The official 21st Birthday party for the Rocky Horror Show was held on a wet Tuesday night on the 5th of July, 1994.

Hundreds of Rocky Horror fans from around the country converged on the Duke of York’s Theatre in central London to celebrate the show in style.

Television and Press descended on Saint Martin’s Lane to interview fans and celebrities as they arrived for the birthday show.

By the time the curtain was due to rise the atmosphere in the theatre was electric. The show had just completed a country wide tour during which, Patricia Quinn, the original actress to play the part of ‘Magenta’, had once more been wowing audiences with her interpretation of the character. Nothing, however could compare with the reaction she received as she took to the stage, dressed as the Usherette to perform the first song ‘Science Fiction, Double Feature’. The audience cheered and sang along as the Birthday night show started with a bang.

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When Richard O’Brien wrote the Rocky Horror Show, he saw himself playing the part of Eddie, the half dead Biker that returns from the deep freeze to sing one song before being finally sent to his grave.
Most of the audience attending the birthday night show were aware that O’Brien would be appearing some time during the evening, only a few however knew that he would be playing the part of Eddie. The freezer was wheeled onto the stage and the crowd went wild as the lid swung upwards and Richard O’Brien appeared as the thinnest Eddie ever, a huge contrast to Meatloaf’s film portrayal of the character.
With his deathly white make-up and fake stitches O’Brien created a ghoulish image of the familiar character. The fans loved the performance giving him a standing ovation as the song ended and the character was once more despatched to the deep freeze.

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Playing the central role of Frank ‘N’ Furter at the birthday night show was Jonathon Morris (shown on the left in the above photograph) the actor best known for the character Adrien in the TV comedy ‘Bread’. A greater contrast between characters would be hard to imagine. Having played the part of Frank during the preceding tour Jonathon was confident playing the character, creating a powerful performance and dealing with the audience responses with much practised ease.
Joining Jonathon in the above photograph were two other members of the touring cast, David Ingram as Rocky Horror and Kraig Thornber as Riff Raff. The birthday night seemed to bring out the best performances from each member of the cast with many fans remarking that it was the best production of the stage show that they had seen for a long time.

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Many fans found Kraig Thornber’s performance as Riff Raff suitably sinister and a perfect match to Patricia Quinn’s portrayal of Magenta.

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Joanne Redman, also from the touring production of the stage show admirably played the part of Columbia, the sequined, tap dancing groupie.

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Playing the innocent Janet Weiss was the actress Sophie Lawrence, best known for her character ‘Diane’ in the BBC soap opera ‘EastEnders’.

As Janet Weiss, she showed she was a fine singer as well as a convincing actress.

Sophie is regarded as many fans as one of the best Janet's.

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The part of the even more innocent Brad Majors was played by Paul Collis.

Paul is seen here singing ’Once In A While’ the song that was to be cut from the film version of Rocky Horror. For many fans this is Brad’s best song in the production.

The backing for Brad is provided by a group of scantily clad nurses, no wonder he looks happier at the end of the song!

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The role of Dr.Scott was played by Simon Gillespie.

Unlike the screen version in the Stage production the same actor usually plays both the role of Eddie and Dr.Scott. For this one night Simon was able to remain backstage while Richard O’Brien played the part of his ‘nephew’

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The Narrator was played by Nicholas Parsons, the veteran presenter of Sale of the Century. As the most heckled character in the play Nicholas was to play the performance of the century as he dealt with the rows of fans constantly shouting talk-back lines in his direction.
At one stage during the show he engaged in conversation with the front row trying to out do the talk-back lines from the audience, completely losing his place in the show in the process. Unworried he simply asked the audience where he had got to and the front two rows chorused the next line.
He entered well into the spirit of the evening, shown here leaving it all behind him as he takes his curtain call wearing stockings and suspenders to match the rest of the cast.

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After the curtain call the audience was treated to a reprise of the TimeWarp. The doors at the back of the stage opened and a large birthday cake designed by the actress Jane Asher was brought onto the stage.

Richard O’Brien, the entire cast and crew and everyone in the audience joined in a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ as ushers handed out party poppers and glasses of wine to everyone in the theatre. On the final note hundreds of balloons dropped from the ceiling into the audience as the curtain came down to thunderous applause. For many fans this had been the best Rocky Horror show they had ever seen.

With performances from Patricia Quinn and Richard O’Brien, two of the original stars of the show, and the wonderful party atmosphere that had been created in the theatre the audience that night could truly say that they had participated in a little part of Rocky Horror history.

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