50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is 50 years old, and still going strong in midnight theaters. We're listening back to Terry's 2005 interview with Tim Curry, who starred on stage and in the film as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the "sweet transvestite" from Transylvania.

Also, we remember the prolific sportswriter, NPR commentator, and best-selling author John Feinstein.

And film critic Justin Chang reviews The Alto Knights.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get special behind-the-scenes content, producer recommendations, and gems from the archive.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	A lot happens in Washington every day, from the White House to Capitol Hill and everywhere in between.
0:06.2	That's where we come in. On the NPR Politics Podcast, we keep you up to date on what happens inside Washington and what it means for you and your community.
0:16.0	The NPR Politics Podcast, listen wherever you listen.
0:19.9	This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. and Cooley.
0:22.3	Come up to the lab and see what's on the slab.
0:28.0	I see you shiver with anticipation.
0:35.4	Both the stage and screen versions of the Rocky Horror Show, starring Tim Curry as an extraterrestrial
0:41.0	visitor who believed in sexual freedom and fluid sexual identities, had beginnings that
0:46.4	might best be described as Rocky.
0:49.3	Richard O'Brien's stage musical, The Rocky Horror Show, began in London in 1973, ran for a while in a Los Angeles
0:56.9	nightclub, then moved to Broadway in 1975. It opened there in March, starring Tim Curry, Richard
1:03.9	O'Brien, and Meatloaf, and closed a month later. The movie version had been filmed before the
1:09.8	brief Broadway run and was released later that
1:12.7	year, but it too vanished quickly. Vanished, that is, until a year later, when a New York
1:18.6	movie theater began hosting midnight screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, launching a
1:23.8	phenomenon that's still going strong. And next spring, the Rocky Horror Show is
1:29.1	returning to Broadway, courtesy of a new production by the Roundabout Theater Company. The Rocky
1:35.0	Horror Picture Show movie starred two then-relatively unknown actors, Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon.
1:42.5	They played young sweetheart's Brad Majors and Janet Weiss.
1:46.7	Brad and Janet are very much in love, though, as the movie begins, they haven't yet given in to their passionate impulses.
1:55.0	Oh, Brad!
1:57.5	Oh, damn it.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -10 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.