Theatre Royal Sydney

For many of us, our first introduction to The Rocky Horror Show involved a beaten up VHS tape and an exhilarating brew of conflicting feelings about Tim Curry’s iconic fishnet-stocking-clad role as Frank-N-Furter – the cross-dressing mad scientist alien from Transsexual, Transylvania. Beyond its immortalisation in the cult classic 1975 film, this rollicking rock’n’roll musical has been continuously on a stage somewhere in the world ever since it premiered to a small London audience in 1973 – and while today’s slick mainstage productions are a far cry from its grungy roots, there’s still no denying the appeal of doing ‘The Time Warp’ again. After touring around the country, Australia’s 50th anniversary production of Rocky Horror has taken a jump to the left (and a step to the right) to land back at Sydney’s Theatre Royal, about a year after it premiered at the same venue in the same month as Sydney WorldPride, with a couple of notable cast changes this time. It appears that the time on the road has done this company a world of good; the cast take to the stage with a more relaxed and playful energy as they tackle this risqué, silly, borderline-pantomime musical.  Former Australian of the Year and Paralympian Dylan Alcott is a delight to witness in his stage acting debut as The Narrator. With good humour, an ability to roll with the punches, and an injection of signature charm, Alcott nails the difficult-to-pin-down prerequisites to fill this role. The Narrator must be someone a

Spotlighting the archetypally ‘odd couple’ relationship between Shane Jacobson and Todd McKenney, Neil Simon’s classic comedy The Odd Couple is taking to the stage at the Theatre Royal Sydney this year – with the entertaining pair bringing to life the delightfully dysfunctional journey of the two main characters. Having met on the Channel 7 TV series The Real Full Monty back in 2018, the pair have become something of a double act: working together on Mates on a Mission and The All New Monty, and on stage in The Rocky Horror Show and the Broadway production of Hairspray (where they played a very convincing husband and wife). The casting of the pair in Neil Simon’s Tony Award-winning comedy further solidifies them as a duo – with the characters of Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison having previously been reprised by famous duos including Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, Martin Short and Eugene Levy, Jamie Farr and William Christopher and British comedians Bill Bailey and Alan Davies.The comedic play – which was first staged on Broadway in 1965 – documents the changing friendship between two recently single writers who find themselves living together while both processing relationship breakdowns, professional challenges and personal revelations. The main throughline focuses on the wildly different characters and how their unique traits inform their relationships – with other people, themselves and (crucially) with one another.  With prolific producer John Frost at the helm, Sydney