JASON DONOVAN BY RICHARD BARBER
W L INTERVIEW
JASON DONOVAN BY RICHARD BARBER
Jason Donovan is making a much anticipated return to one of his most famous roles : playing Frank-N-Furter in Richard O ’ Brien ’ s anarchic musical , The Rocky Horror Show . So , the question has to be : why ?
“ In a nutshell ,” he says , “ I ’ m a fan . I love the show ; I love the music ; I love the character . I was touring my own show about five years ago and included ‘ Sweet Transvestite ’ from Rocky as a key moment in my musical career . It went down a storm .”
He subsequently emailed producer Howard Panter saying that he ’ d read there was to be a 50th anniversary production of Rocky Horror and he ’ d love to be involved . And so it came to pass : first in Sydney and Melbourne and now , from mid-August , via an extensive UK tour .
The Rocky Horror Show is a musical with music , lyrics and book by Richard O ' Brien . A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the science fiction and horror genres from the 1930s to the early 1960s , the musical tells the story of a newly engaged , clean-cut couple getting caught in a storm and coming to the home of a mad transvestite scientist , Dr Frank-N-Furter , unveiling his new creation , Rocky , a Frankenstein-style monster in the form of an artificially-made , fully-grown , physically perfect muscle man complete with blond hair and a tan .
The show was produced and directed by Jim Sharman . The original London production premièred at the Royal Court Theatre ( Upstairs ) on 19 June 1973 . It later moved to several other locations in London and closed on 13 September 1980 . The show ran for a total of 2,960 performances . On the 50th anniversary of the musical in 2023 , it is said the production had been performed in 20 different languages and seen by 30 million people globally .
He ' s the same performer but how does Jason feel about tackling the role over 25 years later ? “ I don ’ t feel uncomfortable , playing Frank at 56 – and , of course , I have personal reasons for being grateful to the show .”
The stage manager on that late 90s touring production was a young woman called Angela Malloch . “ I ’ d be backstage waiting to go on ,” recalls Jason , “ and I ’ d get chatting to Ange .” The blossoming friendship turned into romance but the relationship hit the buffers .
Shortly afterwards , Angela found out she was pregnant . It was ultimatum time . “ If the relationship had any chance of working , she told me , and if I was going to have any involvement in the life of our child , I would have to give up the self-indulgent hedonistic lifestyle of the 90s and take greater control of my life . And I did .
It ' s something that happened gradually rather than immediately . “ You either seize your opportunities or you don ’ t ”. But , in the end , he says , you ’ ve got to want to change . “ Elton John said it and it ’ s true : nobody can do it for you .”
It was a major turning point in his life and the beginning of a relationship – the couple finally married in 2008 – that has stood him in good stead from that day to this . The couple have three children : Jemma is 24 and an actress ; 23-year-old Zac is a TV producer in Australia and Molly , 13 , is still at school .
In the meantime , their father has graduated from small-screen fame as Scott in the long-running Australian soap , Neighbours , to chart-topping pop stardom and now , among much else , as a stalwart of musical and straight theatre in a diverse number of productions .
He played Joseph in the original production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice ’ s Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ( returning as Pharaoh in the 2019 revival and subsequently on tour ). He was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts , has had two stabs at playing drag artist Mitzi in Priscilla , Queen of the Desert , he also played music mogul Sam Phillips in Million Dollar Quartet , the demon barber of Fleet Street himself in Sweeney Todd and Lionel Logue in The King ’ s Speech .
But it is Dr Frank-N-Furter who occupies a special place in his heart . “ One of the reasons I love Rocky is because it ’ s a short show .” And nor is he joking . “ It says everything it needs to say and nothing more . There ’ s no unnecessary padding . It means nobody gets bored and you leave them wanting more .”
Fine but , hand on heart , what ’ s it like climbing into those fishnet stockings and high heels seven times a week ? “ In many ways , very easy , I put on the costume and there ’ s Frank all over again . I ’ m in touch with my feminine side but I come from a masculine sensibility . The character embraces both sides of me : a strength and a vulnerability as well as danger and denial .
“ Look , I come to the role as an actor . I always dreamed of fronting a rock band and this is about as close as I ’ ve got . When I put on
wirrallife . com 33