“I think ‘Rocky Horror’ is this incredible 53-year-old lightning rod that for literally generations before [us] — and I guarantee generations after — has collected strange, lost people and brought them together in this sublime way that is weird and funky and sexy and dangerous and stupid and so big-hearted,” said director Sam Pinkleton of the 1973 musical “The Rocky Horror Show.” All of these adjectives could be applied to the director himself — which is one reason why the buzz had been so loud leading up to the musical’s 2026 revival, helmed by Pinkleton. The matchup feels serendipitous. “I feel pressure when I hear that it’s a great match, and I can say with confidence there’s nowhere I’d rather be — no show I’d rather be doing right now — than this with this group of people.”
Pinkleton, who won a Tony Award for helming the play “Oh, Mary!,” is in charge of this new Roundabout Theatre Company staging of the Richard O’Brien tuner, which is now nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Since “Rocky Horror” debuted on the London stage and was later adapted into a cult-classic movie musical, it has been a clarion cry for anyone who has ever felt strange as well as the strange parts within everyone. As star Luke Evans, who earned a Tony nod for his turn as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, said, “It allows people to just jump out of their norm and be a freak for the night.”
The feeling of liberation has always been at the core of O’Brien’s musical. “It gives you permission to just be yourself unapologetically,” said Amber Gray, who plays Riff Raff. “One of the really obvious thesis statements is, ‘Don’t dream it, be it.’ Be a wild and untamed thing, which is way easier said than done, of course.”
