Flawed but it was ok

Reading some of the reviews here and it's hysterical that they didn't realize that Laverne Cox is a transexxual because they keep saying how they shouldn't have cast a woman as a man. These people clearly don't realize that Laverne is transgender. That's part of the problem, though, of casting her in this role. We're all used to seeing Frank N. Furter as a man in drag. A "Sweet Transvestite," not someone who has breasts or who's had surgery to change his parts, hormones or whatever.

Now, there's absolutely NO reason that Frank N. Furter can't be a woman, transgender or otherwise. However, it does change the role significantly, and I think that's why people have problem with Laverne playing him. Just for starters.

Tim Curry is always going to be hard to beat. He was a very good singer, dancer and actor. He can do camp and make it seem very real. That's why Frank worked. Even thought the character is really terrible (and a killer), we like him and kind of feel sorry for him at the end. I'm afraid that Laverne doesn't have the charisma that Tim Curry had.

Of course it can never be the 70's again, so it would probably not be shocking even if a studly man came out, dressed in drag like Tim Curry did, but that was definitely shocking back in the 70's. We weren't used to seeing men that way, or acting gay. Having a woman (transgender or not, she LOOKS and sounds like a woman) play the role makes it even less shocking. That scene where Frank N. Furter shows up is supposed to be really shocking, but it's not at all in the new one.

I thought that Brad and Janet were just fine. Their Janet is not nearly as virginal-seeming as the original, and again, Susan Sarandon is a fantastic actress, so it's hard to find someone that good (although she definitely sang better than Sarandon did).

Their Riff Raff was fine, but he was too handsome and sexy. The original Riff Raff was very creepy and kinda gross looking. Again he was far more shocking than the one they have here.

I thought their Columbia and Rocky were both very good.

I love Ben Vereen, but he was all wrong for this whole. Mostly, his voice is too high, so they had to change the singing part way too much. Tim Curry was fine, but again very different than the original narrator.

I thought Adam Lambert did a surprisingly great job as Eddie. But he's still a little too pretty. Eddie is usually a fat guy.

I thought that the production dragged a bit, and I could have done without the fake audience.

They had to make it a little more G rated for TV, so that kind of ruined some of it. The whole production veered wildly between being serious and campy, which didn't really work.

I think it was an admirable attempt but failed. Not entirely unenjoyable... on the whole, I'm glad they tried.

I would give it a C-

Suzanne