Rocky Horror Returns to West End

Stockings and bondage gear are making a comeback with London's theatre-goers - as The Rocky Horror Show returns to the West End.

The cult musical, first performed in 1973, is showing at the Victoria Palace Theatre with former soap actor Jason Donovan in the fishnet-clad lead role of Frank N Furter. It started an eight-week run on Wednesday night.

The show has been on a Silver Jubilee tour of the UK since last April. The show has been performed for longer than any other musical.

Written by Richard O'Brien, the show was first staged in the tiny Royal Court Theatre and became a monster hit almost overnight. It ran for seven years at various venues across London.

It moved from stage to cinema in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, for which film-goers dressed up like the characters, and brought water pistols and rice to aim at the screen. However, rice has been banned from many theatres where the musical has been performed - because rice makes the stage slippery.

Songs such as The Time Warp, Sweet Transvestite and Dammit Janet have added to the show's appeal, and the founder of the Rocky Horror Picture Show fanclub is reputed to have seen the film version over 1,000 times.

Last year it was estimated there were 30 productions of the stage show on in the US, and the show is also a huge hit with Japanese audiences.

The plot revolves around a young American couple, Brad and Janet, who accidentally stumble into a strange and terrifying world of alien transvestites and polymorphous sexuality. But the two innocents begin to enjoy themselves as the show goes on.

Susan Sarandon played Janet in the film version, while previous Frank N Furters on stage have included Tim Curry and Olympic skating champion Robin Cousins.