Although it’s now renowned as a trans-continental cult classic, The Rocky Horror Show started as a way to pass the time between jobs. In London 1972, author and composer Richard O’Brien was let go from Jesus Christ Superstar and sent home with three hundred quid severance pay in his pocket. “I went home and I wrote a musical that I wanted to go and see,” says O’Brien. As a self-described “troubled teenager” growing up in New Zealand, O’Brien whiled away the hours watching science-fiction double features. “I used to go on a Friday and Saturday night and see the late-night double feature, sitting in the dark with useless geezers like myself, with no direction, gormless youths shouting lines at the screen, muttering and thinking we were funny.” From those rowdy viewings came a love for B-grade film—a love that infused O’Brien’s pet project with raunchiness, wickedness, and big-hearted camp.
When he was cast in a Sam Shepard play shortly after leaving Superstar, O’Brien invited the director Jim Sherman over to his apartment to listen to the show, then titled They Came From Denton High. Intrigued by the songs, Sherman suggested a title change and became instrumental in Rocky’s creation. “It was all a bit of fun,” reflects O’Brien. “The nicest thing about the whole thing is that it was never intended to make money—nobody approached it with ‘we’re writing a hit.’”
Nobody involved in The Rocky Horror Show expected it to succeed; the low-budget production opened in a 62-seat fringe theatre in Chelsea. O’Brien, who played Riff-Raff in the original production, vividly remembers the terror of the first performance: “I was sitting there, and we had a full house, and the lights went down, and I was standing behind the screen thinking, ‘Oh God, I hope this isn’t going to go down like a cup of cold sick.’” But within the first few lines, something happened: “We got to the line ‘There’s a light over at the Frankenstein place…’ and they laughed. And the laughter was such a relief, because I thought if they laugh at that, if they get that as a joke and a throwaway line, then we’d be fine.”
They were more than fine: The Rocky Horror Show was a huge success, selling out every performance. The show was subsequently produced around the world and was adapted into the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975 with members of the original cast—including O’Brien—and several celebrities, such as Susan Sarandon and Meat Loaf. The film garnered a huge cult following and spawned a tradition of raucous, audience-participation-heavy midnight showings.
Kristian Lavercombe, who played Riff-Raff in New Zealand’s 2011 production, believes the popularity of the musical stems from its resonance with our insecurities. “I think it’s been so popular because it teaches you basically to be yourself no matter what other people think,” he says. “It challenges you to stand up for who you are and be different, and to be proud to be different.” O’Brien, however, thinks the show resonates with something even more basic. “The essence of it still permeates its way through the performances on stage now. It’s childish and puerile, and wonderful because of that.” O’Brien takes pride both in the success of his show and in the simplicity of the show’s campy thrill. “If the band is cooking and if the audience is laughing, then I’m kind of happy.”
—Erin Washburn