Eighty chasing parts – Riff Raff and all

SWEET TRANSVESTITE: Jonathan Neale auditions for the part of Dr Frank N Furter at the final auditions for Hamilton Operatic Society's Rocky Horror Show last night. (JEFF BRASS/Waikato Times)

Well heeled

Source: http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/waikatotimes/0,2106,3211945a6004,00.html

09 March 2005 
By LUCY REED

Actors were told that if they wouldn't kiss a woman or lick another person's nipple then they shouldn't bother auditioning.

This is the Rocky Horror Show - and the Hamilton Operatic Society may become the country's first amateur society to put it on stage in October.

"I may have put some people off," said director David Sidwell.

"But it's not the Sound of Music."

There would be no point casting actors uncomfortable with the show's content. "Otherwise I'll find there's a male who won't wear suspenders and fishnets . . . it's better that they know from the start."

Eighty people auditioned for the show over three days, down from about 100 who came to last Thursday's workshop.

A mix of pros and rookies strutted their stuff at the weekend and last night.

Among them was Hamilton actor Jonathan Neale who played the sweet transvestite in Riverlea's A Very Scary Christmas last year.

And what about the 20cm heels he's expected to walk in? "It's taken a hell of a lot of practice to walk in them. It's been practice, practice, practice, you don't know how many times I have fallen over at home."

With almost 40 shows under his belt Neale said he was very nervous about the audition but thought the judging panel enjoyed his performance.

Sidwell said New Zealand people knew Hamilton was a "Riff Raff City" and this reputation might spread if stars from the movie, such as Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Meatloaf, came out for the show's closing night on October 31.

It will also be the 30th anniversary production of the show. "That would certainly put us on the map . . . I'm sure tickets for that night will be hot to trot."