Concept and development Richard O'Brien was living as an unemployed actor in
London during the early 1970s. He wrote most of
The Rocky Horror Show during one winter just to occupy himself. O'Brien conceived and wrote the play set against the backdrop of the glam era that had manifested itself in British popular culture in the 1970s. Allowing his concept to come into being, O'Brien states "
glam rock allowed me to be myself more". O'Brien showed a portion of the unfinished script to Australian director
Jim Sharman, who decided to direct it at the small experimental space Upstairs at the
Royal Court Theatre in
Sloane Square,
Chelsea, London, which was used as a project space for new work. The original creative team was then rounded out by costume designer
Sue Blane, musical director
Richard Hartley, and stage producer
Michael White, who was brought in to produce. As the musical went into rehearsal, the working title,
They Came from Denton High, was changed just before previews at the suggestion of Sharman to
The Rocky Horror Show. Having premiered in the small 60-seat Royal Court Theatre, it quickly moved to larger venues in London, transferring to the 230-seat
Chelsea Classic Cinema on
King's Road on 14 August 1973, before finding a quasi-permanent home at the 500-seat King's Road Theatre from 3 November that year, running for six years. The musical made its US debut in
Los Angeles in 1974 before playing in
New York City as well as other cities. In 1975,
The Rocky Horror Show premiered on
Broadway at the 1,000-seat
Belasco Theatre.
Filming and locations Set in the fictional town of Denton, the film was shot at
Bray Studios and
Oakley Court, a country house near
Maidenhead,
Berkshire, England, and at
Elstree Studios for post-production, from 21 October to 19 December 1974. Oakley Court, built in 1857 in the
Victorian Gothic style, is known for a number of
Hammer films. Much of the location shooting took place there, although at the time the manor was not in good condition. Most of the cast were from the original London stage production, including Tim Curry, who had decided that Dr Frank N. Furter should speak like the
Queen of the United Kingdom, extravagantly posh. The film production retains many aspects from the stage version, such as production design and music, but adds new scenes not featured in the original stage play. The originally proposed opening sequence was to contain clips of various films mentioned in the lyrics, as well as the first few sequences shot in black and white, but this was deemed too expensive and scrapped. Production stills were taken by
rock photographer
Mick Rock, who has published a number of books from his work. In
Rocky Horror: From Concept to Cult, designer Sue Blane discusses the
Rocky Horror costumes' influence on
punk music style, opining "[It was a] big part of the build-up [to
punk]." She states that ripped fishnet stockings, glitter, and coloured hair were directly attributable to
Rocky Horror. Costume designer Sue Blane was not keen on working for the film, until she became aware that Curry, an old friend, was committed to the project. Curry and Blane had worked together in
Glasgow's
Citizens Theatre in a production of
The Maids, for which Curry had worn a woman's corset. Blane arranged for the theatre to loan her the corset from the other production for
Rocky Horror. Blane admits that she did not conduct research for her designing, had never seen a
science fiction film, and is acutely aware that her costumes for Brad and Janet may have been generalisations. The budget for the film was
US$1,600,000, far more than the stage production budget, but having to double up on costumes for the film production was expensive. For filming, corsets for the finale had to be doubled for the pool scene, with one version drying while the other was worn on set. While many of the costumes are exact replicas from the stage productions, other costumes were new to filming, such as Columbia's gold sequined swallow-tail coat and top hat and Magenta's maid's uniform. The film still plays at many theatre locations.
Title sequence The film starts with the screen fading to black and oversized, disembodied female lips appear overdubbed with a
male voice, establishing the theme of
androgyny to be repeated as the film unfolds. The opening scene and song, "
Science Fiction/Double Feature", consists of the lips of Patricia Quinn (who appears in the film later as the character Magenta and as 'Trixie the Usherette' in the original London production, where she also sings the song) but has the vocals of actor and
Rocky Horror creator, Richard O'Brien (who appears as Magenta's brother Riff Raff). The lyrics refer to science fiction and horror films of the past and list several film titles from the 1930s to the 1960s, including
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951),
Flash Gordon (1936),
The Invisible Man (1933),
King Kong (1933),
It Came from Outer Space (1953),
Doctor X (1932),
Forbidden Planet (1956),
Tarantula (1955),
The Day of the Triffids (1962),
Curse of the Demon (1957), and
When Worlds Collide (1951). ==Music==