Thongs! Fishnets! Platforms! ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ Celebrated Its Broadway Revival with a Glitzy Opening Night

Reported by Vogue.

Rocky Horror's Broadway Resurrection Is All About Permission

When Luke Evans strutted across the stage at Studio 54 in seven-inch platform heels, a thong, and enough latex to make a statement, he wasn't just playing Frank-N-Furter. He was embodying what this 50-year-old cult classic has always been about: radical self-expression without apology. The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival, directed by Tony winner Sam Pinkleton, reopened the musical Thursday night with the kind of unapologetic energy that makes you understand why audiences have been ritualistically attending midnight screenings since 1973, complete with rice throws and audience call-backs.

Evans, best known for playing Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, admitted the heels terrified him at first—he'd never worn them before. But once Frank-N-Furter's confidence kicked in, insecurity became irrelevant. "I have to leave all of the insecurities of how I look, because Frank doesn't carry any of those within his psyche," he told Vogue. Costume designer David I. Reynoso created a series of looks that honored the character's iconic visual identity, including a dominatrix-meets-naughty-nurse white vinyl outfit for the laboratory scene. The message was clear: authenticity requires shedding what society expects you to perform.

A Safe House for Misfits

What struck nearly every cast member about reviving Rocky Horror now was its timeliness. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, who plays Columbia, framed the show as "the best way to be as radical as possible and also to be as liberated as possible in your queerness"—particularly given current political attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. Harvey Guillén noted that "the show is unapologetically queer" and that lyrics affirming difference have resonated for half a century. Juliette Lewis, making her Broadway debut as Magenta, reflected on discovering the musical at 11 and recognizing its message for outsiders and artists who'd never found belonging elsewhere.

Original film star Susan Sarandon, who attended opening night, has long championed the show's central philosophy: "Don't dream it, be it." She sees its staying power rooted in that promise of authenticity. "I think that's a really positive and fabulous message," she said, emphasizing how the show creates "a really accepting, experimental atmosphere for people to dress up." The opening night crowd got it—attendees arrived in chaps, elaborate makeup, leather, and fishnets, turning the theater into a space where self-invention felt not just permitted but celebrated.

Pinkleton spent eight years developing this production after hearing countless stories of how Rocky Horror functioned as a life preserver for people who couldn't survive their own realities. His hope is simple: that this version continues that work. When a Broadway show can exist partly to celebrate the liberation of wearing—or not wearing—whatever you want, it's doing something most theater can't.

Read the original at Vogue.