1968, his father, Terence Donovan, was a well-known television and stage actor. Jason rocketed to fame in TV soap Neighbours, co-starring with Kylie Minogue and dating her off-screen. By the late 80s, he was a pop star with multiple chart toppers and awards, and he moved to the UK to take advantage of the opportunities there. He has continued to sing and act throughout his career and now has a much higher profile in the UK than in Australia. It was during the 1990s that he began performing in musical theatre, accepting a role as Joseph in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Joseph and his Amazing
Technicolour Dreamcoat for which he received an Olivier Award in 1991 and which he credits for changing his life. “Joseph changed my life, it will always have a place in my heart,” said Donovan. “Still, to this day, when I perform my music and do big 80s festivals with artists like Human League, New Order, Joy Division and Go West, I can still sing ‘Any Dream Will Do’, and the crowd goes nuts. Not so much here in Australia, but certainly in the UK.” In 2019, Donovan returned to Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, but this time, surprisingly, in the Pharoah role rather than Joseph. “I’ve got to be honest with you here. When I sang the part of Joseph through, I could have pulled it off, but the big thing is that it requires the stamina of a younger voice. Not that I don’t have that; it’s just I had a few vocal issues ▶ 21
