Luke Evans Brings Glam, Heels and Heart to The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway

With nothing but fishnets in his suitcase, Luke Evans is headed to Broadway to star in Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Evans and Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek went up to the lab to see what’s on the slab in Sam Pinkleton’s new revival at Studio 54.

Evans, a Welsh actor, has been performing in musicals in London, the West End and across the U.K. for 25 years. While his incredibly successful film and television career might have kept him from the Broadway stage longer than he’d have liked, this is a “bucket list moment” for the performer. Still, when picturing his Broadway debut, Evans didn't necessarily see himself in a role such as this. “Did I think it would be playing Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show? No,” he shares. “But when the opportunity arose, I spoke to Sam Pinkleton many times and it all started to make sense to me in a strange way.”

When his casting was first announced, it may have also taken some fans by surprise. Many of the roles he has played—Gaston in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast film, Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit trilogy—are incredibly masculine, where Frank-N-Furter is quite the opposite. “A lot of people who know me, or think they know me, and have seen me play these big hero macho roles—gun toting, tank driving, dragon killing characters—are now going to see me in a very, very different role that no one will expect,” Evans continues.

While excited to take on the character made famous by Tim Curry, there is an added responsibility to the fans that comes with it. “It's a big thing coming out to 'Sweet Transvestite' in six-inch stilettos towering over everybody,” he admits. “But having the support of my cast and feeling like they've got my back is a nice thing too.”

Support is a big theme with this show, both in giving and receiving. One of the reasons that the 1975 film version is so worshipped is due to the safe space that it creates for its audience. “It has helped a lot of people who might have not felt accepted or heard or seen or included,” Evans says. “There was a deep positive energy to the show, timeless messages and also a chance to not feel that someone is watching you, but is observing and enjoying you.”

The intentions behind the show coming back to Broadway after the last revival in 2000 are as pure as it gets. “We want to create this bubble of crazy absurdity, love, joy and freedom to be who you want to be, and to enjoy the expression of that on stage with these characters that we've loved for half a century,” Evans says. There truly is a light over at the Frankenstein Place.

The Rocky Horror Show begins performances on March 26 at Studio 54 and runs through June 21.

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