Rosie O'Donnell Steps In as Narrator for Broadway's Rocky Horror Show
Rosie O'Donnell will return to Broadway as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show for two weeks this October.
She will play Studio 54 from Tuesday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 18, while Rachel Dratch takes a short leave, Deadline reported Sept. 16. The dates cover 13 days of the eight-shows-a-week schedule that is standard on Broadway.
The revival is directed by Sam Pinkleton. It began previews, the ticketed tryout performances before a show is frozen, on March 26 and officially opened on April 23. An opening is the moment a production is set and open to critics.
The staging later earned 9 Tony Award nominations. In June it broke the house record at Studio 54 with a weekly box office take of $1,215,225. A house record means the largest single-week gross ever reported at that theater.
She joins a company headed by Jake Shears as Frank-N-Furter. The cast also includes Lorna Courtney as Janet, Kevin McHale as Brad and Jimin Moon as Rocky. Valentina plays Columbia, Sherie Rene Scott plays Magenta, Amber Gray plays Riff Raff and George Salazar plays Eddie/Dr. Scott.
O'Donnell was last on Broadway in 2005 as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof opposite Harvey Fierstein as Tevye. Her earlier Broadway acting credits include Rizzo in the 1994 revival of Grease and The Cat in the Hat in Seussical in 2001. She also produced the Broadway musical Taboo in 2003. In July she staged her one-woman show Common Knowledge at Off Broadway's Daryl Roth Theatre.
The production is presented by Roundabout Theatre Company, which describes itself as a not-for-profit organization. A nonprofit theater raises donations and reinvests revenue rather than paying back commercial investors. Roundabout lists Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show as running now through Feb. 28, 2027, according to Roundabout Theatre Company.
For first-time buyers, the Narrator is the storyteller who speaks directly to the audience and moves the plot along. It is a talk-heavy part that lives or dies on timing with a loud room.
