Search - The Rocky Horror Tribute Show - Richard O'Brien, Royal Court Theatre on DVD

Nostalgic, but not much more.

Chris Roberts | 06/25/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a die-hard Rocky Horror fan, so in the true spirit of obsessive fandom, I purchased this knowing it would mostly be for kicks. I actually love the concept behind the whole set up... a vocal performance of the play by a variety of actors who'd been involved with it over the decades.

THE BAD: Sadly, by listening to it, you'd think that they just grabbed people off the street and invited them on stage as some sort of improv exercise. It all kicks off with Patricia Quinn who was never my favourite vocalist 30 years ago when she had the energy to sing. In this, she simply embarrasses herself and I'm embarrassed for her - it was uncomfortable to watch and a terrible way to start the DVD. Sadly, it doesn't really pick up much from there. The DVD case hails Anthony Stewart Head (of Buffy fame) as one of the best Frank's ever. If he's one of the best, I can't imagine what you'd have to do to be one of the worst. If you ever saw Tim Curry do the role live, then Head's attempt here would just make you angry. I've seen better Frank's in high school productions. Ben Richards isn't a terrible singer, but his interpretation of Hot Patootie is painful. Everyone who plays Janet is immediately forgettable. Stephen Gately once again turns in a performance that is sure to make people wonder how he has ever found success in the business with his nasally, pretentious voice and off-putting demeanour. Adrian Edmondson as Brad is a good performer with a mediocre voice which at best makes him average.

THE GOOD: Gary Amers is brilliant and makes a perfect Rocky Horror - I have never seen anyone better in the role. He stands out so far in front of this crowd it's not even funny. Sadly, he gets all of 5 minutes of screen time. The alternating narrators are all quite good and enjoyable. Michael Ball is a decent Frank; sadly, he shows up at the end by which time he can't save the show. Little Nell was quite wonderful! I was expecting something sad and unfortunate like Patricia Quinn's spectacle, but Nell gave it all and was a lot of fun... again though, she only received 2 minutes of screen time at the very end. The band was fine, the back-up singers were uniformly excellent.

THE UGLY: Richard O'Brien makes me strangely uncomfortable and always has. I can't imagine his impact on people not drunk with delight over all things Rocky Horror. I don't mind his energy and voice, but that's about it really. The stage was an absolute mess.

THE VERDICT: It's a bit of a kick to throw the DVD in and sing along while pretending it's 25 years ago. But, if you're not a Rocky Horror obsessed fan who dresses up for the shows on Halloween like myself, then there is absolutely no reason for you to consider buying/renting/watching this. You will not make it through more that 10 minutes. For the select crowd of Rocky Horror acolytes, you might enjoy it for the memories it evokes but will ultimately be sad that it doesn't add anything to the culture on its own. 1½ stars out of 5."

Yes and No.

R. Stasack | Chicago, IL USA | 01/29/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I admit I first bought this for Michael Ball, but I really love Rocky Horror Picture Show so I was incredibly excited to receive this. However, upon seeing it, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.

First off, the entire performance is done in a bit of concert style as opposed to it actually being performed, which I had no problem with. It was more the performers that were disappointing than anything. Even the ones that sang really well, seemed sloppy and all over the place (ie: not with the backup singers). The guy who played Rocky had an awesome voice, but how he sang the song was really bad with a lot of scooping up to notes as opposed to coming over them.

They also switched performers for some of the roles and the second girl to play Janet did really well, as did Anthony Michael Head and Michael Ball. All of the narrators did great, as was Riff Raff, but everyone else seemed like they just couldn't pull the role vocally.

All in all, it's worth a watch if you can rent it or borrow it. If you're a die hard Rocky fan, I would say buy it purely for some songs that weren't heard in the movie or the bits of trivia dropped in here and there or even a few things explained that were not in the movie. I regret buying it a little, but not enough to return it."

Disappointing

Jamison B. Ballard | Cincinnati Ohio | 04/09/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Sad. I didn't care for the actors or their singing. It was like if your local church or high school put on a presentation of RHPS. Patricia Quinn (Magenta) singing Science Fiction was absolutely horribly out of tune and step. The show doesn't improve from there. Had I know Netflix had it I would have rented it. Not worth the $$ !! Suprised Richard O BRien was connected with this. It was a benefits for some charity but it was ungodly bad!"