and attitude. Most tunes stand up splendidly, coupling
American musical genres to
devastatingly witty lyrics. And I gained a greater appreciation of the hymn to self-expression, Don't Dream It, Be It, when I learned from the souvenir programme that O'Brien had nicked the title from an advertising campaign for underwear.
Most of all, though, I was struck by the magnificent resilience of this silly, camp, gaudy, humane piece of
frippery, which describes activities still punishable by death or torture in many places monitored by Amnesty.
Rocky Horror should have vanished but instead it struck a chord, and O'Brien told us it had been translated into more than 11 languages, including Hebrew and Icelandic.
"That was an interesting production," he said. "The dialogue was in Hebrew, the songs were in Icelandic."
He was joined by original cast members Patricia Quinn and Little Nell, and it would have taken a heart of stone not to applaud as they did the Timewarp, yet again.
