Well, what a waste that was. Apparently, they must have thought casting Laverne Cox as Frank-N-Furter would be perfect to tie in with the "Transsexual, Transylvania" aspect. But they also then ignored the key phrase "Sweet Transvestite"--I failed to see anything hinting at "transvestite" in Frank-N-Furter last night. While Cox did an okay job, her performance was largely an imitation of Tim Curry, and lacked any of the darker, more menacing tones that Curry gave the role.
I thought the portrayal of Janet was totally wrong. In a couple of scenes, it looks like she was deliberately aiming for "bad sci-fi/horror acting", but it wasn't in line with the approach taken by any of the other cast members.
And what was up with the production design and staging? Okay, the director insisted on doing it as a film, not as a live show. So why did they have most of the sets look like live theater sets, and most of the action staged as if before a live audience, and light it all with bright, even lighting? It all looked expensive (as in budget) and cheap (as in quality) at the same time. The Frank-and-Janet and Frank-and-Brad scenes were especially bad--not only with the lighting (so bright!!) but also with the stage direction, which turned it into something like a slapstick farce.
The finale was SO ABRUPT! While it was pretty much verbatim from the UK version of the film, it was so rushed that it felt like a scene was missing.
Overall, a pointless exercise that resulted in a total waste of time. After it was over, I popped in the Blu-ray of the original film and reminded myself how good that one actually was. (And yes, it was. Don't listen to those who say only the audience participation makes it worthwhile.)
