Hot Patootey! UK Rocky Horror Revival to Air on BBC America October 18- Page 2

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/18/15 at 7:19pm

yowza, how many teeth does that guy have? 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 9:35am

Does anyone know if there's another platform where I could possibly watch this?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 9:37am

I had a blast watching it.  Lots of fun.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 9:51am

I thought with the right makeup, Bedella could be cast as Quasimodo. He had the right posture and walking style.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 3:01pm

I had forgotten how much Rocky speaks in the stage version.  I see some of GDELGI's points but I guess for me Rocky Horror isn't like, say, Little Shop--it's basically just meant to be fun.  And I enjoyed the production.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:00pm

The guy who plays Rocky is stunningly gorgeous, but he sounds a little flat on his song, no?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:21pm

I don't think he was hired on the strength of his voice...

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:24pm

Clearly not, but there are SO MANY pumped up chorus boys that could sing it a little better, no? 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:30pm

He doesn't exactly have a huge resume...  though apparently since this was posted he played the Rum TUm Tugger in Cats, so there's... that.  http://www.starnow.ca/dominicandersen

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 5:12pm

My understanding of Rocky Horror culture in Britain is that, to a greater extent than in America, some slightly dodgy talent is part of the show's appeal. Not all the performances are meant to be the same level of "good."

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 5:38pm

jacobsnchz14 said: "Does anyone know if there's another platform where I could possibly watch this?"

 

Sent you a PM.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 5:44pm

Does the PM include anything better than the low quality mp4 being passed around?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 6:27pm

My On Demand (through Brighthouse) has it listed as the film, but when you play it, it is in fact the live broadcast. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 11:00pm

Caught this last night & I have to say I really enjoyed this version of Rocky Horror. Great fun, nice vocals, good choreography. Makes make want a B'way revival here ASAP. Or at least a tour.

Posted: 10/27/15 at 3:33pm

Updated On: 10/27/15 at 03:33 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 4:51pm

I've watched it twice now and, considering how well I know the film, I was surprisingly pleased. I'd prefer a sexier Brad, but the role was well sung and I enjoyed hearing the ballad that isn't in the film.

 

As for Bedella, I thought he did a pretty good job of making the part his own while still meeting the expectations of those who expect something close to Tim Curry. I'd love to see a radically different approach, but I'm not surprised they went with something calculated to appeal to fans of the movie.
 

I did miss the giant, disembodied red lips singing the opening number and have been trying to imagine a stage equivalent ever since. Similarly the "floor show" suffers from comparison with the swimming pool and RKO tower of the film. Any ideas?

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 4:56pm

I was in a production that had two Usherettes sing "Science Fiction/Double Feature" in front of a white scrim. Behind the scrim we had two people operating a giant set of lip puppets. It echoed the movie without showing video footage. The director also copied the recent revival and started the show with Brad and Janet waving goodbye filmed and projected onto the screen then "stepping out" onto the stage.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 5:32pm

GavestonPS said: "I've watched it twice now and, considering how well I know the film, I was surprisingly pleased. I'd prefer a sexier Brad, but the role was well sung and I enjoyed hearing the ballad that isn't in the film.

 

"

Ben Forster who played Brad has definitely looked sexier elsewhere (I think he's best known in the UK playing Jesus Christ in the last JCS revival, a role he won on one of ALW's reality contests.  Google has a lot of pictures,) so that seemed to be a conscious choice.  Once in a While, has been restored to most prints of the film now, hasn't it?  (Same as the full Superheroes.) 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 6:13pm

No. Once In Awhile has never been re-inserted into the film proper. The footage doesn't exist. The audio does and so do random stills of the sequence which have always been matched together and presented in the Special Features section on various ROCKY HORROR releases.

[ClaudeBukowski]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 6:16pm

Anyone know where I can see this w/out BBC (I am unfortunately w/out cable at the moment). A reply or PM would be much appreciated! 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 6:17pm

Ben Forster was plenty sexy to me.

 

I think "Once in a While" is available as a deleted scene. I've never seen a cut of the movie with the song restored like they did with "Superheros."

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 6:18pm

Thanks Carlos--I guess I was thinking of Superheroes and remembering Once in a While from the bonus stuff on the DVD.  However, *some* of it does exist--I know it's mostly made up of flashback footage but the filmed shots (not stills) of Brad singing while smoking, etc...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pXd6-0fNs

 

Claude--it's easy to find on torrent sites...

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 10/28/15 at 12:42am

I saw this production during its West End run last month.  A few comments:

 

First off, I've never been a fan of the film version. I saw the original US production starring Tim Curry at the Roxy in LA, and was sorely disappointed when the film came out. Aside from capturing his performance for the ages, it was sooooo lacking in energy compared to the stage version.

 

The show did not have alternating Narrators when I saw it. (That was a one time deal for the broadcast.) Instead, Richard O'Brien did all the narrating -- and seeing him overseeing of his creation was pure magic!

 

The sets looked much better on the broadcast than they did live. I think there's an level of tackiness and cheese that is appropriate. Too often, these just looked dinner-theater cheap.

 

Although nothing can ever compare with seeing Tim Curry live, I thought Bedella did a terrific job of both honoring Curry's performance while adding enough to make it his own. He was particularly good in his ad-libs and responses to the audience (which is something Curry never had to deal with).

 

Speaking of the audience: I had a self-professed "shouter" sitting next to me. I thought that was going to piss me off but actually it turned out to be one of the best things about this performance. It wasn't overdone (much) and often added a really fun element to the show.  (O'Brien and Bedella being particularly skilled at responding to the audience shouts.) Although you can hear some of it on the BBC broadcast, it seemed more muted than seeing it live.

 

Re: the scene with Frank & Brad in bed. Both Bedella and Ben Forster completely LOST IT! I've never seen actors break down so hysterically before. You can see some of this in the BBC recording, too, but it was much worse (or better?) when I saw it. Again, that would normally be a huge sin. What is it about Rocky Horror that makes us, not only forgive, but applaud such lapses?

 

Seeing this live, I thought Dominic Andersen as Rocky was terrific -- as well as being one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen on stage. (Frank N. Furter really knocked it outta the park when he made this one.) I did not think his singing was flat at all. But then, his singing was not exactly my focus.  :p

 

All in all, I am very happy to have this BBC America broadcast as a "souvenir" and am glad that others got a chance to see it, too. Good memories of good times!

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/29/15 at 12:20am

I don't think Andersen was off-key, but the melody of the "Sword of Damocles" song was rewritten so that he didn't have to sing the higher lines sung by the film Rocky. I'm guessing that is what some posters are responding to. He wasn't just below the notes sung in the movie, he was a third or more below them; so I'm quite sure it was deliberate.

 

Thanks for the report.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/29/15 at 12:48pm

He sings it basically the same as in the "Roxy" cast album from the original LA production (which most fans seem to think is the definitive recording of the original rougher stage show.)--although I think in a slightly higher key.  Of course the original--quite different--London version has the song all sung in falsetto...  But either way, yeha I don't think he's singing flat.

This version of Rocky incorporates some things from the film as most do (I'm not sure at what point on stage Magenta and Columbine started singing their bits in Touch A instead of Rocky.)