'Let Me Play the Creature': Amber Gray on Becoming Riff Raff in Broadway’s The Rocky Horror Show

Riff Raff, Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s space alien “handyman” in The Rocky Horror Show, is such a juicy part that the musical’s composer, Richard O’Brien, played it himself in the 1975 cult classic film. Raúl Esparza took on the role in a 2000 Broadway revival, and Reeve Carney welcomed Brad and Janet to the mansion in a 2016 film remake. Now, Carney’s Hadestown co-star Amber Gray is doing the Time Warp (again) in director Sam Pinkleton’s new production at Studio 54.

A 2019 Tony nominee for originating the role of Persephone in Hadestown, Gray has been working nonstop since co-starring in the Tony-winning revival of Eureka Day a year ago: She reunited with the original Hadestown cast for a London run that resulted in a live pro-shot of the show, releasing in theaters this July; she headlined a new musical adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time at Arena Stage; and she bantered with Matthew Broderick in an off-Broadway revival of Tartuffe. Chatting with Broadway.com just before Rocky Horror’s first preview, Gray shared her longtime obsession with the show and the role she’s had her eye on for more than a decade.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the return of The Rocky Horror Show. You were a fan?
It was the first musical I ever knew. I’m an Army brat; we moved around a lot, and when I started doing theater in late middle school, my friends and I went to the library and checked out CDs of musicals. The first three I got were Rocky Horror, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Who’s Tommy. I thought all musicals were rock operas. [Laughs] It took me a while to realize there were other genres. So, I was truly a fan.

The show’s 1975 Broadway premiere closed after a month, the movie was not initially a hit, and yet Rocky Horror has endured. Why do you think that’s the case?
It gives people permission to be on the periphery, to let your wild side come out. A lot of teenagers find Rocky Horror at an unstable time in their lives, and it gives permission to be “other,” whatever that means to them—to not feel ashamed of being themselves. Your uniqueness is what makes you special, although some people never learn that lesson. Americans like homogeny.

The original movie feels surprisingly fresh. Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter gave the kind of vivid performance that just won an Oscar for Amy Madigan.
That is absolutely true. I first saw the movie when I was about 15, and Tim Curry and Richard O’Brien as Riff Raff were so feral and free, I wanted to tap into whatever they were doing. As I was training to be an actor, I started a little collection of Tim Curry films: Rocky Horror, Annie, It, Legend and Clue. He is very different in all of those movies—unrecognizable, almost—and that was always my goal, to disappear into roles. I wanted people to say, “Wait! That’s the same person?”

After the success of Oh, Mary!, Sam Pinkleton seems like the ideal director for Rocky Horror, and Studio 54 the ideal theater.
Yes, 54 has so much amazing history; that DNA is still in the walls and the carpet that’s been there for decades. It’s wild to think of all the humans who have walked on that fabric. [Laughs] Sam has his finger on the pulse of queer culture, but he’s also about just having fun. He keeps calling this a big-hearted musical and a trashy little musical, and he is able to keep both of those things in the room. I look around and can’t believe this is on Broadway. It’s thrilling.

Riff Raff is obviously a special role, since the man who wrote the show played it in the movie. And Sam was aware you wanted to tackle it?
Sam and I have known each other for a long time—he’s from my downtown theater tribe and has been my choreographer three times—and the last time we worked together, he said, “If I’m ever in the room with you again, it will be as your director.” By the time we were doing Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway a decade ago, he knew I wanted to play Riff Raff. We used to talk about it as friends. I said, “Let me play the creature.”

What was the appeal of the role for you?
Again, seeing the film when I was so impressionable, I wanted to be the feral one. I played Puck [in A Midsummer Night’s Dream] a couple of times, and somewhere in my lizard brain, my inspiration was Richard O’Brien as Riff Raff. I have a lot of feral creatures inspiring me this time, including Richard, Smeagol in Lord of the Rings, Mr. Burns in The Simpsons, Eartha Kitt—I always want to be the wild one, the creature in the corner. It’s certainly an opportunity to build a character when you’re playing an alien!

This cast is an interesting mix of stage veterans like you and Luke Evans as Frank-N-Furter and Broadway newcomers like Juliette Lewis as Riff Raff’s sister, Magenta.
It’s wonderful that we come from different walks of life. Not only do we have TV, film and theater, we also have stars from the worlds of club, cabaret and drag. Everyone has different skill sets, and we’re able to lean into what we know and also say, “Can you help me with this?” There is no bad juju coming from anybody. It’s a very joyous, kind, nerdy cast, which I love. Riff Raff and Magenta are so close in the show, so I was nervous to meet Juliette. We did a photo shoot for Vogue before we had a single rehearsal, which is awkward. She was in the makeup chair when I got there, and I gently touched her arm and said, “Hi, I’m Amber. I’m your Riff Raff.” Then when I was in the chair, she came back and was staring at me and said, “I’m just taking you in because I’m going to have to be in your armpit.” I said, “That’s right, and I welcome it.” We get along very well, and she’s thrilled to become part of this community.

You’ve been in a lot of shows with large ensemble casts. What’s the key to making those come together?
I love ensemble shows. The key is that you really do have to get along. I’ve been in one that will go unnamed where we disintegrated as an ensemble, and it was pretty brutal. “Buoyant” is the word I use—you have to stay above the stress of the commercial machine, especially in a long run. People think you’re just doing eight shows a week, but you’re constantly at press events and put-in rehearsals to maintain a bench that’s at least two people deep. And if you have two kids, like I do, and you want to try to sleep and stay in shape, the tax on your life is quite high. That can be very stressful, and when people are stressed, you start to have negative water-cooler talk. When that goes on too long, a company starts to get sick. I’m grateful that most of my ensembles have remained buoyant and joyous.

You’ve also done a ton of shows with a heightened tone, from Great Comet to Hadestown and even Here We Are and Tartuffe. Is that fun?
It’s very fun, and it’s what attracts me to theater. Realism on stage is not my cup of tea. The closest I’ve come to it was Eureka Day, but that was still heightened because of the comedy we were going for. I don’t love watching realism in the theater, nor do I enjoy performing it. That is what film and television are for. If it’s going to be on a stage, there should be something extraordinary about it.

Does it surprise you that Hadestown is still going strong after seven years? It must have been nice to reunite with your castmates in London last winter.
That [London run] gave us the closure we needed. I knew the show was going to be a hit. I worked on it for 12 years, since workshopping it in 2014, and I can always tell if something is going to be a hit or not. I was confused by people being unsure about putting money into it. I thought, “This is absurd—of course it will be a hit!”

Your children were very young when you went through awards season with Hadestown. Does the life of a Broadway performer seem easier at the ages they are now?
If anything, it’s harder because they’re more cognizant if I’m gone. When they were babies, I could keep milk in the freezer for my partner to give to them, but as present humans, they need me around more. They’re seven and ten now, and they started seeing shows after the pandemic. They’ve seen the second act and the final dress [rehearsal of Rocky Horror]. If it’s a shiny, colorful show with lots of dancing, I’m like, “Come on out!”

Has your career been what you pictured 20 years ago when you were studying acting at NYU?
I have a BFA from BU [Boston University] and an MFA from NYU, and those are both serious training programs that kind of acknowledge the American musical, but not really. So, I am pleasantly surprised to find myself, in the words of a friend, “a musical theater bitch.” I feel grateful, because the American musical on Broadway is the only way you can make a living as a stage actor. My friends who never went into musicals have to keep other jobs, and that’s hard.

Well, now your teenage musical theater dream is coming true.
Yes, and as someone who has seen a ton of theater, I can tell you that there are some really special, jaw-dropping moments [in this production]. Just visually, there are moments that are gorgeous. People who have had Rocky Horror in their lives for 50 years will be pleased, and people who are new to it will have a great time.

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