By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Sunday 2 November 2025, European tour includes the UK and runs through 1 August 2026 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (with 20-minute interval)

It’s Halloween weekend and almost 2 years to the day after we last saw this musical at this very venue as we return to it with Jason Donovan (Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, London Palladium) this time playing the lead.

• Read on for reasons including how Donovan’s charismatic performance is the delightful showbiz bow on a gift of a show

Donovan played Dr Frank N. Furter in the UK touring production of this show in 1998 and met stage manager Angela Malloch who would become his wife and mother to their 3 children.

So it’s a show which he clearly has affection for and returns to this production at UK runs in Edinburgh in January, Eastbourne in May and Bristol in July.

We weren’t too keen on his return to Joseph in 2019 as the Pharaoh but enjoyed his Tick/Mitzi a decade earlier in Priscilla at the Palace Theatre in London and felt his Frank N. Furter was similarly inspired.

Donovan is 57 now and has never been blessed with the strongest voice but he does have the physicality to convince as a mad transvestite scientist dressed in his underwear and the enjoyment with which he savours his part is infectious.

The show is in English with Spanish subtitles on a screen to the right of the stage for this latest incanation of the groundbreaking comedy musical which was 1st seen upstairs at London’s Royal Court Theatre in June 1973 later becoming a film in 1975 starring Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon.

This production is so successful it’s been touring for the last 20 years and we’ve reviewed it at the Playhouse in London in 2015 and Theatre Royal Brighton in 2018 before Barcelona 2023.

It’s the story of young lovers Brad and Janet whose car breaks down in the rain at night in the middle of nowhere and they knock at the door of the home of a mysterious yet charismatic scientist who will change their lives forever.

Rocky‘s plot is paper thin but its homage to 50s sci-fi is so lovingly rendered by creator Richard O’Brien (pictured above right with Donovan) that its perhaps easy to see why its celebration of transvestism and sexual exploration continues to strike a chord despite the work’s middle age which shows no sign of midlife crisis.

The crowd shout out their own one-line and filthier versions of the script at opportune moments and this cast is always aware that it’s performing a show that is truly owned and celebrated by its fans.

Donovan’s charismatic performance is the delightful showbiz bow on a gift of a show that it’s impossible not to be swept away by the sheer love with which it is both performed and received.

• Main pictures by Rocky Horror Show courtesy Teatre Coliseum  Tickets
• Have you seen a Jason Donovan show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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