Stephanie Hsu Embraces the Unexpected as Janet in The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway

Dammit Janet! Academy Award nominee Stephanie Hsu takes on Janet Weiss in the revival of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show—a role she never thought she could play. Hsu spoke with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek about being a Rocky virgin, her connections to fellow castmates and what it means to be playing the all-American character.

When director Sam Pinkleton asked Hsu to play Janet in Rocky Horror, she assumed the call was for another Pinkleton project: Oh, Mary!  As Hsu recounts, Pinkleton messaged her and said, “Hey, can I call you about something?” Hsu thought to herself, “Oh, I know what this is about.” When she picked up the phone and said, “Yeah, Abe Lincoln?” Pinkleton surprised her by replying, “No. I want you to play Janet Weiss.”

Hsu admittedly hadn't seen the film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when she got the offer. After learning more about Janet and her nature, Hsu says of the role, “There's a lot of reasons why I feel like it's not one that I knew I could play.” But since spending more time with the character and finding her own spin, Hsu has decided that her Janet is “an alien chicken waiting to hatch.”

Janet’s fiancé Brad Majors, played by Andrew Durand, is another all-American alien chicken, to borrow that moniker. The Brad and Janet relationship is at the core of the Rocky Horror story, as the engaged couple is the audience’s way into Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s castle. "He and I did a workshop of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, my first Broadway show," Hsu says of her co-star. "I remembered how funny he was, so I was very excited that we were going to get to play off of each other."

Playing off one another is another constant in Rocky Horror, and not just between the actors. The film, known for its call-and-response midnight showings, has only added to the cult-classic nature of the film. Those callouts are being welcomed at this production, which adds a layer of spontaneity that is very rarely seen in Broadway theaters. The idea makes Hsu “a little nervous,” but she calls it a “once in a lifetime opportunity to not only re-gift this show to the public sphere, but also as an actor or as an artist to truly not know every single night what's going to happen—when can you ever imagine another possibility like that?”

The call-and-response, as exciting as it is, is entirely dependent on the crowd at each performance. “I think when the audience comes in, it's going to blow open the world that much more in a way where it’s a huge gift,” says Hsu. “I'm excited and shivering with anticipation!”

The Rocky Horror Show is now in performances at Studio 54, and is scheduled to run through June 21.

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