It’s probably fair to say that we’re all ready to let our hair down, dress up and do the Time Warp on a wild night out.
If ever we’ve needed some escapism it is now and it doesn’t get much wilder than The Rocky Horror Show.
The fabulous live musical is coming to Peterborough’s New Theatre on February 14 - 19 starring TV and radio presenter and Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba who believes it’s just the tonic we need.
“Theatregoers are gagging for a great night out. They’re desperate and clawing at the walls, and this show is the perfect remedy to everything we’ve all been through. People want to laugh and be uplifted and to be able to forget about everything for a couple of hours. It’s all about ‘Leave your inhibitions at the door – we haven’t got time for that’.”
The Rocky Horror Show has become a cult phenomenon. It’s risqué and riotously funny and if you’ve never seen it well, Dammit Janet, it’s about time you did.
The talented cast list includes Ore who plays squeaky-clean Brad Majors - who, along with his fiancée Janet Weiss stumbles upon the mansion of mad scientist Frank-N-Furter when their car gets a flat tyre. It’s a bizarre encounter that changes them all forever as they lose their inhibitions – and you will too as you sing a long with all those catchy songs it’s famous for.
“I think there’s a lot of Brad in me and in a lot of people,” Ore admits. “It’s the idea of being kind of caged animals, because we all have a lot of reservations and inhibitions and things we hold back. We’re just waiting to be unleashed.”
The Rocky Horror Show is famous for outrageous costumes and if you thought some of his Strictly outfits were brave, just wait until you see Ore in high heels and stockings!
“We did wear Latin heels but they’re not as high as the ones I have to wear in Rocky Horror. I remember the first time I was asked to wear something a little bit sheer on Strictly and I thought ‘I don’t want to be too much of a show pony, I want it to be about dancing’. But by the time it came to the end I was like ‘You can put me in whatever you want’.”
Most of us probably knew Ore from BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live or The One Show but partnering with Joanne Clifton on the 14th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, he jived his way to victory and became familiar to a whole new audience for a very different talent.
Since then he’s continued to work as a presenter as well as branching out into musical theatre, playing crooner Teen Angel in the 2019 Grease UK tour and songwriter Aaron Fox in the 2019/2020 tour and West End production of Curtains.
Doing theatre feels like things have come full circle for Ore, since one of his proudest moments was when at age 13 he won the school drama prize for his performance in the musical Seven Golden Dragons. “Then at secondary school I did every production under the sun. It was only when I went to university that I turned my attention to broadcasting, but Strictly reminded me ‘Oh my gosh, I love being on stage’.
“On the surface doing musical theatre now might seem like a big change-up but when I look back to where I felt happiest and most comfortable when I was younger it was always on stage. In many ways it’s kind of what I always wanted to do. After Grease and Curtains, Rocky Horror is another step up in my so-far short musical theatre career and a lovely chance for me to do something liberating, fun and a little bit different.”
Since it premiered in 1973 at The Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, has been seen by over 30 million people worldwide who turn up for what is the ultimate guaranteed party.
As for the musical’s longevity nearly 40 years after it debuted, he reckons: “It’s pure escapism. You leave your troubles at the door and you’re taken into a world that’s nothing like the real one. In addition to iconic music and brilliant dance numbers, it’s just such a feel-good show.”
See The Rocky Horror Show at the New Theatre in Peterborough on February 14 -19.
Book your tickets now on https://newtheatre-peterborough.com/event/the-rocky-horror-show/