Lauren Chia on Rocky Horror, Finding Her Janet, and Touring with Jason Donovan

Lauren Chia on Rocky Horror, Finding Her Janet, and Touring with Jason Donovan

Sexual awakenings, hot muscly Frankensteins, and a simply enormous amount of leather, there’s nothing quite like The Rocky Horror Show, which arrives at Leeds Grand Theatre from 2nd to 7th June. Ahead of the show’s arrival, our very own Larry Budd caught up with Lauren Chia, who plays Janet Weiss, to talk about carving out her own take on a cult classic, her love of the fans, and what it’s like to share the stage with Jason Donovan.

Larry Budd in conversation with Lauren Chia

Lauren: Well Janet Weiss is an all-American, young, naive girl, very innocent, and then she has a huge transformation where she enters the world of Frank-N-Furter. She has a sexual awakening, she grows in confidence, and she comes out the other side a completely different person. She’s really, really interesting and exciting for me to play.

Larry: It’s an amazing story. What do you think it is about the story that’s meant that this show has endured so much? Obviously people still watch the film to this day as well.

Lauren: I think it’s all the different characters. I think everyone can sort of relate to one of them. And all the characters are so different. For the people coming to watch the show, it just means that they’re free to be whoever they want to be. There’s no judgment. There’s a place for everyone, and it’s just a really lovely atmosphere.

Larry: I think everyone has their view sometimes on who’s played the roles the best. And I’m not gonna make assumptions about your age or ask you how old you are, but I assume you weren’t around for the film in the 70s. When you think about these characters, is there someone that you have in mind that you’ve enjoyed watching over the years?

Lauren: Before I got the job, I’d seen the film. So Susan Sarandon is obviously iconic. She is the Janet in my mind. The stage show is, although it’s very similar, it’s also quite different. I’d never seen the show before. So when I auditioned for it, I kind of just wanted to do my own take on it. I tried not to watch any actors that had done it previously. Christopher Luscombe, our director, was incredible. He really let us find our own character, even though it’s a show that’s been running for so many years. Everyone has an expectation of what they’re supposed to be, but it was really nice to bring my own side of Janet to the table.

Larry: That’s interesting because that must be a temptation. I sometimes think about this with Book of Mormon, how Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells made those roles really, and then you see so many people do it and they’re sort of doing a version of Josh Gad. It must be hard to not just do an impersonation of Susan Sarandon?

Lauren: I think I was lucky that because I didn’t know too much about Rocky Horror, it wasn’t too bad, and I could put my own spin on it. But something like Wicked, say, I always have Kristin Chenoweth in my mind as Glinda. So yeah, I imagine that would be really difficult, to create your own Glinda from that, because it’s just so iconic.

Larry: And talking about the show, you’ve alluded to it already: the outfits. This is a special sort of show to go to, isn’t it? What is it like to play to that crowd?

Lauren: It’s incredible, there’s nothing like it and I don’t think I’ll ever do a show that makes me feel so good. I feel like an absolute rock star when I come out. As soon as the curtain opens the crowd are just so behind you, they’re cheering, they’re whooping. It’s amazing really and just to look out into the audience and see everyone dressed up is just so lovely and to see them all standing up doing the Time Warp as well. Everyone’s having such a good time and it’s what makes it worth it for all of us. Even meeting all of the fans at stage door, just seeing their incredible costumes. I’ve seen all sorts. You can go as anything you want. I think that’s the beauty of Rocky Horror, that you can just be whoever you want to be and just really let yourself go for the night.

Larry: And you know when the show is on in Leeds, because if you’re anywhere near the Grand Theatre, in the bars, you think “oh hello, Rocky Horror is on again”! Finally, you’re alongside Jason Donovan. He’s obviously an elder statesman of the musical theatre world now. What’s that been like?

Lauren: He’s just absolutely brilliant. We love him. We’re all obsessed with him. He’s just so funny. He’s so much fun on stage. Every night is a completely different night, but when Jason’s on stage it’s even more different. You just don’t know what you’re gonna get from him, he really does keep us on our toes. I guess because I am that bit younger I didn’t really realise how big of a star he is. I guess he’s like Harry Styles back in the day wasn’t he! But he’s so down to earth he’s just not fazed by any of that. He’s got a lovely family, he’s a great dad, and he’s just a really, really lovely guy.

Larry: He will love that you have called him the Harry Styles of his day. That’s brilliant.

Lauren: Don’t tell him I told you that!

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Grab your tickets now at Leeds Grand Theatre