WHILE illness kept the main attraction from the stage a new star shone in last night's tremendous performance.

Jason Donovan was due to appear as the Transsexual Frank N Furter but instead his understudy Nathan Taylor donned the famous fishnets and basque.

And what a great job he made of it - deliciously camp and overtly sexual, with a wonderfully relaxed repartee for an appreciative and very vocal full-house audience.

It's very much an adult show, with some near-the-knuckle scenes which left little to the imagination.

But the audience knew that before they arrived - the show's cult status has carved the plot firmly in many minds.

Newly-engaged Brad and Janet, both suitably virginal and kitsch - well played by Simona Morecroft and Stuart de la Mere - are transformed after a chance visit to a remote castle. The show, full of wit and eroticism, sees the duo leave their innocence well behind them with help from Frank N Furter, who has also just created the perfect man, Rocky.

This musical owes much to the cheap and cheerful style of B-movies but itself it was a glossy performance with strong vocals, excellent choreography and slick backing provided by a band perched high at the back of the stage.

With many of the audience dressed in saucy underwear and already well in the spirit before the show began the cast should have realised they were on to a winner.

But this fantastic night out has something for everyone, even a chance to see Ken Morley - formerly Coronation Street's Reg Holdsworth and the show's narrator - in fishnets and suspenders, belting out the Time Warp with the rest of them. Dave Roberts

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