Get ready Adelaide! It’s almost time to take a jump to the left and a step to the right as we prepare for the arrival of the 50th Anniversary Tour of The Rocky Horror Show. This legendary rock ’n’ roll musical arrives for a limited season at the Festival Theatre from April 13.
The Rocky Horror Show was first performed in 1973 to an audience of 63 at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs (London) before ultimately heading to the Comedy Theatre in the West End. In 1975 it was transferred into the cult-hit film The Rocky Horror Picture Show and is still shown in cinemas around the world to this day. Seen by over 30 million people in more than 30 countries and translated into 20 languages, The Rocky Horror Show audiences have embraced the unique and mischievous musical with fandom and passion, celebrating the gratification of the senses.
David Bedella is no stranger to the role of Frank ’N’ Furter, having played the role on both Broadway and West End stages. David was last in Australia after his critically acclaimed performance in Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Sydney Opera House in 2009. He will be joining the Australian touring cast for the Adelaide season as Frank ’N’ Furter and I was fortunate to catch up with him in the lead up to his time here in Adelaide.
David shared with me what drew him to the performing arts as a career path.
“I suppose, like every teenager, you’re scouting everywhere you can for that place where you fit in. I think the arts for a very long time has been the ‘go to’ place for people who don’t fit into the norms. I was no good at sports and not great with academia but I discovered that I could sing. I’ve always danced. I have three older sisters who would dance around the house with me, so it was a natural fit when I discovered what musical theatre is. I did quite a few shows during my high school years, which gave me enough experience that I was able to go out at the age of seventeen and audition for a professional show, and I’ve never turned back.”
Having played the role of Frank ’N’ Furter many times before, I was keen to get David’s insight as to what it is about the show that continuously draws crowds wherever it is playing.
“I think first and foremost it comes down to the fact that it has the most phenomenal music. It has songs that everyone gets excited about hearing again. I know when the guitar lick happens at the beginning of Time Warp you just hear the audience go mad. It’s music that everyone loves. It’s also strangely a wholesome story about naive love, facing the things in the world that threaten to separate us from the ones we love, and holding tight to what is important to us. I think at the core of everything is the message of ‘don’t be afraid to be yourself’. I think that is the loudest message that this show screams to the audience. You are ok to explore and to find out who you are, and if it’s different to what everyone tells you that you should be, it’s ok. Don’t dream it, be it.”
It must have been a huge honour to get the call to join the cast for the 50th Anniversary Tour here in Australia.
“It is an honour, but it’s also made me laugh. I say this because I had signed off on Frank ‘N’ Furter many years ago. The last time I did the show was eight years ago on the West End and at that time I was fifty three. So I jokingly said to the producers at the time that was it, I was done — no one needs to see a fifty four year old Frank ‘N’ Furter. I laughed about it at the time because it was a reality. The character wears very little. So when the call came in a few weeks ago and I had just turned sixty, the thought of me putting myself on stage again as Frank ‘N’ Furter made me really laugh. But I remembered how exciting the role is and I got lots and lots of phone calls from people in the industry encouraging me to accept it. So I got myself to the gym and I’ve been working hard to get myself into presentable shape, and off we go!”
On opening night of the Adelaide season, the role of the narrator will be shared by Myf Warhurst and a very special guest appearance by the show’s original creator, Richard O’Brien.
“Richard and I have known each other for seventeen years. He is a dear, dear friend. Not only did we work together creating this new Rocky Horror that we sculptured in 2006, but because we became so close, we have done many other things together. He guest starred in my first solo concert in London at the Leicester Square Theatre and he sang on my first album. There’s a bonus track at the end of the album which is Richard and I doing a duet of I’m Going Home, which is the last song Frank sings in Rocky Horror. We’ve had a long-running relationship and he is an absolute sweetheart and very, very generous. It is an absolute honour to share the stage with him once again.”
The Rocky Horror Show – 50th Anniversary Tour starring David Bedella opens at the Festival Theatre from April 13 for a limited season. Further details and tickets can be found at: https://rockyhorror.com.au/ .
Interviewed by Ben Stefanoff
Photo Credit: A Shared Madness
Read our interview with Ellis Dolan, who is playing Eddie and Dr Scott HERE
Read our review of Rocky Horror HERE
